Days and Nights of the Blue Iguana
In Days and Nights of the Blue Iguana, her 2005 collection of poetry, Heather Royes shows herself not only to be a very good writer but also a person who is able to address harsh topics without wallowing in either anguish or gore. That delicate balance is achieved in 'Red and Gold Sweet Dreams Sachet', which comes midway the first segment of the book, which starts with the title poem. The other two sections are 'Wajang Woman' and 'Selections From The Caribbean Raj'. Royes writes about rape: ""The Red and Gold Sweet Dreams sachet/lies undisturbed beside the pillow,/silent witness to your secret trauma."" She also strikes that balance in 'Theophilus Jones Walks Naked Down King Street', detailing his death walk to suicide in Kingston Harbour, the end coming when ""Until nothing could be seen of him./Some orange peel, an old tin-can/and a sea-saturated cigarette box/floated over his demise.""
EXCELLENT WRITING
The 39 poems in Days and Nights of the Blue Iguana do not dwell on the harsher side of life (although death comes again in 'Babylon Be Still', 'Romeo Lawrence Goes To The Barber' and 'For a Jamaican Soldier Killed in Vietnam'). Instead, Royes' excellent writing skills, keen eye for detail and strong sense of proper perspective are applied across the Caribbean, from Guyana Seawall to Hotel In Havana (Cuba stands out with four visits in verse), touching on 'Carnival In Port of Spain' and, of course, Jamaica in 'Xaymaca, Is What Do You?' and several other poems. In fact, 'Xaymaca Is What Do You?' is the only poem in which Royes writes in Jamaican language (briefly), demanding in a tone of exasperation ""Xaymaca, is what do you?/I will give up all others for you/and I will be more faithful/than I have ever been before./But you lie down with everyone,/and you fornicate with guns."" However, she concludes, as do many of us, that ""I love you so till.""
A POET'S SPIN
She puts a poet's spin on things that many of us take for granted. In 'Camps-Campins Paints a Purple Evening at Devon House' she describes ""the bone-white mansion,/now a studio backdrop for slave weddings""; in 'Take Time' and 'Heartease Will Come' she describes how ""red poincianas decorate the Mona Dam"". With her Caribbean extending to Paramaribo (the capital of Suriname), Royes gets to the heart of her love for the region in the exquisite 'No Exile - Small Sabbaticals Now and Then', writing: ""No exile - small sabbaticals now and then. But I could not leave the Caribbean - /always seeking the imbroglio of cultures,/constantly exhausted by my affairs."" There is one Caribbean man who makes the connection with his homeland and one must feel for a 'Jamaican Soldier Killed in Vietnam' as he lies on his back dying ""and the sky look blue above the bamboo/which is just like the bamboo in St. Ann."" Royes does not shy away from race, as in 'Guyana Seawall' she writes ""Looking out over the seawall,/I absorb the huge expanse, the frontierland -/and absolve my white ancestors."" Then, in 'The Mulatress Says It Hot Fi True', the mistress accepts the ministrations of the ""rum-bellied, heavy-breathing"" Englishman"" as ""She knew her role,/she understood both sides - /where they met and where they came apart.""
MATTERS OF THE LOINS
And Royes is not shy in matters of the loins, ruminating in 'Singing in the Bath with Your Young Son' that she is ""two walls away,/watching tv, wondering/how you look,/naked, shining-nude.""
But it is with separation that the book opens with its title poem, Royes musing ""One day when you and I/have gone our separate ways,/we will remember/the days and nights of the blue iguana ... One day, when you and I/have unpacked in different cities,/and divided our books correctly,/we will remember how we drank coffee ...
