Ganja smoke and looking for Romance, Murder and the Tanakh - Groundings 21 May 2022
Ganja smoke
The smell is familiar , heavy wafting over use like some kind of blessing over the random interactions of books and poems.
We are next to a man wearing dirty brownish three quarter length pants and not wearing shoes or not wearing shirt but wearing a smile on his face. He leans sometimes against one of the concrete poles holding up the roof sheltering him and us.
I look over and see him put the yellow lighter - bright on the grey day and against the greenish brownish pant.. back in the pocket. The colour of the joint is similar to the colour of the pants. Slight flame at the end.
He ignores us except for when he asked for a $100 with the joint in his mouth and I told him nah after giving another man who was barefoot and who explained the calculation of his age to us and was going to repeat it so I gave that man the $100 to move on. Maybe his joint was hidden in the calculations
The man with the joint leaned against the iron post and continued to ignore us while smiling.
Romance
A teenage boy was the first person not to ignore us, walking , passing and turning back.
'Of course, I like to read' he said , eyes on the table with the books after I asked. Road is wet and sky sometimes grey.
We put the books on the table. Put up and call out Free Books.
Some people look at us and look away and keep walking. A woman with a big smile and purple hair and a bright yellow shirt asked if he had children's books. I said no.."but don't you read" and she turned back smiling and said 'nah now, now is Internet"
(Thanks Konyo ) A woman came, searched quietly, talked, picked up Helen of Troy , sat a bit. "I like to read.. and mind my own business"
A young taxi driver, face kind of pensive, uncertain as he explained he is looking for books to read with his 6 and 3 year old children."Sometimes in the night I read for myself" .. said it quietly as though surprised that anyone would ask. Man talk is not about books any more probably.
He took one of the poems but did not read it aloud. It seems something was on his mind.
But parents were not only collecting for their small children. A couple came on a scooter to shelter from the rain. Their adult son is on three months bed rest after an accident. "He like to read.. history and so.. " They say in that way of knowing but not knowing as interested parents.
So we tried to find a few which they thought their son would like.
"what do you read". The mother smiled and said she don't really read. The father said .. I used to read.. westerns and so. As they left "is a good ting the rain fall..and we sheltering"
Another young man took a book of Egbert Martin poems for his 9 year old son. 'I don't really read'.. his wife said' yall doing good thing"
"I don't understand it"
"I don't understand it" the boy said after cheerfully agreeing to read Mahadai Das' Return me to the Fire as the price of the books he collected. We tried to discuss it and talked about fire and reincarnation. Another woman , studying Literature at University, said she liked to read and was glad to be studying Literature. She read Return Me to the Fire for the first time. She had not heard of Mahadai Das.
He brought one of his friends to collect books. 'Harry Potter' is what they liked. The boy read one of Edgar Mittelholzer's Creole Chips. They had not heard of Mittelholzer.. most of the people had not heard of him. Stephanie Bowry said she remembered in school her teacher showing them Mittelholzer's house in Coburg Street. 'The house is not there'.. not there like any knowledge of one of the writers who started in Berbice.
A woman came up looking and we asked what she liked and she said 'Romance' . There was a Mills and Boons and a Barbara Cartland. Another woman asked "Yall read all these books.. which ones you recommend?" and we pick out. Another woman said her eyes were going but she still taking a book or two.
Murder
A young woman was looking and picking up books and putting them down. I asked her what she liked to read and she said anything. So I said, sci fi, romance.. and her eyes lit up when I said 'murder' and so we looked at a few murder mysteries.
A nurse wanted medical books - and she laughed as she read the poem aloud .. the 'price' for the free book.
Another woman said she had to read poems because 'well you know, home schooling in the Covid" -
Did home schooling mean that parents had to resume reading for sake of their children? Was it part of the labour associated with the pandemic?
One girl said she already had a poems book , but 'give she .. she don't have any' pointing to her friend. Her friend smiled and held the Egbert Martin book . 'will you read one'.. she kept smiling as the friend said 'no she shy'.
"I like to read" a young woman said .. and she picked up a pile of random books. She read "The Flower by Rabindranath Tagore".. first time hearing about him
"More books" .. a woman said.. "I got books to give away too".. and she explained her books, her brother's books .. she browsed but did not take any. She saw the Guysuco advertisement on the pamphlet by Petamber Persaud on Guyanese authors of Indian ancestry, published on the 100th Anniversary of the abolition of Indian indentureship in 2017.
"Guysuco' she laughed.. "i aint get back wuk since estate fire me" Another woman collecting books muttered "well when you lost one wuk you gotta keep looking for another one'
Another young man said he heard of Martin Carter .. I did English B.. but can't remember reading any of his poems.
Tanakh
The groundings is a challenge for us to do some interactions with strangers over books (and poems). For introverts who don't like talking to people. "I don't read' the man told me as he parked his bike and started picking up books. He leaned on the bike, picked up, put down, packed. Shades. Face relaxed.
I tried again. "What do you like to read?".
"I know what I want.. " slight smile. I shut up.. I not asking about no poem or anything here. He took a book and smiled and waved and rode away.
Another serious man, spectacles. Cap, pink mask. Picking up books, putting down. I said .. arite don't bother the man with no poem thing.
He picked up a book about Eastern philosophy. Some other old classics.
I tried a thing... "what do you like to read". Man's face relaxed, mask dropped to see the smile. "I am looking for the Hebrew Tanakh".. I asked Torah you mean.. .. and he said no the whole thing.. Tanakh and he explained about the books, about the prophecy was not for the virgin birth 'Almah' was the word used..
"Are you Hebrew " I asked..
"Nah.. I like Hinduism but interested in these other spiritual books. I have books about Americans , Russians and so." We found Tolstoy's War and Peace and he said yes, yes. and he took it.
"I have a French book too. Alexandre Le Grand.. - Alexander the Great - 1804.. leather bound" .. we said wow.. what would you do with it? He did not say.. as he explained about finding in it and keeping it.
He took one of the poems. Read it aloud .. one by Edlyn n Benfield who had sent them for the first street poem event. "Is a long time I did not read one aloud"
He said he did not need a bag, he had one in his jacket pocket.
Time to pack up. I said "free books" to a a group of school children in uniform.
They ignored us.
Like the man smoking ganja ignored us.
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