Demerary Telepathy

Guyana, that extraordinary country teeming with poets and storytellers, has produced two more outstanding poets in Sasenarine Persaud and Rupert Roopnaraine.

Sasenarine Persaud is a customs officer as well as a poet. His collection, Demerary Telepathy reveals an intimate bond between his words and the profound love he feels for his country. His particular skill in describing the multifarious images of water that arise from the land and sea around him are often full of surprise and beauty, whether he is showing how

‘disinfected with dew
the surgical morning
slices into consciousness’

or when

‘this rage of waterangels
on zinc
Occurs when clouds touch
River.’

His satirical poems carry a very keen edge, and some are aimed at those who have left Guyana and write from exile. For Persaud, the choice is to stay and struggle, with words and government, as a declaration of patriotic love and principle.