Children hungry in their mothers’ bellieslittle boys robbing Chinese shopssprouting up like wild eddoon every street corner overnightis not that money’s not aboutin this here oil-rich landnow namedExxon Guyanabut the money’s not for everyonemuch less those like you and Iwe who grovelright nowright heretodayin the cash-grant linewatch good and seeit’s me it’s usit’s all of usin the cash-grant linewatchlook down therean old old womanshe had a strokedroppedjust sothey carried her away on a stretcherfrom the cash-grant line(picture like a picture? yes picture!)some old fogies too?they also curseone anothercaught upin contentiousthis-and-thatsabout who got there firstand won’t be left for lastin the cash-grant linea hell of a lot of historyin the cash-grant linesif I didn’t tell youyou wouldn’t ever knowwhat happens over herein the cash-grant line.Guava seasonin Exxon Guyana! Gwaava Siizon in-a X-on Gaiyana Kash-Graant LainPiknii a-hungrii in-a dem muma beliilil bai a-raab dem chainii-shapspringh-op laik wail-edoopon evrii striit kaarna ovanaitan iz na-se monii na de-bout in-adis-ya dis ail-rich lanwa nou neemX-on Gaiyanabo da monii naa fa evriiwaanmoch-lis dem laik a-yuu an miiwii huu-a grovlrait nourait heetudeein-a dii kash-graant lainwach good an siiiz mii iz wiiiz aal-a-wiiin-a dii kash-graant lainwachlook dungh-deiz a ool-ool whomunshi kech strookan drap-dunghijos-soodem a-fech shi wee pon wan stretchafrom dii kash-graant lain(pikcha laik-a-pikcha? yes pikcha!)an sum ool-foogii?dem-da tuua-kos-op matiidem tuu-de insaid diitek-opsdis-an-datbout huu kom forse andoon mun fa laasin-a dii kash-graant lainiz a hel-ov-a-lot-a histooriiin-a-dem kash-graant lainif-mi-na-bin-tel-yoyo-na-bin-go-noowaa-gwaan-ya hee-sooin-a dii kash-graant lain.Gwaava siizonin-a X-on Gaiyana!
Guava Season in Exxon Guyana’s Cash-Grant Line
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© Jeremy Jacob Peretz and Joan Cambridge-Mayfield,
from Jombii Jamborii (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2025)
Joan Cambridge-Mayfield is an Afro-feminist land-water defender, former leading member of Guyana’s press corps, and author of the internationally acclaimed novel Clarise Cumberbatch Want to Go Home. She is also coauthor and translator of Jombii Jamborii. Her writing has appeared in the Antioch Review, Asymptote, and elsewhere, and has been anthologized in Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writings by Women of African Descent from the Ancient Egyptian to the Present and An Anthology of Non-Conformism: Rebel Wom!n Words, Ways and Wonders. Aunty Joan is also fellow traveler with and widow to Julian Mayfield, forever following his profound jumbi wisdom, strength, and guidance.
Jeremy Jacob Peretz is a poet and educator whose scholarship, writing, and multimedia practice have been widely recognized, including with the Caribbean Studies Association’s biennial Best Dissertation Award and a Pushcart Prize nomination. Jeremy is coauthor and translator, with Joan Cambridge-Mayfield, of Jombii Jamborii (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2025), with essays, poems, and films available through a range of venues including African American Review, Anthropology News, Caribbean Quarterly, and Massachusetts Review. Jeremy holds a PhD in culture and performance from UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance and teaches in the Faculty of Education and Humanities at the University of Guyana
"The call and response, to and fro, two-tongued, double-dutch, ring and clink, of this sing-thing, pot pourri, Jombii Jamborii should challenge, delight, inform, and transform all who read it, hear it and can’t help but feel it."
— Fred D’Aguiar
How you sound has a lot to do with how free you are. Every language brings its own luggage and history. This is what one finds in Jombii Jamborii. The book consists of linguistic duets waiting to dance with the ear. Here is a hot pot of Guyanese Creole. A reminder that the tongue is for tasting as well as for speaking.
— E. Ethelbert Miller
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