A poet should be driven by social responsibility

By Ranga Chandrarathne

Here in an exclusive interview with Montage; senior media personal and poet Lynn Ockersz speaks about his poetic experiences in reference to his latest collection of poetry entitled The Peace Thou Gives. The Peace Thou Gives marks an important trajectory in contemporary devotional poems in English as well as contemporary Sri Lankan poems in English. One of the salient facets of the collection is that it redefines the role of a poet and the poet’s inalienable responsibility towards society at large.

Lynn Ockersz

In essence, a poet should strike a balance between private poetry and public poetry. Lynn maintains such a delicate balance in the area of devotional poetry with sharp insights into society.

Q: Although the history of Christian poetry in Sri Lanka may not be as old as that of the Pali and Sinhala versions of the Jataka stories, your recent collection of religious poetry entitled ‘The Peace Thou Gives’ not only offers rich insights into the practice of Christianity in Sri Lanka but also deals with a myriad socio-economic issues. The collection also marks an important trajectory in modern Sri Lankan English poetry.

Could you describe the backdrop against which you wrote poetry for the collection?

A: Well, as know, the past 30 years or so in Sri Lanka’s post-independence political history were marked by bloodshed and the war against terrorism of the most tragic kind.

It was always my conviction that the ethnic conflict which was at the heart of this convulsive strife, could have been resolved by peaceful and political means and it was my endeavour, particularly as a journalist, over the years, to bring to the attention of Sri Lanka’s political leaders, the decision and policy makers of this country, and the general public, that war was not an option and that the issues at the heart of the conflict could have been resolved at the negotiating table, through a process of dialogue and discussion and in a spirit of compromise between the main parties to the conflict.

Now, one of the central messages of Christianity is that peace and humaneness have to be always given a chance in the affairs of men. From the Christian perspective, which highlights the need for selfless love and brotherhood among men, there is no space for the use of violence and war in the resolution of disputes among individuals and social groups. Therefore, it pained me very deeply as a follower of Jesus Christ, to see bloodshed and battle in this country, dating from roughly around July 1983. Whereas, peaceful means could very well have been used, from the beginning to resolve the conflict, it was apparent with time, that a spirit of compromise and a willingness to give and take were not going to dominate the thinking of the main parties to the conflict. Consequently, as you know, countless precious lives were lost and billions worth of public and private property senselessly and needlessly destroyed. The resources of the country were wastefully squandered and savaged.

It was this anguish in my heart, caused by the bloodshed and wanton destruction in Sri Lanka that primarily prompted me to articulate my thoughts on the issues confronting the country, through the medium of poetry. I first began experimenting with poetry in a big way in 2001, and the result was my first collection of poems, ‘Flame and Sparks’, which, when it came out, won some critical acclaim. I continued to articulate my thoughts on the issues in Sri Lanka since then through poetry, and the consequence has been ‘The Peace

Thou Gives’, my second collection, which came out last year.

Q: One of the salient characteristics of your poetry is that it does not replicate the poetic diction of Victorian devotional poetry.

It bears imprints of socio-political and topical elements. Your poems seem to be spontaneous emotional responses to the socio-economic realities of the present milieu. How do you perceive this aspect in your poetry?

A: The English literary tradition, in particular, features Christian devotional poetry of the most inspiring kind and I acknowledge its greatness and eminence.

Devotional poetry of the kind that came off the pen of Gerard Manley Hopkins, John Donne and George Herbert, for instance, to name just three, is inspired literary art of the highest kind and it goes without saying that the literary output and quality of these greats cannot be easily matched.

However, these poets concerned themselves mainly with their private religious experiences, and as a consequence, their poetry does not deal in a major way with public- political issues. I do not see this as a weakness in their poetry, considering that the focus of their work was personal.

I have not made a conscious attempt to deviate from the brand of religious poetry brought out by these poetic greats, but it has always been my conviction that God’s hand is in human history.

