The Owl and the Pussycat

By Edward Lear

The Owl and the Pussycat went to sea
In a beautiful pea-green boat.
The took some honey and plenty of money
Wrapped up in a 5-pound note.

The Owl looked up to the stars above
And sang to a small guitar:
“O lovely Pussy, oh Pussy my love,
What a beautiful pussy you are
You are,
You are,
What a beautiful pussy you are.”

Pussy said to the Owl:
“You elegant fowl!
How charmingly sweet you sing!
O, let us be married, too long we have tarried –
But what shall we do for a ring?”

They sailed away, for a year and a day
To the land where the bong-tree grows
And there in a wood, a piggy-wig stood
With the ring at the end of his nose
His nose,
His nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.

“Dear pig are you willing
To sell for one shilling your ring?”
Said the piggy “I will.”

So they took it away
And were married next day
By the turkey who lived on the hill.
They dined on mince
And slices of quince
Which they ate with a runcible spoon.

And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand
They danced by the light of the moon
The moon,
The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.

Mashramani is one of Guyana’s national holidays, a week-long of events, ending in Republic Day. Mashramani comes from the Amerindian word which means “a celebration of a job well done” (as cited in Wikipedia and Rhomayne Li, fresh out of secondary school). The celebrations display colorful costumes, bold dances, calypso, and other forms of merry-making. This year's theme is: "Embracing our Diversity, Celebrating our Heritage."

Georgetown has its big celebrations in the capital, wrought with parades and other events. Lethem in Region 9, has its celebrations, too. Last year, my village of Yups had some celebrations of their own, too. Maisie (our Headmistress) arranged a bonfire, a parade and school rally and other events. It was something that made the Stabroek News, as many remote villages don’t hold their own festivities. Y is still planning a weeklong of events this year, but this year we also are participating in some of the activities in Lethem. The department of education is arranging for more school involvement in the activities and arranged many cultural items for the students to participate in.

Mrs. Li selected some of her students to enter into the Dramatic Poetry competition, which was held Friday. She selected “The Owl and the Pussycat” for them to recite/act and worked with them each day for a week or two. She came to me for support and so we worked with them together. Merisa was our narrator, reciting most of the poem, except for the dialogue. I’ve mentioned Merisa a couple times; she’s the young one with exceptional dancing abilities as well as confidence. Cheryl was the pussycat; she’s Miss Evenena’s daughter and exudes a quiet confidence as well as manners.

The role of our elegant fowl was a little harder to select. Mrs. Li gathered two veteran actors in her class, Salman and Jason, and then two boys I hadn’t seen act before, Reon and Harrington. Salman and Jason are quite confident in general, and swagger around like old pros. They were having a little TOO much fun, actually. I had to hide my smile. Reon impressed me with his performance; however, he was so enthusiastically singing to the pussycat he looked like he was angry with her, not in love. Harrington looks as if smiling comes extremely easy to him. He has this guileless look on his face at almost all times. When he was singing he did it like he was acting, but bringing a part of himself to the piece, too. An Amerindian Elegant Fowl.

We worked on body placement and emphasizing words and motions. We worked on slowing down and making it more natural, and we worked on Merisa’s eye contact with the audience and the owl and the pussycat’s eye contact with each other. At the end when they dance, we worked on moves that first resembled forro, but slowly became more waltz-like. The fowl is supposed to dip the pussy at the end and that was a source of effort. I found myself instructing Cheryl how to properly bend back, while wryly reflecting I’ve never done such a move myself. These kids have such bold personalities, and I can really joke and do more with them. There’s a little added satisfaction with working with these guys.

Friday morning, I set out with Maisie, Bryan and Merisa, Cheryl and Harrington for the event, to be held at the St. Ignatius benab. It was Cheryl and Harrington’s first time going to Lethem. Merisa told them about driving over the hills and how it makes your stomach feel funny. We arrived late, but apparently not too late that we couldn’t go back into Lethem and get breakfast first. A nearby village had a truckful of students participating, too, that we met along the road, and together we had breakfast before going back over.

We walked to the staging area and saw enough older kids wearing flashy, glittery costumes and make up, tons of green, red and yellow. I wonder if the kids were intimidated; I was. Schools from nearby sent participants, but not too many smaller villages had participants. Cheryl slipped into her black leotard-like dress with a scarf tied at her throat and mask made out of cardboard. Harrington had what was probably one of Maisie’s old blouses from the 80’s that was cinched at the waist with what was probably one of her old belts from the 80’s – and the ensemble looked owl –like. He had a cardboard mask, too. Merisa forgot her outfit and the plastic bracelet-sized ring that she was supposed to wear “at the end of her nose” for her brief role as the piggy-wig. She had to pretend. I got a ‘before’ picture of them, then we crept to where they would enter the stage and looked out at the crowd and the current performers. Harrington’s smile was harder to come by. (I was glad I had them practice in front of the school the day before to get used to the audience.) I gave them a brief pep talk, and then went to join the audience so I could take pictures. While waiting, I saw Elvira, one of the girls I tutored in my Common Entrance class last year. She was one of the group that passed and actually went on to secondary school. It was great to see her! We watched our group together.

Though the kids had practiced enough, they couldn’t really have practiced with microphones, something that the participants used for the program. Maisie mentioned that they might use them and that they should hold the mic away from their mouth, but it definitely is something that one needs to get used to. The kids were introduced and a lady tried to give Merisa a microphone, but Merisa refused it: “We need to bow first,” she told her, which could be heard over the PA system. I couldn’t hold back a laugh. They all bowed, THEN Merisa took the mic and introduced their poem.

They all remembered to find the middle of the stage, to stand close to each other and Merisa remembered to look out to the audience. When it came time for Harrington to sing to the pussy with his guitar, they fumbled a bit as the mic was passed around, but the fowl sang and strummed the guitar well enough. They had the audience laughing and enjoying it. Cheryl remembered her actions and spoke clearly. More fumbling a couple pauses as the mic went around. Then, time came for the dancing at the end and I was nervous. They danced slowly and didn’t look off beat, then the dip came, which was brief, but smooth. They did well! I was so tickled. "An owl and a pussycat... now THAT's diversity," the MC said.

Yupukari came so humbly; one bag filled with all their props and costumes, in a sea of glitter, bright colors, short skirts, big elaborate costumes, access to more supplies and electricity and previous experience in such competitions. But the kids came, performed and entertained with bravery. And, wouldn’t you know it? We brought first in our category! Got a trophy and everything.

Think of the world of opportunities this little trip to Town made on them. I think one of the main reasons I am so fond of all these kids in Y is the huge potential I see in them every time I stare at their faces, their beauty, their personalities. I was so honored to be able to come along on this little journey of these 3 kids.