A Lady of Guyana

It is appropriate, at this time of year, that we should remember Christmases shared with


A Lady of Guyana

A kaleidoscope of colour and sound:
here, a grove of bamboo poles
waving strips of bright cloth
call for the blessing of revered
and ancient Gods
on an East Indian wedding;
there, the explosion of Stabroek Market
scatters vendors’ stalls across
the old Dutch square.

Papaws and mangoes vie
with books, tee-shirts,
music tapes and CDs:
the sound of Bollywood
competes culturally with
urgent soca and hip-hop
as stall-owners musically mark
their ethnic roots.

Beyond the Clock Tower 
the Demerara flows in muddy splendour
patiently supporting 
motley bum-boats, freighters,
fishing boats, and
the occasional Amerindian dugout.
The ghosts of the Jonestown dead
wander here, betrayed
by their leader’s selfish view
of Heaven.

Miles away, up the brooding Berbice River,
several hours walk from the nearest village,
a little Afro-Guyanese woman,
now approaching eighty-two,
tends her neat garden
of borabean, squash,
bokchoy, mango, fiery bird pepper,
banana, papaw, and avocado.
Long ago, as a valued friend
and domestic,
she travelled with her “Mistuh” and “Mistress”
to live in Trinidad and Delhi,
and to visit the islands
of Tobago, and far-off Phuket.
In her sparse hut mementoes:-
fabrics, carvings, batiks,
knick-knacks haggled over,
and hard won by this frugal lady,
in the bright markets of Sarojini,
Dilihut, Khan, Yashwant,
and the packed streets of Patong.
Her photo album has pride of place,
and she smiles as she sees, once again,
her strange Northern children,
remembering diapers, laughter,
bruises, and fairy tales;
kisses, and
“Good night, Venus.
We love you.”

The distances are great,
but the memories
are as close
as our hearts.

On Elementary Fermions

“The Standard Model recognizes two types of elementary fermions: quarks and leptons. In all, the model distinguishes 24 different fermions: 6 quarks and 6 leptons, each with a corresponding anti-particle.” ~Wikipedia

Is it any wonder,
considering our composition,
that we are so conflicted
about the human condition?

We are composed of empty space,
fermions, and unknown matter:
we should not be surprised
we’re as mad as any hatter.

It’s not so much the fermions
that drive me to dismay,
but the cursed anti-particles
keep getting in the way!

With such internal chaos,
malignant and benign,
progress forward must be random, 
and not by our design.

Perhaps quantum realignment 
can save us from ourselves:
not a Theory of Everything,
but one of Everything Else!

~James D. Fanning

Demonic Possession

We all carry our own demons:
chimeras that stalk
the gothic halls
of our subconscious,
awaiting the perfect moment
to leap,
slavering,
into reality.

The burden can be onerous,
and many of us stumble,
never to regain
full cognisance.
Others live
with eyes like haunted lighthouses,
peopled by echoes
of demonic laughter,
and shrieks of sadistic joy.

If we can embrace these terrible tenants,
these monsters in our closets,
and talk with them,
here in the sun,
we begin to see them for what they are:
small demons
that did no lasting harm;
dusty, stick-drawing demons,
who made a pretence of being evil; 
laughable demons from the trunk of life,
mere dress-up clothes
from an older, 
and darker, 
day.