What is poetry?

In order to grow as a writer, you’ve got to be willing to risk it all each time you sit down to write. You’ve got to be open and brave and curious.

Whenever I’m asked, “When did you become a poet?” I’m always tempted to ask, “When did you stop?” When did you stop taking risks?

We’re all born poets. We all enjoy the sounds of language. Every new parent knows that. We’re all born with the need to “sound our barbaric yawn over the roofs of the world” as Whitman would have it.

Poetry is a natural part of our lives. It’s not just something we have to memorize and recite in front of the class. Losing ourselves in a poem is one of the best ways of finding out who we are. The act of writing brings us to that point of discovery, of discovering on the page something we didn’t know we knew until we wrote it.

Don’t let reality cloud your imagination. Look up at the sky and find once again those long-tailed dragons and sailing ships. Wake up to the world as though you are seeing it each day for the first time. Find the wonder.Question the way things are. Imagine new choices. Write from the child in you.

Style isn’t how you write. It’s how you do not write like anyone else. You don’t need a degree to be a writer. It doesn’t take teachers or textbooks to show you how to write. One learns how to write by writing. There is no other way.

The silent service

The wind is blowing
Night is so charming
All are on dreaming
Only one is awaking

No matter it’s shiny or rainy
No matter it’s windy or gloomy
With one heart, one soul
He is there for us all

Care not the hunger
Sweet quenches his thirst
Wives, kids, home keep-in heart
Battling with the foe is fist

Soldier, You will be with us forever
Though you shed blood at the boarder
Your name is written in golden letter
A hero sacrificed himself for others better

Sumedha Wickramasinghe
 

He is coming today!

Hopes are overflowing
He is coming today........
My eyes...........
Dazzled by his winsom smile
Are waiting and waiting.
Dark angels, do please come
And veil the pole with your thick shawl.
Let full moon bloom in the starry heaven
Adding lustre to the earth.
He is coming today..............

T.K. Nirasha Udyani
 

We watched the sweet drizzle.....

We watched the sweet drizzle, sitting side by side,
As it kept tickling the earth;
I teased you and you teased me in return,
So full, really, were we of mirth.
Each staring into the eyes of the other,
We exchanged glances mute;
Your smiles were lovely and your dimples lovelier still,
So I thought you were, really, cute.
The summer-hut didn’t see my love growing,
Neither, I’m sure, did the Mango tree;
But you did see and you did know of my heart’s love,
So from doubt, I found my heart, so perfectly free.
The temperature fell, and the wind grew steadily cold,
Still, I felt so comfortably warm;
Against the heat of love, the worsening chill was no match,
As (my) love found its way home!

Jayashantha Jayawardhana
 

To mother

Mother, you are my universe
There isn’t another being on earth
So unfathomably beloved to me
As thee!
You gave birth to me - gifted me
With life - glorious humanity
What more can a human offer to
Another human being?
You created my world
And enhanced its richness day by day
With each cherished caress, word and
Boundless love....
Every time I present thee with a smile
My goodness increases, power increases,
Health, beauty and comfort increases!
Thanks a thousand times and much more,
Almighty God, Power of Nature,
For making me the child of this person called
Mother.....

Sashini Abayaratne

You, you and you

When asked what love is,
The answer I gave was you......
When asked what life is,
I could only think of you....
When asked what my dream was,
It was being loved by you.....
when asked anything at all,
The first thought in my mind.
Is you......

D. Rushith Fernando
 

Loneliness

Loneliness is best....
To find about yourself
To realise your faults
To regain your memories
To blossom your brain

Loneliness is worst.....
When left alone
When miss others
When no one shares your feelings
When left without consideration
So is it best or worst?

Nimnaz Khan
 

The lamentation of the transplanted kidney

My dear sweetheart,
How are you?
I’m not fine.
Loving and nurturing of each others,
As beloved sharers
As a couple of birds
The period of time we spent
Has robbed by someone?
Where’s our unpolluted love?
It’s a theft of love. Isn’t it?

We were separated untimely
I was alienated forcefully, and rudely
Sharp edges of scalpels,
Ridiculed
In the name of our love
I was unscathed

Weeping bitterly,
Shedding tears of blood - warmly,
Shivering fearfully....
Dipping and crossing over the “custodial solution”
So adventurous and awesome tome
Any way, I’ve conquered that sea
Now, I’m fixed steadily,
But indolence everywhere
I can’t bear

Now I’m the life of process
Vitality and swiftness
of this new soul

My dear, spouse,
Is my “donor” well?
Do you secrete “erythropoetin”, “Renin” still?
I’m the enthroning king
Of this ‘lumber region”
If this “recipient” loves me
Forever....
I’ll be the saviour
Of his “renal failure’

G. Sriyanganie