Book of Proverbs
In Guyana they say
Wha rain can’t full, dew can’t full
but I never met a Guyanese who does give up suh quick.
shrug their shoulders and walk ‘way.
every hill the one to die on.
In Guyana they say
Me nah able
but if yuh see how they able. ask them
how many lifetimes they have been laboring.
how many times they have been at sea.
In Guyana they say
Every bush ah man night time
but I think am having trouble with my vision during the day.
my corneas have been fashioning predators before high noon.
In Guyana they say
Moon ah run till day ketch am
but I have been running since I was my grandmother.
I can taste rust on my tongue.
In Guyana they say
Fish and cast net nah friend
and I have been stifled in enough netting to know
better.
In Guyana they say
When bird fly too fast he pass he nest
I cannot remember how I got here.
I am looking for the way north for the summer.
Elizabeth Shanaz
Elizabeth Shanaz is a New York based writer. Her work has been featured in Playboy, Human/Kind, PREE Lit, Zhagaram Literary, BRAWL Literary, The Literary Times, Soul Forte, wildscape Literary Journal, and the Blue Minaret, among other journals and magazines. She studied writing and literature at CUNY City College before earning her law degree from NYU School of Law. She is the proud child of Guyanese immigrants.