Repetition and warning: Balwant Bhagwandin's I Hear Guyana Cry

             

...the angels turn away

shamed by sight

of a people who would

make martyr of murderer

and common criminals

liberators

and declare the drug dealer absolved

by the 4Runners and foot-runners he owns

and the money he has to burn

celebrate the success of crime

the triumph of lies and liars

the downfall of honest endeavors

and men as moronic

for being sincere

and determine how full of fun

their day of demonstration is

by how many

muggings and maulings are executed

and women are molested downtown

and the number of workplaces shut down

and stores pillaged

and burnt down by fires lit

by a madman with a vision one-tracked

to the throne

who mock the messages

of Mahatma and Mandela

murder the messengers

of reconciliation

and giggle and jump-up

happy as a herd of swine

wallowing in its own excrement

as the tempo

of the drums of war grow

towards frenzy

and whisper

as if prayer:

Harken ye the words

of your children:

Walter, the most brilliant and humble,

betrayed and blown to bits

for his caution:

together cling

all you wretched and abused

with hands and hearts entwined and grounded

that they not be made to bear guns

to make this a no-man’s land!

Recall the laments

of your son Martin

and his disillusion and pain:

‘So jail me quickly, clang the illiterate door

if freedom writes no happier alphabet.’

and his admonition

like that of Donne

timeless and good for all men:

‘…all are involved!

all are consumed!’

and give heed

though late

so late

lest this your ‘nation’

self-styled and so-called

though sundered

and already splintered like wood for fire

indeed becomes the fuel

for a terminal conflagration

of its children’s creation!

Since I have already blogged on three pieces in Balwant Bhagwandin’s i hear guyana cry, to avoid infringing on copyright laws (any further) I’ll focus on one other poem (above) of the remaining 18.  The poem is titled “The angels warn,” and is a good representation of the messages and style of the pieces in the collection.

Bhagwandin dedicates the collection to the following people, some of whom you may know:

Dedicated to Yohance Douglas and others…

Haroon Rasheid, invalid senior citizen, robbed and set afire by the barbarians (and subsequently died) even as he kept wake for his wife slaughtered by another kind of animal…Yohance Douglas, teenaged University student and the scores of defenseless others brutalized and butchered by savages from both sides of the law…Keisha, baby of five months arm broken and beaten into insensibility for her baby’s jewelry in the heart of the capital city in the middle of the day…and all the victims of the carnage that is visited upon Guyana… 

The list of tragedies gets more horrifying as the dedication piece heads downward, and sets the tone for what is to come.

Drama and repetition

The poem begins dramatically with a two-line stanza: …the angels turn away / shamed by sight.  Drama is created by the use of ellipses at the beginning which suggest that some prior action took place that possibly warranted spiritual intervention, and was so horrible, the angels turned away.  The dramatic effect is further heightened by the isolation of the two lines.  The reader has to pause and wait to find out what caused the angels to turn away in shame.

What follows is a series of alliterative, rhyme-lulling accusations: of a people who would / make martyr of murderer / and common criminals / liberators / and declare the drug dealer absolved / by the 4Runners and foot-runners he owns / and the money he has to burn / celebrate the success of crime / the triumph of lies and liars / the downfall of honest endeavors / and men as moronic / for being sincere / and determine how full of fun / their day of demonstration is / by how many / muggings and maulings are executed / and women are molested downtown / and the number of workplaces shut down / who mock the messages / of Mahatma and Mandela / murder the messengers / of reconciliation ....

If read aloud, the alliterations could lull a reader into a certain complacency by the rhythmic sound of their repetition.  For another reader though, the repeated sounds may jar and in that case work well to intensify the seriousness of the speaker’s accusations.

Awakening moment 

The speaker probably anticipates the reader who may be lulled by the repetition, and gives a jolting pause at the beginning of the third stanza with the line “who mock the messages.”  The line jolts if one has to stop and ask “who mocks the messages?” (as I did).  I had to revisit the top of the poem to be reminded of the “people” being addressed by the speaker. 

