'Nothing Prepares You' by Vivimarie Vanderpoorten

Graceful poems of life, death and memoirs

by Ranga Chandrarathne

The maiden anthology of poems by well-known literatus Vivimarie Vanderpoorten which was recently launched at SLFI on Valentine's Day is a repository of life-long experiences, fond and melancholy memoirs as well as a satirical social outlook of a sensitive lady.

With an easy flow of thoughts, Vivimarie portrays her world in a most -down-to-earth yet, in an elegant manner; the poems such as 'In a crowd', 'Explosion', 'Maps', ' Single Brown Female , 1998' and ' Choice' , ' For Naomi' and ' Driving Home ' are some of the most evocative poems with deep-meaning embedded in simple diction.

"As I close my eyes

my last thought is this:

from best friend

to lover

you have now turned

into

the only family I know. "

'Driving Home' is a poignant poem celebrating love. Perhaps, this shows how sensitive the poet is and how she turned an insignificant every day occurrence into a recitation on love and the love in its most subtle form. Her lover, in this case, none other than her husband, is metaphorically compared to the 'the only family I know'.

The poem 'Choice' is a satire on some Sri Lankan women and their narrow-minded attitude towards life.

'No babies yet?

they ask, the women-slightly coy,

and if they are already

mums-

slightly superior.

No kids?

they ask, men-shocked

at a woman

defying the role that she's

defined by '

.....

Pardon me

I have another life

So you do your thing and I'll do mine

Let's not question or justify

our choices. "

Here Vivimarie questions the validity of the set-formula of life which often is taken for granted in Sri Lankan society. For some Sri Lankans, marriage, rearing children and gossiping constitute 'the natural choice' and question others who do not tow the line.

The poem 'Visiting Giants' shows how little the world knows of Sri Lanka and its people. All the generation of political leaders and diplomats should be squarely blamed for the picture portrayed in the eye of the world at large. Unfortunately, most of the foreigners identify Sri Lanka as either a part of Africa or a part of India.

"Which part of Africa is that?

.......I didn't say

That it has a splendid past

But no future

That it's rich soil

Is drenched in blood

And that there's hopelessness

In the eyes

Of its children

When they asked me

"So what's it like"

I only said

"It's home"

Despite decades of civil unrest and war, its rich soil is drenched in blood ', Vivimarie considers 'it home '. The poems are elegant in style, evocative yet philosophical.

They contain the poet's experiences, memoirs (both happy and melancholy) and she criticises orthodox views, misconceptions, racism and cultural fundamentalism which enforces a set-formula for life, behaviour, and regiments of "values and choices of life".

'Nothing prepares you' is a must read for everyone who is eager to explore and learn the spirit of humanity and to share memoirs and experience of a true patriot and a universal personality.

The deep and insightful philosophy thrashed out in this intellectual property is the ideology of the cream of intelligentsia which perhaps constitutes ten per cent of mankind.

***

Nothing prepared anyone for anything on Valentine's Day at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute (SLFI). First there was a traffic gridlock that refused to unlock Second there was a book launch by Vivimarie VanderPoorten. Well, those who braved the traffic and survived to make it to the SLFI and got to hear the gentle strains of poetry may have had a soul stirring experience.

"Nothing Prepares You" is Vivimarie's maiden collection of poetry published by the newest star on Sri Lanka's publishing firmament, under the imprint of Zeus Paperbacks.

The author, a lecturer in English Literature, Language and Linguistics at one of Sri Lanka's national universities is no stranger to Sri Lankan literature. Her work has been published in the Social Scientists' Association periodical Pravada, (Now Polity), Channels, the official mouth-piece of the English Writers" Cooperative and the online refereed literary journal Postcolonial Text.

The publisher, CEO and Managing Director of Inscript (Pvt) Ltd, Shan Rajaguru set the tone for the evening by introducing the audience to the world of publishing. He explained the importance of a publisher-author relationship as well as the necessity of whetting the book through an expert panel of editors so as to draw out the essence of creativity.

Then began a series of poetry recitals which began with the author, Vivimarie; She then invited Asgar Hussein, an upcoming poet who has just released a volume of poetry titled "Termite Castle" and Sandra Fernando the author of "Candle and Other poems" to read from their work.

If expectations were meant to be protected like Chinaware and rise to the sky like a bird learning to fly, then Vivimarie's poetry lived up to those expectations. "Explosion" a poem based on the Central Bank bomb exploded a hitherto unexplored meaning to that warped episode of history. The poem demonstrated how a bomb can render consumerism meaningless and how consumerism can render a bomb meaningless.

The two poems titled "You're Welcome" and "Visiting Giants" received loud applause for their ability to convey subtly, biting wit, poetic dialogue and prose-like story-telling. The poems focused on cultural misunderstanding and racial issues in a most original manner.

Ashok Ferry, the best selling author of "The Colpety people" and "The good old Ceylonese Girl" read the title poem of Asgar's book "The Termite Castle". Sandra Fernando read a poem from her book as well as a poem in titled "I wrote a little poem" which she dedicated to Vivimarie on the occasion of her launch of "Nothing Prepares You".

All in all the evening of poetry with its packed gathering was a simple and effective event, which was unassuming to say the least. The launch avoided the common pitfalls of such launches such as lengthy speeches and lengthy readings.

In a touching gesture, the poet presented a copy of her new book to Professor Ryhana Raheem, Director of the Postgraduate Institute of English at the Open University of Sri Lanka, whom she referred to as "a significant source of inspiration and someone who played an important and special role in her life"