The Kiskadee is a bird native to Guyana and often referred to in Edgar Mittelholzer's brilliant novel, The Life and Death of Sylvia (1953). The bird is so named because its cry seemed by French colonists to be enquiring: "Qu’ est ce qu’il dit?". So what did he say? This blog is about two key topics: EDGAR MITTELHOLZER (his life and his works) and ME (my encounter with Mittelholzer and tales of life in Guyana).

Wednesday, 3 December 2014

Pomeroon Chips: The Water-Drummer

A gaggle of startled gaulins soar of a sudden. Distance themselves from the undulating line of Mucca-Mucca. The ordinarily still water becomes choppy; warns of impending rain. No more sibilant sssssshhhhhhing of water parting ways with the sides of our boat, but a drummer's shlap-shlap, tup-tup, shlash-shlash, pap-pap, as though some ancestor with large hands was shaping music-words on the underside of the fibre-glass bow.





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