Colombo

He who wears blue uniforms
Group of gentle riding boats
Moving Up and Down through channels
Sending notes to the surrounding people

Group of gentle cleaning channels
To improve the level of capacity to use to transport
Flash back memories to the Thames river in the poem of London
It is using to transport people or goods

Find a way to avoid smoke and oil of the boat engines
Find a way to avoid "Sili Sili bags" to throwing to the channels
Ask them to change their behaviors and attitudes
To adopt new situations and ask them to travel with a smile

One day City of Colombo will become as London
But not as London to be as Colombo
Ask people to travel with a smile
With marking full of happy

Rohini Ekanayake

******

In this poem, the poet draws parallels between the city of Colombo and city of London. The poet imagines that the canals in Colombo can be used as those in London to ease the traffic jam in the city of Colombo. The poet pleads that people should change their attitudes towards the city and stop polluting it. The poet uses a simple language and short lines. -Indeewara Thilakarathne

Still alight inside prison

Inside jail
thrown by my own people,
i am keeping fire alive in the oven
alone in one corner for myself,
mocked by the free world
outside the window,
an Aung San Suu Kyi,
I experience
the entire country's aroma
brought by the postman wind,
the toial view of the present
reflected in the blue sky
through the iron grills of window.
Though I cannot escape,
! can see to my full contentment
a limited sky, fleecy clouds
and I've saved the seeds of my thoughts
even in this menacing famine.

Thin hope rising
when i gaze at the sun and moon
through the imprisoned eyes,
an intense effort to live a
life of inconvenience,
unbearable mockeries
made by my own people
in each minute and instance.
that complex gaze,
and to tolerate ate irresponsible
and indifferent performances
and live just live only
is today's triumph--
lamp burning inside me.
I'm sitting 'n the prison
drawing birds on the wall,
I've learnt to sit in Buddha's postures
and talk straight to my inner self--
convenience of this solitude.

i understand
the connection between cage and rage
and agreements of days with nights
Torrentia! rain falls outside.
! recollect
my drenched childhood in the rain,
embracing tomorrow's luminous world,
i am not extinguished inside the prison,
not drowned in the deluge of torture,
and have not lost the game of exercise.

Sabita Gautam Dahal (Translated from Nepali by Abhi Subedi)

********

The poem is a reading of a prisoner's mind. It seems that the political prisoner is 'alight' despite being behind the bars. He smells the aroma of the country through the window and enjoys the sun and moon. What strike is the indomitable human spirit which refuses to yield unto pressure and torture.

Hope flickers in his mind as he gazes at the sun and the moon. When the rain comes down, he recalls how he drenched in rain during his childhood. The poem is marked for its power of recollection and drawing parallels between the prisoner's states of mind with the changes in nature. -Indeewara Thilakarathne

Across the darkness...

Across the darkness,
The path went on,
Continuing on and on,
Seeming……..
As if it would never end,
With moon beams pouring,
And owls hooting,
Disturbed,
By the thunder and lightening,
Drenched,
By the rain,
She crossed the stile,
Still going along,
The path,
To wherever it would go,
However distant,
How much trouble,
Facing all,
She went,
Up to the end of the rainbow,
To get the pot of gold,
Which she had wanted.

-Gimhani Upeksha Waduge

*******

The poet evocatively narrates the path of life which is full of hurdles and lie through forests. The journey has no apparent end. A person who determines to get at 'the pot of gold', relentlessly follows the path because he /she wanted to have it somehow. -Indeewara

Pseudo-Utopia

Here are we
In the Utopia promised
With vegetation withered
And the earth cracked
Yet burdened with promises

Grim figures wander to and fro
Skeletons emaciated with hunger
Gobble up air enthusiastically

Innocence ooze in their eyes and
hope glimmers, never-ending hope
Looking at the empty sky
They still cherish the promises made
in a by-gone time
Eagerly waiting in the flooded alleys
Till their Savior arrives
They paint in their mind the land of fulfilled promises

The Theme-Development for the 21st century
On the other side of the paradise
A set of big figures have gathered
with the sincere hope of
making the promises a reality
for the betterment of the life on earth
In a heavenly setting
In spick and span clothes
Amidst the tinkling of glasses
They gobble up scrumptious meats
Solid proposals are given birth
with so-called reflective thinking
They talk of plans and projects with
Half-closed eyes
Stimulated with intoxication
Depressed over the worries of the poor
Guffaws we hear
Outburst of laughter surrenders
the lamentation of the poor.

Another round table sees the ending
With PROMISES for the poor for the umpteenth time

Indu Gamage

*******

The poet eloquently expresses dismay at the emerging world order where the masses eke out a living in a polluted environment. However, they are burdened with promises. These impoverished men and women are like walking skeletons.

In another part of the globe, a round table discussion is being held among the decision-makers on "The Theme-Development for the 21st century" and they are discussing on the modalities to eradicate poverty, glasses rattle and laughter heard. It will be yet another round table discussion. The title of the poem 'Pseudo Utopia' is ironic. However, the word 'Pseudo' seems inappropriate as Utopia is an imaginary State which is essentially Pseudo. -Indeewara