Activity: Live Reading
Topics: Literature, History, Environment
Date: Tuesday 16th June 2026
Time: 5.30 PM
Venue: Moray House Trust
Suggested donation: $2000
On a particularly wet afternoon in June, Moray House Trust hosted a live reading by Scott Ting-a-Kee. He is a Guyanese writer, the author of the novella, Red Hibiscus and several published poems including God/dess(ence) and Her Feat. Warm thanks to those who made the pilgrimage to hear Scott read and were richly rewarded.
With his kind permission, we are delighted to share one of the poems that he read:
Barrel of Monkeys
Europeans came with their taxonomy,
imperial penchant for (re)naming,
empirical facts of biology,
and their knack for dividing.
Enticed by opium, we boarded in droves,
entrapped by tales of celestial doves.
They came in peace, offering wealth,
a golden olive-branch in their beaks.
The doves were vultures,
(feeding on outcast souls long dead)
eagles and hawks of a strange culture
(preying on our addicted love and dread).
Rats for experimentation – indentureship.
Good worker bees – docile, well-behaved, industrious,
intelligent, agricultural (the Lords sang our praises).
We mocked the Cat fooled by the Zodiac Rat,
strange Karma?
“. . . so many monkeys”
Dr Ely had wise eyes,
saw through our guise.
Sun Wukong was not dead,
he lived in our dread.
Monkeys in a barrel,
cooped in a ship,
watery graves called some home,
the suicide god of our honour
claimed some souls.
Then, our anger was our god.
Tell them we came,
our blood spilled in the barrel,
with dignity but dare not hide the tale
our blood the barrel filled.
Maddened monkeys in a rage.
Provoked!
Let the river of crimson history
diffuse we mingled your blood and ours
into a blooded pool of insane revelry.
Blessed be the colony.