Latest update January 6th, 2025 4:00 AM
FOCUS ON ART
THE TOWN AND I
A Poem by Stephanie Bowry
(On Philip Moore’s art exhibition, New Amsterdam, 1990)
Stephanie Bowry was born in 1946 in British Guiana to Henry Thomas of Manchester Village, Corentyne and Duchess Babb of Rosignol on the west bank of the Berbice River. She was married to Kenrick Bowry and they have six sons.
Stephanie was privileged to grow up in an environment where people laughed with their hearts and with their eyes and where race was but a competition to find the swiftest.
That upbringing has dominated her life and writing. She is counselor, social worker, teacher, accountant, performer and a self-made poet. She still serves.
Philip Moore DIGGING THE CANALS (2003) Acrylic on canvas - 191 x 93cm Lynette Baptise Collection
THE TOWN AND I
We left our homes-
The Town and I-
High spirited
Light footed
Expectations running high.
We left our homes
The Town and I
And a kindly sun took us
To the Hall of the Town.
We climbed the stairs-
The Town and I-
Eager
Excited
Expectations high high.
We skipped the stairs-
The Town and I-
Expectations soaring
High, high, high.
Higher than the stairway broad
And its freshly painted wall.
Higher than the décor
Of the Town’s generous Hall.
Higher than the music
Soft, elite, proud.
Higher than the banner shouting-
PHILIP MOORE-
Out loud.
We walked the Hall-
The Town and I-
A-dancing
A-laughing
A-viewing each painting
Mounted proud and high.
We walked the Hall-
Up, down
Up, down-
And bewilderment dabbed
On every face a frown.
For our brains could not interpret
And our eyes could not define
The madness bold on canvas
Done with painstaking line.
And yet we walked-
Up, down, up, down-
Powerless to leave
The Hall of the Town.
For the spirits of the pieces
Held our spirits
Held our pride
And made us to sip
From the artist’s magic dip.
Then life filled every painting
And sense took every line
And understanding dawned
For me and for the Town.
And we saw, oh! Humanity
Making ladders of humanity-
Stepping on brother
On head
On shoulder
Mashing up one another
Mashing up one another
In ‘The Congested City!’
(Oh, brother step free!)
And we heard the soft communing of
‘Forefathers’
And the whispering
Of all things dead
And all things living!
“We are brethren”
They were counseling.
(Oh, brother are you listening?)
Then we heard, oh!
The drumming of
‘The African Drummers’
Drumming!
And saw the music bouncing
Sweetly off the skins and circling
Earth and sea and sky not ceasing
Thoughts emitting
Thoughts attracting
Creatures great and small a-calling!
And the language drums were speaking
Was the language of each being.
And the message drums were sending
Was that
“All things are united”-
Man and ocean, leaf and land,
Bird and beast and stone and sand.
We left the Hall-
The Town and I-
Revering the paintings
Mounted proud and high.
We left the Hall-
The Town and I-
When the sun had gone
Long from the merry sky.
THE ARTS FORUM is a PLATFORM for MULTIPLE VOICES, ESPECIALLY OF THOSE WRITERS and ARTISTS WHOSE WORKS HAVE BEEN NEGLECTED.
The Editor of THE ARTS FORUM Column, Ameena Gafoor, can be reached on Tel: 592 227 6825 or by e-mail: [email protected]
The editor of FOCUS ON ART, Bernadette Persaud, can be reached on Tel: 592 220 3337 or by e-mail: [email protected]
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