That is, God is not separate and distant from the world of public affairs but is closely concerned about and involved in what transpires here on earth in the affairs of men. Therefore, God is very much present in the worldly realm and a Christian could perhaps best testify to his identity as a Man of God by concerning himself very deeply with the affairs of this world.

It should be his endeavour to realise God’s Will, which always brings about good, on this earth. Given these beliefs of mine, a strong public or political dimension in my poetry cannot be avoided. As a Christian, I am obliged to be concerned about the evil in this world and to do my best to rid the world of anything that tends to blight and ruin the lives of humans. This takes me to the political issues of the day in my poetry, besides preoccupying myself with anything that threatens the sacredness and holiness of human life.

Given these concerns, it should not come as a surprise if my poetry differs strongly in content and poetic style from what is considered traditional religious poetry. I see my public-religious poetry as an important complement to what is seen as traditional devotional poetry. I do not imply any value judgments by saying this but only wish to underline my major concerns as a poet. I would say that in my practice as a poet, I keep my feet planted on this earth, although my head may soar to things heavenly.

It should follow from these perceptions, that the diction deployed by me would somewhat approximate the language of everyday discourse, although it would not smack of colloquiality. It is a diction that is easily accessible to the general English reader, while everyday speech rhythms too cannot be avoided in my poetry.

Q: Some of your poems in this collection capture the sordid realities of this era and the abject poverty the majority of the masses experience. One such poem is ‘The Poor Man’s Cocktail’. The poem, among other things, stresses the pivotal role a poet should play in changing the current milieu. Even religious poets cannot be oblivious to the ground realities in a given society. Against this backdrop, how would you define the role of the contemporary English poet?

A: The poet needs to be driven by a sense of social responsibility. As you said, the here and now questions should be his or her main preoccupation, although the poet enjoys the liberty of choosing any theme or subject that he believes is of relevance and worthy of being dealt with. However, it is my conviction that the Lankan poet cannot wander too far afield from the concrete social realities of the present because of the close bearing they have on the general well being of Sri Lankans.

For instance, today, national reconciliation is of the greatest importance. There is a possibility of some sections in society lulling themselves into a sense of complacency, by believing that, now, all would be well merely because ‘terror’ has been militarily defeated. This is an erroneous belief. Now, more than ever before, the communities of Sri Lanka need to accept each other on the basis of equality and a sense of brotherhood. This is the main path to reconciliation and the literary artist could testify to his sense of social responsibility by promoting values that cement national reconciliation and unity in this land.

Therefore, among other things, today’s poet needs to be a bridge-builder and peace-maker. This peace, however, should be based on the values all religious communities cherish, such as, compassion for all living beings and love for one’s neighbour.

Q: One of the recurrent themes in the collection is conflict. In the poem ‘As the Gun Smoke Settles…’ you eloquently describe the nature of peace and its fragility. The peace that has been made is not the true peace made according to the Will of God. The poem ‘As the Gun Smoke Settles..’ is a rare poem in which you have applied religion in the context of the contemporary milieu. What are your views on the exploration of religious themes in the matrix of contemporary society, reflecting the stark realities of the day?

A: Religion has to be relevant if it is to serve any useful, humane purpose. Most religions have a spiritual or mystical dimension and a formal, organized dimension.

It is the former dimension which is of greater significance because it is promotive of values, such as, compassion and love, which most cultures cherish. I believe it is the responsibility of the poet and writer to, among other relevant things, highlight this spiritual and edifying content of religion through his work. This accounts for the lasting appeal of the work of, say, T.S. Eliot and Rabindranath Tagore. The latter, for instance, has highlighted the oneness of humanity through his work and such a theme is of the greatest relevance even today, when ‘narrow separation walls’ are being erected among communities by divisive quarters, such as, ethnic and religious chauvinists.

It is the formal or ritualistic aspect of religion, unfortunately, that predominates in this country. The poet needs to project the efficacy of religion by highlighting its spiritual or mystical content.

