Other floralities

The earth will bloom
in the union
of water and sun
in the cohabitation
of heart and sinew
for blindness will not color-blind
and that which war removes
life’s remnant will recover;
will fade, yes
will gather dust, yes
wilt as all things wilt
die as all things die
but in interim splendor
survive the bludgeonings
rise above suffering
please for a while
mark for a while
the infinities
of human thanksgiving
in the clasp and yield
of these other battles
sweet in unscented fragrance
less tender to touch
but as soft to eye.
 
[Inspired by the photography of Chandana Wijesinghe]

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Soil and seed, man and woman

Once there was earth
soil that lay over seed
soil that broke with stem and leaf
soil that made way for root;
once there was a tree
of trunk and branch
now leafed now shedded;
and from earth
and other seed
other root and longing
there came man
there came women;
and as tree crafts them
they craft tree,
at times soft and at times rough,
and in the vessels they are
and the vessels they make
the poundings given and taken
shelter and ingratitude
resurrection of the dead
there is wood and timber
earth and soil
moved and moving
and love
that stays
long after tree
long after man and woman
long after death,
in and out of soil
because of root
and arms that reached
and touched a sky.

[Inspired by the photography of Rukshan Abeywansha, published in the FINE Section of THE NATION, March 10, 2013] 

 

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This nation is resilient

We will not petition the UNHRC

we will not confess to uncommitted crimes
we have nothing to say
to the ignorant,
to the blind,
to the selective inquirer;
we live instead
as we have
speak to one another
discourse with the wise
confess to the compassionate
as we are compassionate to confessor
open to the open-mind
firm in our faith
tested in our solidarities
resolute in the face
of storms beyond our strength
tender in the passing of time
in full cognition of light and shade
and the infinities of configuration
we fall, we rise
as we always have.


[Inspired by the photography of Rukshan Abeywansha and published in the FINE Section of THE NATION, February 24, 2013]

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Kaudulla

Man and elephant
beast and beast
they’ve stared
at one another
stared down, backed off
trampled and shot
fallen and picked up
an ancient love-hate
in a modern twist
of encroachment
unrolling of map
bullet-marking
of traditional homeland
but here
for now
there is peace
(of a kind)
one shoots
and the other gets shot,
beast and beast
in informal ‘acceptability’
of grudge and shrug.

[Inspired by the photography of Rukshan Abeywansa, published in the FINE Section of 'The Nation', December 16, 2012]

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Face etchings

In line
in texture
skin colour
and the contortions
provoked by moment,
in the intensity of gaze
dropping of glance
are birthed
a hundred transparencies;
there are communities
laid upon these features
histories etched in curve
in scar
in wrinkle
unwrappable
as trial and injustice
triumph and contentment
love and equanimity
and also
as unspeakable
incoherencies
best left undeciphered
for reasons of decency
and the sanctity
of the unstoppable
need to object,
to rebel
and survive

[Inspired by the photography of Nalaka Sanjeewa and published in the UNDO Section of 'The Nation']

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Beyond light and dark

So we light
one lamp after another
row upon row
and they send arrows
to dissect the dark
illuminate face
of lighter and lit
and the oil feeds
burns wick
and dies
and darkness recovers
traditional homeland
but in the aftermath
of festivity and fire
in the after-death of light
and the re-encroachment of night
nothing forbids
a re-ignition
a turning of symbol
an illumination
of the eternal verities
the true dimensions
of atman
and the negation of definitive line
and all other errors
light-quenched and lit.

[Inspired by the photography of Rukshan Abeywansha and published in the UNDO Section of 'The Nation']

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Unveilings

Skin-scratch draws blood
each un-layering draws more
reveals much more,
the sinew and tear
scar and welt
the discomfiture we hide
with elegant smile-cloth
and practiced uttering
and each veil-wall
exiles the world
imposes incarceration
consecrates private pain
celebrates fracture
and the world revolves
in its preferred disguises
the preferred speeds of lie
and self-delusion
and we become the sum
of our anxieties
the nothing
of abandoned
commonalities
and wrecked solidarity. 

[Inspired by the photography of Amanda Jayawardhana, exhibited at 'Upanetha', first published in the UNDO Section of 'The Nation', November 11, 2012]

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Rawness

And when you peel off make-up

remove collar and undo button
erase proper noun
convention and taught-truth
sanctioned feel
and tear-propriety
ready laugh and practiced smile
the necessitated courtesies
we are reduced to the skeletal
of primordiality
fear-made and hope-made
naked in absolutes
un-languaged and sparse
in that other wilderness
no less empowered
no less lost.

[Inspired by the photography of Achini Pabasara Ranasinghe, 'Upanetha' Exhibition, and published in the UNDO Section of 'The Nation', November 4, 2012]

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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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Yala

Pic by Ishara S. Kodikara

Differently coloured sibling
non-identical twin
of city space
and urban things,
territory of the timeless
the hide and seek
and seek for hide,
target and shoot,
spotted meat
and jaw-jaw
fang and claw,
vistor’s unmercuried mirror
reflecting but unseen.

