Poetry replete with philosophical ideas

A Crisis of Civilization
Author: Ranjan M. Amarasinghe
A Godage publication
Reviewed by R. S. Karunaratne

There seems to be a lot of budding poets in Sri Lanka. Some of them keep on writing and publishing their poetry at regular intervals. Those who do not have the means or inclination to do so contribute to newspapers and magazines regularly. However, there are two issues to be resolved as far as poetry is concerned.

The first issue is whether we have genuine poets. Most of those who contribute to newspapers are versifiers. They break the sentences in a prose passage so that it looks like a poem. For most of those who think that they are poets, this is an easy way out. To become a poet, you have to have some understanding of poetry. A budding poet should read the poetry of William Blake, P. B. Shelley or Guy Owen.

The second issue is that most poetry readers do not know how to read a poem. Poetry reading is not merely “letting your eye light on it”. There is more to poetry than meets the eye. What William Shakespeare called “the mind's eye” also plays a major role. Many readers who have no difficulty in understanding and enjoying prose find poetry difficult. This is to be expected because at a first glance, a poem usually makes some sense and gives some pleasure but it may not yield everything at once.

Sometimes, a poem will only hint at something which is not explained fully. Poetry is not expected to be galloped over like daily news. Therefore, poetry readers should make a concerted attempt to read poetry slowly, carefully and attentively.

Reading

Some poems are not difficult at all. They can be understood and enjoyed on first reading. But good poems demand your attention because only then will they yield something you never expected. As X. J. Kennedy once said, a good poem has to be read “ten, twenty or a hundred” times.

Ranjan M. Amarasinghe, being a committed poet for many decades writes both easy and difficult poems. What he sends to newspapers are easy to understand and enjoy. Journalism has been referred to as “literature in a hurry”.

And the reader will not read a poem published in a newspaper more than once.

The situation is different when you produce a collection of poems. A discerning reader who buys a book of poetry is at liberty to pick and choose what he likes to read.

He will definitely read a particular poem more than once if it yields something meaningful.

Amarasinghe's present collection of poetry titled, A crisis of civilization, provides both easy and difficult poems. “A new vision” reproduced here is an easy poem for a newspaper reader.

A new vision
At the threshold
of the middle age
I remain an ardent seeker
Who is eager to decipher
Shrouded meanings
Hidden in a veil of mystery
And ancient legends
I am also longing for
The ringing of the
Telephone
An intimate lover's greeting
Seeking a secret meeting
At an undisclosed
Rendezvous
I feel rejuvenated
Vanquishing the demons of piercing silence
Brewing numbing
Loneliness
Suddenly
Life gleams with a new
Meaning
And I croon a love song
Forgetting the melancholy
Feeling
Like a child joyously flying
A multi-coloured kite
Triumphantly annihilating
The nagging boredom

The poem quoted above needs no elaboration as it is self-explanatory. However, “Embers of fire” demands more than one reading.

Embers of fire
I with stoic resignation
Have long given up my frequent visits
to the clownish specialist
Who with a twinkle in his eyes
Sheepishly keep on prescribing me
All kinds of sugar-coated pills
For my recurring aches
Continuously striking is its needle
On and around the spine
Undaunted
I rapturously carry on
Watching the spectacular sight
Of nubile and charming damsels
Walking briskly on the highway
Vying the chic models in a cat walk
And suddenly my life brightens up
With a new look
Momentarily halting
The unbearable chill of winter
Approaching steadfastly
Like an ogre carrying a heavy casket
As an omen of doom
And I seek a diversion
seeking an uninterrupted
And blissful session of
Fun and frolic
Waiting to die with moral wounds
As predicted by the renowned astrologer
From a head-long crash
Epitomising symbolically
The transience of life
With a faded red-rose
Languishing in a solitary confinement
Keeping vigil in the eerie silence
Of the sombre-graveyard
Thankfully, rarely disturbed
By the howling of the marauding wolves
Resonating from far-away woods

Philosophy

“Embers of fire” is packed with philosophical ideas, images and memorable expressions. Philosophically, life is transient. With the onset of old age, we have to seek medical attention. Expressions such as “the clownish specialist” and “a twinkle in his eyes” show the poet's apathy towards healers and their money-grabbing ways. “Unbearable chill of winter” and “like an ogre carrying a heavy casket” reminds the reader the approaching death. “Faded red-rose” is a powerful image depicting youth and old age.

“(The) howling of the marauding wolves / Resonating from far-away worlds” is a memorable expression.

The present collection of poetry titled, A Crisis of Civilisation, shows a marked improvement compared to the poet's first collection, The spectre of aggression published in 2005. Certainly, Ranjan M. Amarasinghe has attained maturity as a poet.