He also needs to show how great a healing influence this spiritual content is in contemporary times, by underscoring its power to resolve current man-made social problems. T.S. Eliot does this in ‘The Wasteland’. In the latter poem, Eliot deals mainly with the spiritual nullity and barrenness pervading contemporary industrial society but the core spiritual values in some Eastern religions are upheld as the source of the wholeness modern man is searching for.

Q: The title poem of the collection, ‘The Peace Thou Gives’, in a way, epitomizes the cardinal qualities of Christianity; that is, total surrender to the Will of God. However, it has been observed that some devotees pray for material gain only. What inspired you to pen the poem ‘The Peace Thou Gives’?

A: There is a dominant human tendency to pray to the Lord for material favours only. Besides, the majority of worshippers also want life to be ‘smooth-sailing’ and trouble-free. Trouble is also often misinterpreted as a sign that one has earned God’s disfavour. These are common misconceptions among Christian believers. Rather than bring dire misfortune, troubles and strife have the long term effect of strengthening and toughening a person; they are, in fact, a source of inner resourcefulness and should be seen as gifts of God, or blessings in disguise.

But our ‘puny minds’ do not usually grasp these profound truths. When trouble assails us, the ideal attitude to adopt would be to look upon them as trials that would ultimately strengthen us and render us more capable of dealing with life, although, initially, we tend to be baffled by these trials of strength. This, basically, is the perspective informing the poem and in it I have adopted the point of view of a believer who is befuddled by the ‘problems’ Providence sends him. But given the fact that these trials only finally strengthen us, we need to see these tests as avenues to inner peace.

Incidentally, I have deliberately and consciously adopted a certain informality of language in adopting the heading and title, ‘The Peace Thou Gives’. The archaic but reverential form of address ‘Thou’ is being juxtaposed with the more contemporaneous ‘Gives’, to give the collection of poems an informality of tone and flavour, in consideration of the fact that the poems are, to a great degree, a believer’s informal conversations with his Creator.

Q: Use of apt metaphor and biblical allusion are salient features which make your poetry worthwhile reading. In the poem ‘Thou Will Hear’, you have vividly captured the harsh realities of the times. It is a prayer to God to bring evil powers into captivity. Would you like to expand on how you have dealt with contemporary socio-political issues in the matrix of a religious theme?

A: In as much as God is forever present in the world and guides the lives of believers in the direction of righteous and exemplary living, evil or Satan too is a dominant presence on earth, although evil cannot prevail against God and the Godly for long. Nevertheless, Satan is roaming the earth like ‘a roaring lion’, waiting eagerly to trip-up the righteous.

In our lives, Satan or evil takes the form of the ‘hired killer’,‘the bullying politico’, the wheeler-dealer’ etc, who need to be constantly guarded against. They are the blights of contemporary Sri Lanka. Thus, I have tried to concretize through the local situation, the Christian theme of the constant conflict between good and evil.

Good and evil are given a local dressing, as it were, in an effort to enable the local believer to comprehend more concretely a dominant biblical theme. However, the reader also gains an insight into the local forms evil takes.

Q: In the poem ‘The Miscarriage’, you describe how justice is denied the poor and powerless for the purpose of promoting the self-interest of some. What inspired you to write the poem?

A: I penned the poem to express my disapproval over what I thought was unfairness in the ‘administration of justice’ to a fellow journalist. It is vitally important that those hands which ‘hold the scales of justice’, do so fairly, firmly and righteously. Fear and ‘trembling’ on the part of the latter could add to the blights and evils of our times and make the lot of the ordinary citizen .more unbearable.

It is also a tragedy of our times that public institutions which are expected to deliver justice and fairness to the powerless, are increasingly not being seen as doing so. This amounts to siding with evil. I hope my poems would have the effect of righting some of these wrongs, by stirring the consciences of those wielding authority.

Q: In the poem ‘Goodness and Governance’, you have explored the theme of spirituality in the context of power politics. You said in no uncertain terms that spiritual power came about with the birth of Jesus. Referring to the poem, ‘Goodness and Governance’, could you elaborate on this theme?

