Post-Book Fair reading: Snapshot review of Sinhala poetry

The lyrical thought process of poetry has no language. It is the melted version of linguistic music that is fluid in the canvass of interpretation. No poem whispers in the same tone to two persons. Art, knowledge and its perfection is subjective. 

Every one of us carries a gold mine of poetry. It just may not be mined. It is this inner minded or un-mined poetry deep within us that interprets another’s work in the hue of our own mind and hearts, shaped by our individualistic life experience. 

In sorrow and joy poetry comes upon us. A curtain of words, it shields our pain and makes it bearable. Simultaneously, it can prevent happiness becoming gaudy in flamboyance and brush it sober with strokes of equanimity. 

Poetry is life. Poetry is death. It births anew. It kills apathy. 

A healthy trend that was noted in the Colombo International Book Fair of the past few years was an increased interest in poetry, especially Sinhala poetry. 

Below are four of the Sinhala poetry books featured this year. This article is published to promote poetry into the mainstream economic structure so that we can soon dispense with the stereotype of the artist starving to uphold his or her art.

If a country focuses on incorporating all forms of art into the mainstream economy through strategic policy making, no artist needs to be seen as peripheral humans having to eke out a living doing some other ‘day job,’ through the despair of midnight for the survival of artistic creation.

We will be continuing in the mass communication based discourse of how poetry can be mainstreamed into the economy and incorporated holistically as a creative communication tool to speak just about everything ranging from love to prevention of crime against man and the planet. 

Let us now see what the four poets chosen in this review collection communicate through their poetry. In this snapshot review we have selected one poem per book. 

Gajamuthu Saha Kandulu (Gems and Tears) by Nandasiri Keebiyahetti, is printed by Neranjana Graphics in Pannipitiya and published by Santhawa Prakashakayo, Gampaha, in 2020.

In the poem titled ‘Petha’ (tablet) the four lined, two verse poem using each word to tell its story speaks of broken trust between genders. The imagery is of a young woman seeking a ‘tablet’ for an ailment after a weary day, seeking the benevolence of an elder youth and then being given a ‘tablet’ that probably induces drowsiness. The rest of the interpretation of the poem based on what is implied is up to the reader to conclude. 

Economic use of words in Sinhala poetry

A pattern noticed in modern Sinhala poetry is the very economic use of words to tell the entire graphic of the story, frame by frame with each word setting a screen shot. 

Yannang Chandare by Timran Keerthi, recommended by Sydney Marcus Dias, founder of Thotenna Publishing House, promotes regional writers especially, for inter cultural exchange. 

When asked why he liked the book he merely replies, ‘read and see, it is interesting,  it is different.’

So I read a few poems to experience the poems through the lens of my own mind. 

The poem Veda Hamine (female traditional physician) is among the longest of the poems in the book and speaks in a story like fashion of a long lost teenage love with the young girl being addressed as Sudu Hamine alongside the endearment weda hamine. The title of the poem and the alluding to a stethoscope later in life when the long hair is cut short and the hair dyed shows it is a story that begins with a comely young girl caressing away the headache innocently of a slightly older teenage admirer, and then in a meeting probably decades later there is the class boundary which has set in through professions pursued, and taken the two lives in separate paths. 

The memory of the long ago ‘sethkama’ (treatment) of headache with a gentle caress in a village setting is forgotten by the smart and modern female western doctor but as she gazes at the forehead of her long ago patient once again across the span of time, she wonders whether she still remembers. This 8th edition of Yannang Chandare by Timran Keerthi is dated September 2022, printed by Parami Printers and Publishers (0713008050) and published/distributed by Silika Prakashana in Piliyandala ([email protected]).

The poetry book ‘Mona Lisa Thawamath Sinasei’ (Mona Lisa still smiles) by Rohana Deepal, published by Deyiandara Gamage Book Publishers (0775554365) in 2018, is representative of the resilience of women despite the acute sorrow they may endure due to abnormal conditions such as war.

Gender based significance

The poems specifically have a gender based significance pertaining to the recent history of Sri Lanka covering the past four decades.

The author speaks of the misery of war as well as general exploitation of women and prejudice, giving voice to the feminine discourse often ignored or under-estimated.

The first poem Picha Mal Suwanda (Fragrance of the Jasmine flower) speaks of a possibly Sinhala youth’s admiration of a young Tamil woman in a setting likely to be tea plantations, as there is the metaphor of the early morning cold pricking the skin with needle sharpness. The Jasmine flower is likened to her smile and the girl is likened to a flower resting in homage in the domain of some Hindu Deity. The poem speaks of unexpressed love that remains fresh in memory irrespective of the passage of time. 

The final poem for this week’s review (this series to be continued every month) is the pocket size poetry book titled Akeekaru Bihidora by Nuwan Thotawatha, first published in 2021, printed by Neranjan Graphics and published by Santhawa Prakashana in Yakkala.

This publication has a friendly feel about it for two reasons; it is pocket sized and has black and white photographs that further accentuate the imagery of the poem. The uniqueness lies in the poems having no individual titles. Each page has a photograph and a poem. The title is what the reader makes of it juxtaposing the imagery of the words with the image of the photograph. The poetry is short – a near replication of Haiku – though not quite, as the traditional Haiku poetry has only three phrases.

In this collection by NuwanThotawatha the longest poem is about 9 lines and the shortest four.

The poem featured alongside the photograph of the clock is a poignant representation of the silent mystery of the voyage of time. It evokes the seeing of time as a living and breathing being that we meet in our everyday journey but which passes us always so silently. Finally, the opportunity to speak occurs when the minute hand (thatparakatuwa) of the clock is stilled.

The selection of these poetic works were chosen at random to be part of a library of Sinhala poetry which joins an equal collection of Tamil and English poetry by Sri Lankan writers for the purpose of mainstreaming creativity in all its forms in education and entrepreneurship. 

The commonality of the above reviewed Sinhala poetry collection is that their sensitivity tackles subject matter empathetically beyond the boundaries of race and gender. 

Modern Sinhala poetry is certainly a treasure trove for highlighting the silent efforts of Sinhala youth to enshrine through the power of the creative word the power of love, unity, understanding and peace. (SV)