Godchild is a collage of literary art-short stories and poetry, rooted in the soul of Eintou Pearl Springer and sprouted onto a paginated canvas. A former Poet Laureate and director of the National Heritage Library, Springer has been the evocative voice on cultural preservation, personhood and nationalism-through the medium of education. Indeed, wisdom is sometimes obfuscated by a labyrinth of codes and Zen-like adages. But it is oftentimes said that life's deepest mysteries are revealed in the simplest of pronouncements. Godchild strengthens that argument.
Springer is at her imaginative and artistic best-blending the patois-influenced oral traditions of her Santa Cruz heritage with standard poetic cadences. Godchild is a dedication to children in Trinbago and the diaspora. Its foreword states, "it contains material of interest for both older and younger children." This is but a half truth. In essence, Godchild's enduring lessons should be readily sought by adults.
Its poems and stories dance, rhythmically, to provocative messages (that) we as adults have failed to grasp, for the most part. In her inimitable style, Springer has invoked the very spirit of Isaiah 11:6 of the Bible: "The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lions. And a little child will lead them all."
In 20 pieces of literary art, accompanied by colourful illustrations, Springer soars, mightily. Decades of experience as an educator, activist, and writer are imprinted in every syllable, every word and every line.
In The Green Poinsetta Tree, the gift of sharing is finally revealed to Ma Ruby, the protagonist. Poinsetta, with a haunting similarity to the fabled Ebenezer Scrooge and the Christmas Carol, reverberates with mysticism, yet remains true to its fundamental lesson of kindness to strangers. Herons in Flight is a painful testimony of man's slow annihilation of nature, the effects of which are damning for all posterity.
Survivor captures an eerie, dark chapter in human history, yet it shines with the transcendence of an indomitable and Herculean people. In Jessel's Song and A Lash Pass, Springer celebrates the pageantry and artistic genius of Trinbagonian culture. We read:
Pan coming nearer
It sweeter and sweeter
It setting mih whole mind on fire.
I Want to Know tugs away at your soul. Dedicated to children of Uphaven Primary School in Wiltshire, England, Springer touches on nostalgia and a diaspora teetering on deculturalisation.
I want to know of Nanny
And Boukman and Anansi
And people who fought ceaselessly
To be free from slavery
I want to know of people indentured from India
Bringing their history
And culture
For all the rest to share
In Goldilocks, the starkness of socio-economic inequity experienced through the prism of a child is explored. It's seemingly innocuous story-telling but with an undeniable psychoanalytic underpinning.
And in the riveting paradox of the Caribbean Sea, we are caressed by the ocean's splendour, absorbing its colour and warmth, only to be jolted by the harrowing and indelible reality of the secrets she holds:
My sea moans
Over the bodies
Of slaves fed to sharks
It has wept for centuries
And its rage and fury
Have left terrible marks
This is the range and genius of Springer. Her message is simple, profound and lucid. She adhorts us to look within, to revisit our folklore, our traditions, for therein we find incomparable resources-tools to educate our young, rewire our society and create a purpose-centred society. Yes, every poem, every story is a gem-steeped in humanism and existentialism-and crowned by stanzas of the book's title:
Who am I
I am God's child
Put to catch
The sun and rain and grow and flower for a while
Who am I
I am God's child
With every right
To know
Love.
For sheer passion, Godchild is unrivaled.
A Must Read
Godchild by Eintou Pearl Springer.
ISBN978-1-872596-16-7.
Karnak House
e-mail: karnakhouse@aol.com
Tel: 10868-351-3447
-Dr Glenville Ashby
New York foreign correspondent
The Guardian Media Group
