The poem person’s passion

Q: Can you give a short introduction of yourself and what you do?

A: Right now I head the digital arm of Bates Sri Lanka as its business head and creative director. This is in addition to managing certain creative accounts. The journey here has been quite remarkable since joining the industry in 2004 as a creative writer. In the past I have dabbled and gained success in music as a singer and in the sphere of fashion design. What most people find shocking is that prior to all of this I spent around five years in the areas of banking and finance.

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Q: When did you start writing and why?

A: I don’t quite recall when I started creative writing but I always seemed to do well in writing be it at college or at competitions. I believe I began with writing songs, during the 90s. The 90s were a beautiful time in music, with the likes of Nirvana, R.E.M and the Cranberries.

At the time I was obviously a teen and I kind of connected with that desolation, melancholia and the rebellious nature of the music and began writing songs. But I never thought too much about them until one day I actually submitted one to a site called poetry.com. It was called ‘Moments’

And in a few weeks I had gotten the reply saying how it’s been selected to be published in a collection and a lot of other exciting things. I was excited but was certain this was a fluke. But every now and then I would show this poem to certain people I knew would give the right opinion and it was always really, really good. So I was like, hmmm… maybe this ‘is’ good. But I needed a lot more convincing. And as the excitement of all that communication between me and poetry.com died, I settled back to my usual writing.

And as time went by I would write in sudden bursts of inspiration. Sometime I would write several poems in less say a week or less. Sometimes I wouldn’t write for months or years on end.

Today, thanks to very positive reviews from some of the best poets this island has seen, I know my poems are good. They are different. They don’t conform to any particular structure or style. But they are most certainly honest, sincere, from the heart, from the pain and definitely relatable. And I refuse to polish them because the inspiration and the moments I had to live through weren’t smooth and nice. They were harsh and painful at times. And my poems are just like that.

Q: What inspires you the most?

A: Sri Lankan life is my biggest inspiration. Living in Sri Lanka with all the chaos and bloodshed, where abject poverty resides next to opulent excess, you are never short of inspiration. The flavours, the aromas, the people, the colours, the emotions, the ideals, it’s all so intense and heady and complex.

And though I write in English I have been through most of these things English-speaking people usually don’t admit to experiencing. I am an English-speaking person who took the bus, attended mass tuition classes, and ate good old fashioned rice and curry. I have also seen the world and been exposed to other cultures and had even studied overseas.

It’s also about a breed of young people who grew up in the times I did. We may live in Sri Lanka, but we lived/loved like Americans. Our expressions were very Western. So our first date might have been to a movie at MC but what we watched was a Hollywood romance. It’s a subculture most adults didn’t understand or understood but we are who we are and we were happy and despondent at the same time.

Q: Do you do other creative things?

A: Yes. I always look at things creatively and figure ways of making them better. What’s frustrating is the lack of scope or opportunities in Sri Lanka. Take fashion designing for example, something I dabbled in and was even a finalist in one of these fashion designers of the year contests. We have a limited number of models, materials and especially a limited audience for something new and weird.

So yes I do creative stuff from writing songs, designing clothes for close friends, designing interiors, websites, planning weddings etc. the list is quite long and almost always I do them because I love the process associated with anything creative. I love how you can picture everything in your mind and then execute them and bring them to life. And then like any grown-up kid would do I would eagerly wait for the appreciation and keep asking ‘nice no?’ until I am satisfied that it has all turned out well.

Q: Do you have any favourite poets? Who are they and why?

A: I used to read a lot as a child but ever since I happened upon Funny Boy by Shyam Selvadurai I had a strong aversion to material that was alien to me. And then I began reading more and more work that I could relate to, from people like Romesh Gunasekara to Punyakanthi as well as work from Arundhati Roy and Salman Rushdie. I also prefer material that are spiritual and imaginative, hence my love for the likes of Paulo Coelho, Khaled Hosseini and Yann Martel.

So my tastes are similar when it comes to poetry. I don’t have a specific favourite as such but I can list the likes of Pablo Neruda, Rabindranath Tagore, Sarojini Naidu and Kaneko Mitsuharu as poets who I admire and inspire me. Their work is honest, sincere, simple, and identifiable. These things matter to me.

Q: What do you see as the greatest challenge in being a poet in Sri Lanka?

A: In a country like Sri Lanka where the audience for literature in English is limited, the audience for poetry is even less. I don’t necessarily see it as a challenge as there are quite a few people who still love poetry and they are generally quiet and nice people.

Q: We were told that you are preparing to launch a book. Can you tell us more about it?

A: Yes. The exact nature of the book is still not finalized. It will most certainly contain poems but I am still debating the delivery and presentation of it all. I want it to be a book of poetry with a difference. So I can’t tell you much there. It’s got a working title ‘Poem Person’ but knowing me that could also change. So all I can say is that if you like my poetry there will be a lot more to read when the book does come out in print, towards the latter part of the year. For now though I have shared a few on my blog: http://dee-poemperson.blogspot.com/

Q: Name three favourite local poets.

A: Some of my favourite poets have not published as yet. But of the ones that have published I must mention Vivimarie Vanderpoorten. A charming lady, funny, sincere and such an inspiration to me. I also adore Sakuntala Sachithanandan for her writing style and simplicity of poetry. Above all I love them for who they are as people. They are such nice human beings, blessed with the ability to write some truly beautiful and inspiring pieces of poetry. And also people with the guts to share work that are extremely personal and poignant.

Q: What are your views about local poetry?

A: I love it. For the simple fact that they are ‘local’. And by being local they are relatable. Some may say that you should be able to appreciate good poetry regardless of where they come from and that point I most certainly do get. But local poetry has this added dimension when a poem speaks of people, situations and complexities we ourselves can identify with. It’s just sad that in turn, the rest of the world cannot as easily identify with them.  For example I have this poem titled ‘Mango curry’ and it’s full of flavor, spice and colour. Some who have read it said they could feel the sting of chilli and the sourness of the fruit and visualize the colours. You must be a local to get that kind of descriptiveness and settings.