[Inspired by the photography of Ishara S Kodikara, published in the UNDO Section of 'The Nation', August 5, 2012]

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Sea-yield, Pulmoddai

Life is  process
death too,
for some lives
are watered
by water-extraction
of both the living
and the dead,
and in the commerce 
of surplus-draw
death has different tags:
this one fresh,
that one preserved;
it’s all cut and dried
from sea to plate,
snip-snap life
has price and sorrow
lament and cheer
in gradations of volume
nuance of weight and flavour,
and immemorial questions:
who got caught,
who got dried,
who lives and who is dead?

[Inspired by the photography of Pushpakumara Mathugama and published in the UNDO Section of The Nation]

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Shoe flower mornings

Life is a seed and a flower,
petalled and coloured,
tiny and amazing
ebullient and pitiful
made for bloom and withering
but shoe-flower is all this
and none of this
and earth-bed for dew drop
refrigerator for butterfly and bee
subject for photographer
inspiration for poet
offering for the altar
eye-widener for child;
it’s a pollen-life tale
it is love-peel if you will
made of chapter and verse
of all grand narratives
that count;
the morning glory we no longer see
for having lived and seen so much
the so much that blinds,
but this is redness un-ignorable
it is tap root of tenderness
the call to prayer
and weeping,
uncontrollable laughter
is scripted here
and so too
the half-smile
of a girl sworn to silence
in the cross-fire
of insecurities;
show-flower tortures
in many way
and in many ways
heals;
it is yours
to read as you will. 

[inspired by the poetry of Rukshan Abeywansha and published in 'The Nation']

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It’s the bubble of life

This one belongs to parents:

‘Fond Hopes’

this to friend and lover:

‘Be Forever’,

That one got away:

‘Where I Want To Be’;

and so we watch

this spherical arrangement

of water and air

where burst is un-doubted

but intact willed,

where suicide bubbles

with touch and not-go

disrupt geometrical eloquence,

watch the carnival of flight

delight and sparkle

the kiss that kills

but exclaim in obdurate bubblitude:

and in a bubbling tone observe:

‘And bubbles there will always be!’

[Inspired by the album 'Bubbles' by Natalie Soysa and published in 'The Nation', UNDO Section] 

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Signatures of sustainability

Their footprints will grow

as shadows do

longer by the hour;

smiles will not grow wider

for the yawn of dream and reality

collapses fast in dream-fade

and in that short road to adulthood

smaller footprints will show

that life follows life

city skyline grows higher

landscape becomes art form

children will smile

now and then and again,

and in the swift movement of nation

from the here to there

of design and architecture,

glitter and ambience

poverty remains alas

slow of foot,

resilient.

*Pic by Rukshan Abeywansha

[Published in the 'UNDO' section of The Nation, April 22, 20112]

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Fire works, really!

And what goes up
must come down,
that which burns bright
explodes, delights and is gone,
like is a sparkler
an ahas koora
along whose trajectory
eye will run
and whose upward curve
is made of squeal and laughter
and when it ends
the night is no less bright
no more dark
the universe is cleared
however
collapses into true dimensions,
but that's for certain eyes
and in days of celebration
and thanksgiving
it's good to soar
good to delight
good to be a child. 

[published in 'The Nation', April 15, 2015]

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Another Dawn Song

It is the most ancient story: The long night ends,
the dawn breaks
and all equations are erased
beyond recognition
and sometimes beyond recall,
need we insist?
It is the first story of the future
the threading that heralds unraveling
and weaving
of the day’s unplanned tapestry.
It is morning here
and night there
for some ‘you’ of someone’s story,
anyone’s tale
but this neither-here-nor-there
is peak enough to see far
either into the long yesterday
or the endless tomorrow
or both.
it’s a choice-point,
immemorial and holy.

[Inspired by the photography of Hiranya Malwatta and published in 'The Nation', March 4, 2012]

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Ehetuveva (Galgamuwa)

Here, still

territory is marked as always

serpent and elephant

human endeavour, frailty and faith

gentle engagement and thrift

this harsh and benevolent earth-piece

in the Vanni Hatpattuva

where rice came first and is held to the last

along with temple and word

etched in bodighara

contained in vee bissa

and the slow ending of endlessness.

[Inspired by the photography of W.A.M. Wijesinghe and published in The Nation, February 12, 2012]

Life is brick-made too

The one-bedroom, toilet and kitchen,

rudimental household-start,

the many layered mansion

the forbidding wall

fortressing against intrusion and envy

the house of the ill-willed and generous

Tyrannical and warm-hearted

the corporate towers of the blush-less

the temples of justice

where collar-colour and bare-necked

get castled or acquitted

as per swayability,

the residences of gods, demons and belief-systems

those articulators of faith and credulity

yes, parliaments too

they are all blue-printed in brown

frilled with scar and callous

obliterated even

in labour’s immemorial clays

unseen, unseen, unseen.

[Inspired by the photography of Ishara Kodikara]

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