Author of a dozen books in English and five times winner of prestigious awards for her literary works Kamala Wijeratne is a well-known writer and poet in the country. An educationist and presenter in reading seminar papers, she is highly respected literary person.
Her books include:
The Smell of Araliya Flowers
A House Divided
The Disinherited
That One Talent
The White Saree & Other Poems
Death by Drowning and Other Stories
Millennium Poems
A Prayer to God Upulavan
Ten Stories
The Other Trojan Woman
My Green Book
The Potted Plant
and now
Impressions
Published by S Godage & Brothers (Pvt) Ltd, this collection of 34 poems is priced at Rs 450/- The Cover Design is by Chamilka Herath.
Dr Dinali Devendra, Senior lecturer at the Open University of Sri Lanka has written the Preface, which describes most of the significant poems in the collection.
I quote what I liked from her appreciation.
“The first half of the collection, “Home” as the name suggests deals with reflections of a personal nature which are poignant and thought provoking… Other poems in this section deal with notions of loss and grief”
“In “War heroes”, the poet exposes the hypocrisies inherent in the manner in which “wins” are celebrated while in “Nallur” she expresses her faith in universality of natural justice that transcends ethnic barriers.”
Please read the entire preface to understand the essence of what the poet says in her simple but effectively written poems.
For my part in the review I shall single out some poems which I enjoyed most.
Since I consider myself as Universal Man, I liked the first poem - The Naming - in full. There is the origins of ethnic groups and the rationale she points out against in calling names.
In the poem” Samassaras”, I liked the 4th, 5th and 6th Stanzas which read like this:
“Nature could not and did not
Have the delicacy
To distinguish between
Violator and non-violater
Between the sinner and saint
Or between adult and child
Nor man and woman”
“For those hundred-buried alive
Was it a dream or fantasy?
When the earth opened ad dragged them in?
For those left behind homeless
And properties is reality
That they are alive
But have name or place.”
They are a nameless crowd
Forgotten by both nature and man
And a grey sky stares them in the face”
On page 22
“They know no boundaries
The air has no marked territories”
On page 24
“Dear Gods punish all who should be punished.
Whatever his race, creed or caste may be
A murderer is a murderer
Whether he kills in offence or defence
Whether he is labelled freedom fighter
Or valiant soldier.
Dear Gods, make love and not
hatred rule the day”
I also like the poem on pages 36 and 37 on contemporary realty of unnecessary deaths by accidents or foolishness
On page 38- Justice
“Once the war was over
We thought we had peace
But now we are old
We have to appease
Those who made war.
The defenders are accused
And served as peace offerings
To the offenders,
The offenders are labs;
They killed out righteousness
The defenders are tigers
Who killed for amusement
What is this justice but that of
Kekille?
I liked the poem on page 40 also in full. There is also a moving poem on the lovable great soul the late Prof Ashley Halpe’
The poems on pages 52, 58 and 59. In the poem ‘evening’ the last lines are compelling truth:
“a splendorous flare that will go out soon,
And I sit, so unsubstantial
Fire, water, air and earth
As the darkness assails me;
A mere nothing.”
From paged 67 to 72, the poet gives notes that will explain the suitability of the not so familiar words to foreigners.
Kamala Wijeratne is one of the outstanding poets in English in recent times in Lanka. She needs more encouragement for showing the contemporaneity political and social scenes. Her poems on her visit to foreign lands also add beauty to this collection.