Welcome to PAKARAIMA, the Guyanese Canadian Writers and Artists Association homepage. Known as PAKARAIMA, the Association derived its name from the famous mountain range that encircles the great Roraima mountain, shared by South America's tripartite, viz. Guyana, Venezuela and Brazil, we are writers and poets who live in Canada and have published works on varied subjects.

Competitions

Pakaraima is pleased to encourage emerging poets to participate in an annual poetry competition
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2010 Pakaraima Poetry Contest

Submission Guidelines

 

Deadline: Entries must be submitted or postmarked by August 30, 2010

 

Prizes:

  • First Prize – $100 plus the 2010 Winner’s Plaque

  • Finalist Prize – Books by Guyanese and Caribbean authors

  • Honorary Recognition – Certification of Recognition

Eligibility: Contestants must be over 16 years of age
Members of Pakaraima are not eligible to enter this competition.

All entries must be original and unpublished poems of any theme:
Poems must be unpublished (including in book form or on the internet).

Copyright: Authors retain the copyright of their work. Winning poems will be posted on the Pakaraima website only by the author’s permission.

Announcement of Winners: Winners will be announced via email and on the Pakaraima website on November 1, 2010. If you do not have an email address and wish to be notified in writing of the contest winners, please enclose with your entry a stamped self-addressed envelope.

Your Poetry Entry: Only one unpublished poem not more than 40 lines may be submitted. Authors wishing to submit more that one poem must pay $10.00 for each additional entry. Contestants are limited to 3 entries.

All entries must be type-written in English and double-spaced.

Please put the title of your poem, your name, email address and other contact information on a separate cover letter. The poem itself must only indicate the title of your work.

Entry Fee: $10.00. Send Cheque or Money Order payable to Pakaraima Writers and Artists.

Address: Pakaraima
9 Bridlepath Street
Richmond Hill, Ontario L4S 1V8

Contact: Email: pakaraima9@yahoo.ca Phone: 905-780-8866

 

Results of the 2009 PAKARAIMA Poetry Competition  

WINNING POEMS!

We are pleased to announce the results of the Poetry Competition for 2009:


Awards                     Name of Author             Title of Poem

First Prize:                                Narine Dat Sookram                        Home Away From Home

Although I live in a modernized country - Canada
I still love my beautiful country - Guyana
No matter how hard I try
I still find it very hard not to cry
For my country is the one for everyone
It’s the real home away from home.

 

After several years living in Canada
I finally realize there is no place like Guyana
A country that offers opportunities and freedom
Living your everyday life in a real kingdom
It’s truly the home away from home.

 

The chance for what you want to be
Is what Guyana wants all of us to see –
Because it’s the land of opportunity and richness
Allowing us to enjoy everyday happiness –
That’s why I call it my home away from home.

 

I know that anytime I can call up a friend or relative
And they’ll give me all the gossips and adjectives.
I am never unaware as to what’s going on in my country
Even if I have to correspond through paper and poetry.
Now this is what I call home away from home
It’s my home, your home, our home –
There’s no place like home.

 

 

Finalist Prize:                                    Sandy Sue-Ping                                  Musings                

All of us are, seeking solace
In the hope that we will find
Those elusive things we yearn for
Happiness and true peace of mind.

 

We are all of us, tiny moments
And we become an hour in time
When the final, day is dawning
We cling to life’s short pantomime.

 

May the dreams of, all our tomorrows
Be the reason for our endurance
And the hope that our children’s children
Will become mankind’s insurance.

 

 

 

Finalist Prize:                                Norman Datt                    Drink from my Calabash       

I offer you water in my calabash
I’m open I have nothing to stash
You did feel bad maybe
I arouse your curiosity
What a simple life I live
I have nothing to give
I gave you water in a calabash
Which I use to cook and to wash
I am not rich - I do not horde
I give you what I can afford
The calabash came from a tree
And it is clean and so healthy
It was not made by man
But came from the lan’
Man has to go back to the basics
Put aside science and physics
And try his bleddy darn best
To be sincere and be honest
And use the truth for his cure
And take a lesson from Nature

 

 

 

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Results of the 2008 PAKARAIMA Poetry Competition  

WINNING POEMS!


We are pleased to announce the results of the Poetry Competition for 2008:

Awards                     Name of Author                 Title of Poem

First Prize:               Sandy Sue-Ping                 My Native Land

The beauty of my native land
No one can ever understand
Unless he goes himself to see
The special wonders that enrapture me.

 

Each place has a beauty of a sort
Each one has his own precious haunt
Mine, I treasure in my memory
On Time! Don’t ever take them from me.

 

Rivers running swiftly over
Rapids in their majestic power
Tall, thin trees in search of light
Are Oh! So wonderous to my sight.

 

Savannahs stretching east and west
Are among the places I love best
Guyana, my home and native land
Some day to thee I shall come to rest.


Finalist Prize:         Shamela Shah                     I am a Spider Too

I am a spider too
Weaving my own web
Peacefully and at my own pace
different to which I work my way through everyday life
This is my meditation
My race, blend of cultures, morals and values are the ingredients of me (spiritually)

It is shown in the web I weave
I don’t spin for I fear losing control of my destiny and falling off my chosen path
I am selective of those I allow to enter my web for this is my kingdom

Don’t invade it
Don’t degrade it but rather appreciate our differences
No two spiders are the same
No two humans are the same
We are all unique in our own way

There are many spider out there…some you love and some you fear
So be a good one and display the beauty of your web
It will either be admired or envied
You cannot make that decision but rather be wise to know the difference
To acknowledge another sincere spider and who’s intent is to destroy
and use you as prey in their corrupted web

Protect yourself from those and love the ones who admire
Be a humble spider and you will bear the strength of a lion
In this jungle
In this jungle we live in called life

 

Merit Prize:             Norman Datt                     Killer In Our Midst

The good dies and the sick goes to prison
As drug lords and warlords vie for terrain
The Merchants of Wall & Bay streets smirk
Dry dust settles and hurt feelings subside
It’s life in a zoo of the 21st century

 Getting wiser to battle new viruses
Yet ruthlessly emptying the rain forests
Butchering and dissecting good mother earth
For precious minerals and evil believers
As non-believers pollute our blue planet

What have we become without our humanity
When we lie and die for the almighty dollar
Stifling the truth for our selfish ambition
Using the flag or religion as a crutch
And grasping nothing from history

The truth, feelings, pride are still alive
And the good will always triumph
For after deleting the violence and vices
Deep down man is a good person

When he can forgive and be charitable

 

Honorary         Rakiba Jamal                     You Guyana, Me Guyana
Recognition:   Narine Dat Sookram         This Nah Long Time


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