Gammaduwa*

A lot happens in ‘village-huts’
for commonality spills out
of household and hearth
the domestic angst bows low
to collective prerogative;
and so they come together
to celebrate and lament,
heal and exorcise
the devil and devilment
those very-human dramatics
that consume and reveal
brush and burn and drown,
and so in our cities
and citied-comforts
we check it all out
these heritage remnants
tradition-preserves
entertainment exotica
outside the traditional paths
of diurnal density
so blind to A.M. Jayantha Siri
and the centuries that birthed him.

*Inspired by the photography of Hiranya Malwatta and published in the UNDO Section of 'The Nation', September 23, 2012.

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