This is a dark time my love Martin Carter

Written half a century ago, Martin Carter's imagery of armies of occupation and oppression are strangely resonant even today. The Caribbean region is facing its darkest time as we seek to deal with the globalisation of crime, the never ending cycle of poverty and the attrition rate of this our most disposable generation since the emancipation of slaves. Because we know better, because we know what to do to make the flowers bloom again...this is indeed the dark time, we haunt ourselves with visions of a better place, a proud country a safe home. This is the dark time...come outside, take control of the darkness and let our collective light shine. Martin Carter's Guyana is made up primarily of people of African and Indian descent and that there has been and continues to be racial disharmony. This separation along racial lines has led to violent outbreaks in which lives and property have been destroyed and the hatred between the races, in some cases, has intensified. In this short poem, the speaker is talking to a loved one about the painful events through which they are passing. 'dark time' (previously considered); 'brown beetles'; 'red flowers'; 'season of oppression'; 'dark metal'; 'festival of guns'; 'carnival of misery' and lines ten to twelve. This poem has no irrelevancies; the speaker does not 'beat around the bush' but attacks the situation head-on. The speaker does not hide anything but speaks his mind, after all, he is talking to someone he loves and in whom he, no doubt, has confidence. Every word is designed to create a picture of painful circumstances and fear and an attack hope. Beetles, he says are crawling everywhere. What do you know about this particular insect? Yes.. that they have hard outer wings, are large and are a threat to some crops in Guyana as elsewhere. Think of the word 'crawling' in connection with the insect and you will see the implication of stealthy/secret but great damage which can be done by it or by any human so described. The next point he makes is about the pervasive darkness, the lack of any room for hope, which covers the land while elsewhere the sun shines brightly, signifying prosperity for others. Here, a man-made bleakness prevails and people cannot and do not feel that there is any possibility of success. Even nature sympathises with man's plight so that 'the red flowers bend their heads' in great grief. Consider the adjective used to describe the flowers. Words such as bright, beautiful and bold come to mind in connection with red flowers but that word red is also the colour of blood which is associated with violence. There is a contrast, don't you think, between flowers that are red and the 'awful sorrow'? realise that they are not usually periods of grief-so there is something special happening here that even such flowers are mourning. The following line is a repetition of the first as the speaker emphasises the pervasive evil. He goes on to describe how harshly they are treated, of the use of the gun to keep them demoralised, and of their tears. Line seven is especially poignant-'It is the festival of guns, the carnival of misery'. We know and expect a festival/carnival to be a time of celebration. It is therefore frightening to realise that the speaker is telling his audience that violence is being celebrated. He could even be saying that the violence is planned for we know that carnivals/festivals do not just happen, they have to be arranged. Of course, this leads us to believe that the conflict, the 'celebration of violence', is motivated racially, or politically, or both. The following two lines deal with the emotions that are reflected on the faces of people across the country. They are living in fear, not knowing who will come to attack them under the cover of night's darkness. The question of whom the destroyer is, is answered in words that tell us of the strength, the confidence suggested in 'boot of steel tramps', as the fragile, those that are of no threat, pose no danger - 'slender grass' are destroyed. He is identified in lines eleven and twelve as a man who brings death and destroys their hopes and goals even as they lie helpless and unaware in their sleep.

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