Lyrical expression of Australian poetry

Reviewed by Dr. Siri Galhenage

An accomplished bilingual poet, Sunil Govinnage, gives lyrical expression to his own migrant experience by writing poetry from Australia. He does it with sincerity and openness. ‘In the bewildering host country the ultra-sensitive psyche of the poet, suffered a series of culture shocks, making creative sparks fly in all directions’, wrote Kalakeerthi Edwin Ariyadasa, in a review of Govinnage’s anthology of poetry in Sinhala, Mathaka Pilirav [Echoes of Memory]. The same is a fitting observation of the current anthology in review.

The book consists of two parts: the collection of poetry by Sunil Govinnage and two essays by Dr. Thiru Kandiah on Govinnage’s poetry. In my critique, I have chosen to focus on those poems that relate to the migrant experience which form the bulk of the collection.

Perth: My Village Down Under -A Collection of Australian Poetry’ Author: Sunil Govinnage. Sarasavi Publishers, Nugegoda

The theme of loss runs through the collection of poems like an underground stream. The poet gives expression to his angst in letting go of his native land, his heritage, his language and his kith and kin. ‘I was a wingless bird/.Unwilling to leave the nest’. The separation was too painful; he creates visual imagery of his childhood [‘the paddy field.../stacking hay after harvest/...chasing sleepy buffaloes...’] and collects them ‘like jewels on the string of life’ to be carried over to his ‘village’ across the ocean. His need to maintain continuity is clear: ‘When the same moon rises/Over the Swan River/, I will pick them up/ Tomorrow, In my new village; Perth’.

Reasons

Human movement across state borders became commonplace worldwide after the Second World War, due to a variety of reasons. Ceylon/Sri Lanka too experienced such migratory activity with many of her citizens opting to leave her shores after Independence, and more so during the three decades of hostilities at the turn of the century.

Lured by the popular tag, ‘the lucky country’, many Sri Lankans chose Australia as their adopted home. The poet and his family were amongst them, citing ‘concerns for the safety of their children’ as the reason for leaving their motherland.

‘Breaking free from the fear of war/that hung heavy on the heart’.

They settle down in Perth, where the poet ‘sets up’ his ‘village down under’.

Needless to say, Perth is no village. Nestled between the Darling Range of mountains and the ‘mute sea’ [the Indian Ocean] and traversed by the Swan River, Perth is described as the ‘most isolated capital city in the world’ – ‘a best kept secret’- with a sprawling suburbia. The poet uses the term ‘village’ metaphorically, carrying over his original village – with the nativity, unity and the comfort it represents – and superimposing it on his new-found habitat. It reminds me of the little child who carries a cuddly toy [or any other object] for comfort when he explores the territory around his mother, which Donald Winnicott, the Paediatrician and Psychoanalyst called the ‘transitional object’! To Govinnage ‘the village’ is his transitional object.

Ideal

After settling in the new ‘village’ the painful withdrawal from the lost object, which takes the form of an abstract ideal, continues, resulting in a state of moaning [grief].

‘I don’t shed any more tears...But my heart aches’;
and the sadness is projected on to his new environment.
‘A sad melody fills..a weeping sky’.
‘A sad melody from a didgeridoo...floats with the wind’.
‘When the moon rises, I can see,/ A yellow veil covering the sad river again’.
‘The Swan River. .is a tired child/ready to sleep’.

The migratory transition evokes a ‘crisis’ in many migrants, generating a plethora of emotions. Such emotions arise as a result of the conflict between the desire to preserve one’s original culture, language and traditions and transmit them to one’s offspring, and the need to adapt to the new culture.

The emotions generated depend on the capacity of the individual to take up such a challenge and are intimately personal.

He maintains a long distance romance with his native land and the memories flash back triggered by sights in his new environment. ‘Looking at floating ferries… On the Swan River..Far below. My memory is a mirror.. I see ferries floating.. On the Kelani River’.

‘Hay Street is full of damsels/Some like apsaras in Sigiri frescoes’.

Isolation

The poet expresses his isolation, with no one to confide in: ‘The Swan Rive/Flows sadly to the mute Indian Ocean’. At times he lapses into a state of melancholy:

‘My health is no good./My lungs are packing up./The heart decreases in rhythm’.

