They have become an inspiring part of Guyana’s poetic heritage. I found them instantly unforgettable. I have come to think of them as the last poems of Mahadai Das. In the Peepal Tree edition of her poems, A Leaf In His Ear, they among others are listed as being composed – but composed may not be the right word – between 1973 and 1994 but never published. Mahadai Das died in 2003 at the age of 48 so it seems she wrote no poetry in the tragic, shattered last decade of her life. These poems are for me, therefore, a miraculous starburst of creativity before the darkness.
Her heart broke and her mind raged and out of this fire of despair and fierce desire emerged these passionate and