A: The Cross is a very important symbol in Christianity. In fact, it stands for the essence of Christianity, which is selfless love and Jesus Christ exemplified best this selfless love towards mankind by dying for man’s sins on the Cross. Therefore, for the Christian, the Cross is suggestive strongly of Jesus’s redemptive love, in other words, Jesus’s power over sin and death. Sin and death go together because it is as a result of man’s sin that death came into the world. It follows that if man wants to avoid sin and its damning consequences, he has to believe in Jesus and be guided by His Word, as found in the Gospels.

Jesus, therefore, holds the supreme power of saving man from sin and everlasting death, which is eternal suffering in hell brought about by sin, and in the Christian perspective, it is power as conceived in this sense of Christ’s redemptive love, which is valid and is everlasting because all other conceptions of power are of human origin and, therefore, fundamentally flawed and without foundation. How flawed these human notions of power are, is borne out by the history of human affairs over the millennia. A good example of such affairs is the world of politics. In the latter world, power is very temporary and fleeting.

Besides, an undemocratic, violent scramble for political power, only brings pain and suffering to not only those who vie for such power but for also their supporters and the people. For instance, have any bloody revolutions over the centuries ushered in even temporary peace and stability? How happy were even the persons and groups who thus held temporary power? The authoritarian states of the Middle East which are in turmoil today, testify to the temporary nature of political power and the insufficiency of such power to answer all human needs.

Even if political power is acquired democratically and constitutionally, such power is yet to resolve the problems of humans to their complete satisfaction. Thus, even the liberal democracies of the West are never short of painful problems for which there are no human solutions. Even within a democratic framework, we could only work towards a management of these issues.

However, ‘the power of virtue’, which Jesus Christ exemplifies, is of a completely different order and nature from these forms of human power. It gives complete and lasting happiness to the holder of such power and makes him or her self-sufficient and independent. For example - and this is only one example - Mother Theresa of Calcutta could never be deflected from her mission on earth, come what may. And what is more, she was universally respected. This is because, as my poem explains, Jesus, embodied ‘the power of virtue, of goodness which never fails, of innocence which disarms, and brings to their feet, in stunned reverence, those clothed in regal might. Like the Magi of old.’

Q: The unshakable faith in God is a recurrent theme in the collection. In the poem ‘Be Still and Remember’, it is mentioned that God would intervene and destroy ‘the arrows of persecution.’ Could you please expand on the theme?

A: Those Christians who stand-up for their convictions are tending to be persecuted everywhere. I am not implying that the general public everywhere is opposed to Christians. This is not the case but when Christians begin to work for the betterment of their fellow humans, some sections begin to oppose them and even clamour for their blood.

This has happened right through history and it is a misconception of what conscientious Christians are doing which accounts for this attitude of hostility. However, God never abandoned His followers. Even in times past, God intervened to save Christians from enemy action, through powerful actions that defeated the designs of those who were dead against Christians who were only acting according to their consciences.

My poem is a call to practicing Christians to stick to their tasks because God would never fail them, their trials and tribulations notwithstanding. It may be recalled that even those who worked towards a political solution to Lanka’s conflict were persecuted by some extremist forces here. However, God ensured that such enemy action was defeated. That is, ‘the arrows of persecution’ were blunted and put down.

Q: Considering the diverse issues and themes the collection, ‘The Peace Thou Gives’, takes-up, are you of the view that there is still room for contemporary Sri Lankan poets to explore socio-economic issues even in the context of devotional poetry?

A: It goes without saying that there is ample space for this in what is considered devotional poetry. As I have explained, for the perceptive Christian, the divine and the diurnal, or the earthly, are not in two separate compartments, as it were. The two dimensions are intertwined and it is not possible to discuss one in complete isolation from the other. No relevant religion exists in an ivory tower – in a distant remove from what is happening in the world. Your values and convictions as a religionist are tested on earth, here and now. Therefore, it only follows that the Christian poet would be naturally drawn to comment and reflect on the everyday issues of mankind. One’s religious convictions would certainly not get in the way of one’s efforts, as a poet, to reflect insightfully on the happenings of this world.