A goobie is not a calabash - Ted Eric Matthews

Is not de calabash ah want, is de goobie!
Yo’ don’t know de difference? Well I tell yo’!
You young people don’t know dese tings. Yo’ all outa touch!
But we can’t afford to lose everything. We got to keep up de culture
an’ de tradition. After all, is we history.
Leh me ask you – yo’ ever drink bushie, or piewari? Yo’ ever taste cassiri?
Yo’ ever sail up de Potaro, or de Cuyuni, or de Mazaruni?
Yo’ ever see dem women fetching dey heavy warishi,
or squeezing out de cassava juice
from de mattapee? We mus’ keep dese tings. Is we history.
Leh me ask yo’ dis—yo’ ever eat labba an’ drink creek water?
When yo’ was a small boy, yo’ ever had nara, or latta?
Anybody ever call yo’ lamata?
Yo’ ever knock down follow-me nest, an’ den had to run like hell?
Tek me advice – go an’ see de stone glyphs, de stone writing at Timehri, visit de
ruins at Fort Kyk-over-al, go to Kaieteur Falls,
the highest single drop in de world,
go to de Rupununi an’ tek in de beauty of de savannahs,
go to Tumatumari, to Kwakwani, to Issano,
To Imbaimadai, to Aishalton. All is we own. Is we history!
Yo’ know how much people sacrifice an’ dead fo’ we?
We caan look at dis ting cass cass! Is serious!
Leh me tell yo’ – when yo’ go waterside, yo’ might meet fairmaid;
An’ when yo’ go up some ah dem rivers, yo’ might meet water mumma,
or massacuruman.
Leh me ask you – plimpla ever jook yo’ finger? Or stick in yo’ foot?
Yo ever had strimps wid carrila dove down in some coconut milk?
Listen – yo’ see dem gangasaka crawling up deh?
Up in Canje we does call dem dondaweri.
same lizard, different name!
Yo know we is de fus in South America to get a railroad?
No? Well yo’ know now!
We mus’ pass it on, because is we culture, is we history!
Anyway, t’anks fo’ de goobie.
Ley me tek a drink ah dis cool rainwater!

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Ted Eric Matthews (20th century) Guyana
Source: Diaspora Times, Vol 1, Issue 11, Oct 2015, p. 23