"That is the whole blasted trouble," he said. "Shop
keeper, lawyer, doctor, labourer, overseer – I don’t
look like any of them."
- V. S. Naipaul, A House for Mr. Biswas (1961)
Ah, Mohun, readers then would have done anything
to help, despite how omens end. Alec spat out a cigarette
that had burned down to his lips and gone dead.
Not cause you
these days nobody browsing book . ‘bout island
fevers, fate | Is puss-puss here, trap waste there;
night forbearing turn side ways ~ wait for the world
to yield its sweetness.
Say what you like ‘bout blood . base^borne / Mrs Tulsi,
scooping up beans with a shovel of roti; burly Negroes;
Shektar, his Presbyterian modern wife / or line^served.
Our
Biswas . First of its Fame from cane stock lifting . great
fighter.
^
Took chance on learner^swings : sign painter, journalist,
home planning; reading Samuel Smiles, Marcus Aurelius
Epictetus.
Husband man
handling all the work, his vein of fortune Blocked Not
Found tried^open. Going to buy that gold brooch
for you, girl!
He didn't
have the Hindu delight in details of death; didn’t
shiver, lonely In the snowy and the blowy | name called
Leave this house, too.
Ask now if^how times change | the plunder?
man, I tell you; like virus trust^divide does heat . core
plates loose . ol’ age one Helluva thing.
– W.W.
[ In mem : Mohun Biswas .||. To Zulaika A. ]
THE HUNTER WHO DOES NOT EAT MEAT
But every time I go back home to spread out
the bounty of my hunt before their fire,
only that few taste anything more
than the flattering flavour of their
own salty dessicated flaking flesh,
and I must leave again to redeem the hunt,
rather than remain behind to be obliged
to witness the cindering of golden
feathers and the charring of white bones
………………………………………………….
(from “Readiness” by Brian Chan)
FARJOURNEY CARIBBEAN 