The poetic(s) of a prolific journo

By Dilshan BOANGE

Malinda Seneviratne is best known in the present day as a journalist whose craft of writing has carved him a niche thorough print media. The journalistic advents of Malinda may be what have made him a publicly known figure although his writings extend to other avenues. Poetry is one medium of expression through the written word that Malinda's voice comes to speak of things which perhaps lie outside the world of journalistic interests. And it was certainly expositional of this Gratien Prize shortlisted poet how poetry has influenced him and perhaps given his outlooks and expressionisms when he addressed a forum to discuss his poetry at the Sri Jayewardenepura University, organized by the English Literary Association on 10 November 2010.

Malinda Seneviratne

His witticisms, interactive tonality and anecdotal inputs that tend to mark his style of journalistic writing was very much alive in his talk that provided an educative and entertaining one a half hours which certainly did not seem to 'test the tolerance levels' (as Malinda put it) of the attendees. The starting point was where Malinda spoke of his favourite poets amongst whom some were -Pablo Neruda, Nazim Hikmet and Sri Lanka's own Rajawansa Ranaweera.

Amongst some of the poems read out by the poet, one was named 'Pavement stones'. And in the flow of the reading I picked up a line onto my note book (perhaps as a shiny little pebble from the walk) the following line -"Pavement stones are drops of poetry waiting to be flung at the oppressor." No doubt the line carries a hint of revolution in its spirit of artistry which possibly stems from Malinda's own personal experiences from undergraduate days in Peradeniya, but in any case conjures a point to ponder on. Pavement stones aren't weaponry until utilized for the purpose of violence. Therefore, to call them 'drops of poetry' it seems the text suggests of a beauty in seeking liberation from an oppressor for which cause such drops of poetry may contribute. One may suggest that this line also speaks of how art is made to serve the political ends of a movement, and creativity being transformed as 'propaganda art'.

The poem 'Dimensions of infinity' was one that struck as focal on metaphoric imagery that drives the essence of the title. Two lines from the poem are produced here as excerpts -

"To the incarcerated, a sliver of sky"

"To the guitarist whose hands were cut off, a pick"

It is interesting to note that in both these lines it is a single image of a dimensionally perceivable idea that is visualized at the end of each line. A 'sliver of sky' is certainly not tangible, but very much real and not an abstract concept. Something as infinite as the sky when shrunk to something as formally narrow as a sliver, can be a powerful image to a man who has been deprived of his liberty. And such an image would seem to manifest the unspoken feelings, yearnings of persons in impasses.

The image of the mutilated guitarist deprived of his limbs, and his plight of not being able to play and create music certainly would crush his sense of identity and being. After all can a man who no longer has hands to play a guitar be called a guitarist? And to such an individual 'a pick' could seem an unreachable goal -an infinity he can never (again) know.

On the lines of powerful images that have affected him and inspired him, Malinda spoke of his impressions of the funeral of the late dramatist Gamini Haththettuwegama who had been a friend of the family and very much a figure who had over the years become endeared to him.

Interestingly the word he used to describe the funeral of the father of Sri Lankan street drama was -'colourful'. The poem inspired by the funeral of Gamini H in Malinda was titled 'Death notice' and carried the following line, which speaks of the immortality that an artist may be thought to have, -"The cremation of he who would not die".

Another touching verse composition of the poet was the one he had written of his late mother, where the lines spoke of the poet's wonderings of how much of her is now in him as mannerisms, gestures, as expressions. Once again, this may show how poetry seeks to give a form of presence in the present amongst those living of those who have left us for the afterlife. Moving onto what may be thought of as marking the contemporary 'e-age' and its developments in the world of creative writing, the discussion shifted to blogs and the poetry that one finds in the infinities of cyber space. Malinda is of the view as he expressly stated that Sinhala medium blogs carry writing much deeper with more evocative ideas than the English medium ones from amongst the host of blogs operated by Sri Lankans.

He admitted that he cannot read Tamil and therefore not in a position to judge or comment on them, and drew the line of discussion to focus in some Sinhala medium blogs and the creative writing content of some of them. Some of the verse in the blogs cited were 'amorously humorous' while others were of light humour and also some carrying hard hitting lines on different themes. The gathering showed its collective emotional sensibilities varying between silence and uproarious laughter as the session traversed its path of verbal discoursing of the written word which the poet believes is always best read out instead of being read in silence in the reader's head.

Arguably the climax of the session was what may be seen as a 'performance' rather than the average poetry reading. The text of a toast made by Chilean poet Pablo Neruda and the Spanish dramatist Federico Garcia Lorca was read out, Malinda taking the voice of Neruda the words of Lorca being read by (on Malinda's invitation) Vihanga Perera who being a lecturer at J'Pura English department, is also a Gratiaen Prize shortlisted creative writer of fiction, prose and verse. The 'toast' that had been made by Neruda and Lorca to celebrate, and, in some poetic way, edify (with words) and monumentalize (in memory) the life of Argentinean poet Ruben Dario (for whom apparently at the time no public monument had been dedicated). And the reading by Malinda and Vihanga ended to applause from the gathering that certainly felt the vibes of a poetic consciousness that morning. A session of poetry readings that became an exposition of Malinda Seneviratne's multifacetedness in the sphere of writing, and proving him a poet par excellence.