Down memory lane

"When to the sessions of sweet silent thought

I summon up remembrance of things past,

I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought."

- Shakespeare

In the wide-ranging pantheon of Hindu deities, Saraswathie is the Patron Goddess of Art, Literature, Poetry - the whole gamut of Fine Arts. She has stretched her gracious hand, across the Indian Ocean, to touch her ardent votary, in the Western Region of the continent of Australia.

The fervent worshipper of Saraswathie, who earned this distinct blessing from the Goddess, is Sunil Govinnage, who has just won the Annual Sinhala Poetry award, presented by renowned Publisher S. Godage.

His prize-winning work, Mathaka Mawatha (Memory Lane) is an anthology of 56 pieces of poetry, all of which converge upon the three-faceted central theme - "memory-nostalgia-separation."

The Trilogy of Sinhala Poetry, that has been authored by Sunil Govinnage, so for, pivots round one single issue- "Memory"

As a diasporic Sri Lankan, who spent twenty-two precious years, out there in Perth, in Western Australia, Sunil Govinnage has discovered the soul-sustaining vitality, "memory" could give him.

Sunil Govinnage

When circumstances propelled him into the wide-world outside, uprooting him from the insular home, where he lived life to the hilt, a profound sense of alienation gripped him. Adrift, with lost moorings, he casts around perpetually seeking a steadying force. Memories, impregnated with a solid dose of nostalgia come to his rescue. A trace of melancholy, brought on by pangs of separation, adds an emotional touch to this creative "mixture". The brief prefatory note, that the author has tagged on to his collection of poetry, is an admirable piece of philosophic reflection. It is, in effect, a rationale that attempts to justify the keen sense. of urgency, one cannot help but detect, in his memory-poetry.

The poet proceeds to explain, that the on-rush of old age, or the imagined sound of old age knocking on one's door, engenders a fear and a shock. The poet has decided, that, instead of being preoccupied with new life-projects, he should utilize what is still left of life, for the remembrance of things past." His memory-poetry is the brilliant outcome of this creative decision.

One cannot help but wonder, whether these philosophic reflections too, swayed the decision of the judges, when the award was conferred upon him. These thoughts deserve such consideration.

In the analysis of the heart of "memory", the poet is surprisingly delicate. In the brief poem of eight lines, that introduces the main collection, the poet raises a sensitive question. "What is the relief we can hope to get, by assuring ourselves that our memory will remain? One day memory too will take wing and fly away, just as "Time" does."

The title poem "Mathaka Mawatha," (Memory Lane) sets the tone of the total anthology. Out of the sights and sounds of the world, that gives him shelter now, memories emerge of the sun-drenched world of his childhood. The pervading desolation of the winter-world is deftly captured by the poet, in a few telling sketches. The poet's memories of childhood, conjure up a portrait of life, that is in total contrast to the wintry gloom the poet finds himself enthroned in this world of domestic felicity.

But, the nostalgic dream, is abruptly wrenched away. the sharp wintry cold, forces him back to the present reality. The dream fruits he gathered in the warm groves of his sleepy mind are rudely plucked away by the freezing winds of the snow-bound river, that screams in anguish.

Sunil Govinnage's poetry, stems from an intense spiritual pain. In the sliding, shifting, changing world, the sensitive poet yearns for a steady foot-hold. In the absence of any satisfying terra firma, the poet has to stand on his nostalgia-tinged memories. But, again memories of what world? Remembrances of what home?

Strangely, he has evolved into a member of the global diaspora, that cannot rightly claim domesticity in any place. He is one of those, who have become heir to a floating culture, present in many places but at home no where.

Poet Sunil Govinnage has a self-satisfying solution. When the world pelts him incessantly with those conventional questions, hesitations and accusations, what does he do. "Kavi atarehi sengavenne", I hide among poetry.

But, what a fortress, what a citadel of poetry, he has built for himself to hide in objectively assessed, he is perhaps the only Sinhala poet practising today, who has created a truly poetic diction of his own. His poetry, speaks in a voice that is unique to him.

His usages, demonstrate amply, that his creative vocabulary and the poetic images, that merge seamlessly into the thoughts he needs to convey, have risen out of a deep poetic effort.

He possesses such an unassailed poetic personality, built on the assiduous, painstaking practice of the art, that he does not feel called upon to perform any poetic "acrobatics", to win attention.

By offering him the poetry award, S. Godage organization has saluted a global Sinhala poet.

Our felicitations to that organization.