Arts on Sunday

In the western world theatres have been closed for various reasons at different times in history.

[Guyana Where & What, Gem Madhoo-Nascimento, Ed., Georgetown: G.E.M.S. Inc., n.d.,

Holi: Spring Festival of Colours              May there always be spring in our eyes and fingers, feet: pink ixoras, red hibiscus mauve madar—green buds everywhere   Even live oaks’ allergenic dust coating everything yellow, golden gainda, daddy said, not marigolds pani re pani tera rang kaisa—is it rain—or   Water what is your colour?

  Embassy As evening fell the day’s oppression lifted Far peaks came into focus it had rained Across wide lawns and cultured flowers drifted The conversation of the highly trained Two gardeners watched them pass and priced their shoes A chauffeur waited reading in the drive For them to finish their exchange of views.

Get Down Ye Angels        Get down ye angels from the heights.

Red Rising                   1. When the earth was made when the wheels of the sky were being fashioned when my songs were first heard in the voice of the cool of the owl hillaby Soufriere and Kilimanjaro were standing towards me with water with fire at the centre of the air there in the keel of the blue the son of my song, father-giver, the sun/sum walks the four corners of the magnet, caught in the wind, blind in the eye of his own hurricane and the trees on the mountain be- come mine: living eye of my branches of bone; flute where is my hope hope where is my psalter my children wear masks dancing towards me the mews of their origen earth so that this place which is called mine which will never know that cold scalpel of skull, hill of dearth brain corals ignite and ignore it and that this place which is called now which will never again glow: coal balloon altracite: into cross- roads of hollows black spot of my life: jah blue spot of my life: love yellow spot of my life: iises red spot of my dream that still flowers flowers flowers let us give thanks when the earth was made when the sky first spoke with the voice of the rain/bow when the wind gave milk to its music when the suns of my morning walked out of their shallow thrill/dren   2.

[Inside GUIANAME, Bi-National Magazine, Donald Sinclair and Sean F Taylor (Eds.),

By Kuo Li (This is the edited text of a public lecture delivered at the celebration of Chinese New Year and Spring Festival 2022 at the University of Guyana.

Cowherd and Weaving Girl (ancient traditional Chinese love story) Long ago, there was a boy, clever, diligent and honest.

The National School of Theatre Arts and Drama (NSTAD) opens its doors this week for the new academic year, offering training in the creative arts in a range of disciplines to another group of students and interested practitioners.

I is a long memoried woman        From dih pout of mih mouth from dih treacherous calm of mih smile you can tell I is a long memoried woman -Grace Nichols   Nanny   Ashanti Priestess and giver of charms earth substance woman of science and black fire magic Maroonic woman of courage and blue mountain rises Standing over the valleys dressed in purple robes bracelets of the enemy’s teeth curled around your ankles in rings of ivory bone And your voice giving sound to the Abeng its death cry chilling the mountainside which you inhabit like a strong pursuing eagle As you watch the hissing foaming cauldron spelling strategies for the red oppressors’ blood willing them to come mouthing a new beginning song is that you Nanny – Is that you Nanny?

Cent and Jill By Rooplall Monar Every time Christmas season approaching me does always remember one particular Friday gone back when me was a small boy going to estate two-storey white, red and colour pay office.

pas de deux + UN               Breathe Stretch Contract Tips’ tingle as limbs Imitate the struggle From within Hands meet as Hearts Tremble, ever-evolving Our pairing Minds reach as bodies Open beyond limits We move Swept, we tremble as energies mingle Our life extended From within – Ayanna Waddell   mask   countenance set calm sits beneath still.

The festival of Christmas is usually celebrated or revered as sacred, but it is also a cultural phenomenon, particularly in the Caribbean, with history, sociology, structure and impact.

Demerara Nigger          In right accordance, and demandingly because what withstands, stands Farinata, the Ghibelline, “entertained great scorn of hell and asked about ancestors”.

Coyote Goes to Toronto        Coyote went to Toronto to become famous.

Caribbean History                             A flower falls on a leaf, the forest sleeps, and waves are on holiday El Dorado sings of love as Columbus listens in a plastic boat.

One of the subjects of study developed by the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) that has been slowly gaining ground is Drama, which is offered at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) level as Theatre Arts and at the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) level as a part of the Performing Arts.

St Lucian poet, editor and librarian John Robert Lee uses a continuing email thread to disseminate information about the arts in the Caribbean and, very importantly, sustain a dialogue among the range of West Indian writers, dramatists, artists, and critics.

The art of diplomacy has long been enhanced by art itself.