‘I don’t even have enough poems/as a literary bank balance in this village!’

The poet’s grief is compounded by anger and resentment. He articulates such emotions in the context of perceived unmet expectations and thwarted ambitions for him and his family and is displaced onto his adopted home.

‘Australia!/You are not my country/You were only a shelter/From woes in my country’

‘You robbed my children /Of their mother tongue/And forced them to wear a white mask’.

He also gives lyrical expression to the schism that develops between him and his children as they, in their formative years, adopt the new culture. This is best symbolised by:

‘I heard you [daughter] asking mum/Whether she had received red roses/I have never given red roses for love/Or celebrated Valentine’s Day’/‘We offered flowers to the Buddha/And chanted gatha reflecting on/The ephemeral nature of life’.

‘I would like to be the Lion/Protecting you in my cave in Sri Lanka!’

The confusion in his mind, created by the mixed emotions, gives rise to this oxymoronic reaction!

‘Walked as freely as you liked, [in SL] /Even if you did get a bullet in your head’.

Despair

Having to give up his identity has been a central concern for the migrant poet: the source of his despair. He gives expression to his hesitation in pursuing a new identity, resulting in a ‘diffusion’ of his conception of individuality [Identity Diffusion: a concept developed by Eric Eriksson, psychologist] although Australia tends to promote the idea of migrants maintaining their cultural heritage while integrating into the general community. As a multicultural society Australians takes pride in their ‘unity in diversity’.

The poet alludes to being an ‘Auslankan’ and an ‘Orientalist from down under’ with a certain degree of cynicism. The problem lies, as with many migrants, in the idealisation of the ‘loss object’ and difficulties experienced in letting go in the initial stages of immigration.

As the poet attempts to adjust to the change of seasons in his new home, he finds himself projecting his unsettled mindset onto the climatic conditions.

Summer has arrived /Like an angry man/Looking for a place to cook.
The fallen [autumn] leaves/By the road/Drifting like our lives.
The world covered with sad rain/The winter evenings are crawling/Like a snake.
The [spring] sun is a teenage rebel/The frozen days have evaporated/ Like my youth.

Voice

As he merges into the Australian community the poet gives a voice to some of the contentious national political issues in ‘My Big Village: Australia’.

Aboriginal cause: ‘Killed the blacks/Created a Third World within the First’

Off-shore processing of refugees: ‘A bi-partisan approach to keep Australia clean/Of refugees, the boat people reaching our shores

This is not the tradition our white ancestors/Established over two hundred years ago’
Trade with China:
‘Yes we sell a bit of Australia to China everyday/Until we have no land and iron ore to sell’.
Aren’t they verses [voices] of dissent?

Despite the initial ambivalence in adopting an Australian identity, it seems ironical that the poet has subtitled his book ‘A collection of Australian poetry’. Instead, in my view, a title of ‘A collection of Migrant Poetry’ would have been more appropriate, as the collection aptly portrays the feeling state of a migrant, albeit idiosyncratic, for the reader to reflect upon.

Beauty

But having settled in his village down under, one could hope that the poet will now give expression to the beauty around him, and with his undoubted poetic skill, give lyrical expression to a higher level of understanding of the ‘oneness of beings’, as he has come to live in a ‘village’ which he shares with people from all corners of the world.

After all, we are all travellers on ‘The Great Trunk Road’ to borrow a metaphor from Rudyard Kipling’s ‘KIM’, taking refuge at ‘villages’ down the track, but soon to pick up our ‘baggage’ and continue with our ‘journey’.

‘One cannot overlook Sunil Govinnage’s unique contribution to the main-stream of modern Sinhala poetry’[Edwin Ariyadasa]. With this collection of poetry in English he has expanded his horizons and made his mark across the ocean.

The Australian poet, Andrew Burke has observed: ‘having Sunil read in Sinhala was enchanting—imagine such song being multiplied and amplified a hundredfold in our midst’. With poets such as Govinnage brought into location, Burke predicts: ‘I see some day there being a distinctly West Coast OZ literature’.

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