(Editor’s note<\/strong>: Michael Gilkes died in April 2020. His obituary in the Stabroek News<\/a> includes a short discussion of this volume of poetry.)<\/em><\/p>\n Poet Michael Gilkes has written a series of love poems to his wife, Joan Eleanor, as well as to his native land, Guyana, in his book Joanstown and Other Poems<\/em> (Leeds, U.K.: Peepal Tree, 2002). The result is a moving portrait of the country and people he cherishes.<\/p>\n In some twenty poems, Gilkes evokes Guyana\u2019s natural history, its pre-colonial past, its life under colonial rule, and the present. Vivid portraits of people and places remind us that Guyana is much more than the Jonestown tragedy that occurred there in 1978. Indeed, the very title Joanstown<\/em> indicates that Gilkes plans to present the antithesis of the other \u201cJonestown\u201d in a celebration of all that makes the nation beautiful, memorable, and beloved.<\/p>\n Michael Gilkes (b. 1933) is a dramatist, literary critic, poet, and educator. He has taught at University of the West Indies (Barbados), at Sir Arthur Lewis Community College in Santa Lucia, and at Randolph-Macon Woman\u2019s College in Lynchberg, Virginia. He has written several books analyzing the work of Guyana-born novelist Wilson Harris, and his own poems and plays have won awards in Guyana.<\/p>\n Some poems recall life under colonial rule. \u201cSon of Guyana\u201d repeats the refrain \u201cDoan\u2019 tell me \u2018bout Guyana,\u201d in a poem that depicts the fight for independence.<\/p>\n Doan\u2019 tell me \u2018bout Guyana The title poem \u201cJoanstown\u201d describes a place called \u201cThe Town\u201d \u2013 undoubtedly Georgetown, the capital city \u2013 saying it was<\/p>\n . . . A Dutch linen tablecloth hand-crafted with care These lines allude to the Dutch control of Guyana, but then shift to British control with a reference to the Victoria law courts, \u201ca chessboard, where, the white queen reigns,\u201d that is, a statue of Queen Victoria.<\/p>\n In many instances Gilkes\u2019 poems seem a bit nostalgic, looking back to an idealized past of young love and family happiness. The opening poem, \u201cPrologue,\u201d sandwiches a depiction of his courtship of Joan between glimpses of his \u201cdolphin-daughter\u201d swimming. The first lines of \u201cJoanstown\u201d also suggest Gilkes\u2019 pursuit of Joan:<\/p>\n Girl and town are interwoven by those magic years: Georgetown is painted similarly, that is, in romantic yet realistic tones. \u201cWater Street,\u201d \u201cThe Museum,\u201d \u201cKingston Methodist,\u201d and others summon images of streets, rivers, merchants, and other concrete examples of the bustling life of the city.<\/p>\n Although the book as a whole clearly divorces Guyana and its Joanstown from the American Jonestown, Gilkes does include a single poem devoted to \u201cJonestown.\u201d In its entirety it reads:<\/p>\n It stained the rivers red. Stir any creek, the red stain shows. Joanstown and Other Poems<\/em> is a book that should make the Guyanese people proud of their country. It reminds them \u2013 and us \u2013 of the nation\u2019s foibles, beauty, and essence. Guyana is not Jonestown; nor is Jonestown Guyana. Michael Gilkes brings home this truth with grace and power.<\/p>\n (Rebecca Moore is Professor Emerita of Religious Studies at San Diego State University. She is currently Reviews Editor for\u00a0<\/em>Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions\u00a0and Co-Director of The Jonestown Institute.\u00a0 Her other articles in this edition of <\/em>the jonestown report are <\/em>The FBI and Religion: The Case of Peoples Temple<\/a>;<\/em> Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Information, and the National Security State<\/a>; Representations of Jonestown in the Arts<\/a>; and An Update on the Demographics of Jonestown<\/a><\/em>.<\/em> Her complete collection of articles on this site appears\u00a0<\/em>here<\/em><\/a>.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" (Editor’s note: Michael Gilkes died in April 2020. His obituary in the Stabroek News includes a short discussion of this volume of poetry.) Poet Michael Gilkes has written a series of love poems to his wife, Joan Eleanor, as well as to his native land, Guyana, in his book Joanstown and Other Poems (Leeds, U.K.: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":70268,"menu_order":13,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-70313","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/70313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=70313"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/70313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99990,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/70313\/revisions\/99990"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/70268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=70313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nDoan\u2019 talk \u2018bout ole B. G.
\nDey call it \u201cBookers Guyana\u201d
\nsince was Bookers own all ah we.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nfor setting out a city\u2019s treasured silverware.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\ntry to conjure one the other one appears.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nThe vowels are howler monkeys roaring, shocked again
\nby carnage in Paradise, their mouths widening to oval O\u2019s.
\nBelievers felled like lumber for some dumb, millennial plan:
\nagain, spectacular failure of Upright Man.
\nThe site\u2019s been cleared. Deceivers and deceived are gone.
\nOf all that sin-converted host only their sins remain
\nwashed in the unconverted forest\u2019s cleansing rain.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n