And something curious happened when I revisited.  I suddenly felt as though (because I wasn’t paying attention) I were as guilty as the people being accused of irresponsible, destructive behavior in the poem.  Whether or not Bhagwandin meant it to be, that was the awakening moment in the poem for me.

Warning revealed

In stanzas five and six the angels’ warning is revealed: Harken ye the words / of your children: / Walter [Rodney], the most brilliant and humble, / betrayed and blown to bits / for his caution: / …. Recall the laments of your son Martin [Carter] / and his disillusion and pain: / ‘So jail me quickly, clang the illiterate door / if freedom writes no happier alphabet.’/ and his admonition / like that of Donne / timeless and good for all men: / ‘…all are involved! / all are consumed!’/ ....

The alliterative rhythm is less noticeable in stanza five and is absent from stanza six (the final stanza) until the similar ending, multi-syllabic “conflagration” and “creation” in the last two lines.  The use of the words “conflagration” and “creation” may lull in a way that is different from the lulling created by the poem’s previous alliterative rhyming.  The words cloak more blatant synonyms like fire and doing and could potentially soften the message.  Imagine the impact of lines like this instead:  indeed become the fuel / for a terminal fire (or hell) / of its children’s doing!  (Not necessarily poetic, but you get the point).

He’s talking to you

The call to remember Walter Rodney and the laments of Martin Carter may suggest a specific addressee for the poem.  It may be a sentimental call for those who were present and were stirred to either political or artistic revolutionary action at a certain time in Guyana.  Many of those people now live outside of Guyana, and have probably long given up on the promises of those days.

Signifyin’ conclusions:

The poem’s speaker brings a message from heavenly sources for people who once cared.  His message seeks to awaken those lulled either into complacency or compliance with the ongoing violence and destruction in Guyana.  He warns of a generation that will inherit the destruction and be doomed to the ultimate destruction of it all.  He calls attention to history.  Though on one hand, the poem’s constant repetition—style and theme—may work against its possible intent to be a wake-up call, on the other hand the repetition and the journalistic approach also work to give truth to the accusations and the condition he chronicles.   

The speaker—as in all the pieces in the collection—is a person who was there...someone who bore witness...someone whose account of the situation we can trust.  He’s a believable chronicler of events, not just another bringer of woe.

These days, a warning from the angels may be received with skepticism.  And the fact that the angels speak in subdued tones at times, use cloaked language (as I pointed out), and bring messages from the graves of poets and great thinkers, may be cause for sentimental reflection, rather than revolutionary action.  Is this a message to be heeded?  Will the audience / addressees respond?  To be fair, in other pieces in the collection (some of the pieces I've blogged on), the language is uncloaked and the call to action is clear.

“The angels warn” and the other pieces in i hear guyana cry warn of the ultimate, irreparable devastation of a place (the poems are dated 1998 to 2003) that once was paradise.  That warning is still appropriate today.  The recent history-making violence in Lusignan makes the warning prophetic and urgent. 

I recommend that you read the collection so you too can bear witness, and more importantly be stirred to some action. 

The collection speaks to us—to you and me.

[ i hear guyana cry (2003) is Bhagwandin’s second collection of poetry; his first was Wild Flowers (2001).  Read a review of that collection by Marilyn Stephanie Browne here.  Both books are available for purchase here.]

                                                 

                                                                                        

Comments

[bakannal]

such literature will always be relevant for it chronicles the human condition.

[c.d.valere]

oooh so woefully relevant! (I'm feeling poetic too).

[susan]

Powerful write and analysis. I am currently reading _Parable of The Sower_ by Octavia E. Butler. This is my third novel by the author and she writes about similar themes. In fact, I am reminded of parallel scenes in this write and the work of Butler.

The message in the write is familiar, too, because of my reading habits and political bent. I do not think the poetic device is troublesome. For some readers, the device encourages the reader to continue on with the lengthy piece. The alliteration is a thread, cadence that builds, weaves, keeps the reader connected.

Given the current turbulence in Kenya, Zambiwe, Darfu and so many other nations, I can't imagine how a reader could not relate and the activist/optimist in me believes compelled to act on some level. We must inform, educate, speak out and act.