Warring Lusts: Eros and Thanatos in Lakdas Wikkramasinha’s Erotic(?) Poetry

By Pawan Madri Kalugala “…any woman I lust for, as I lust for death.” — Lakdas Wikkramasinha, "The Muse". **** Lakdas Wikkramasinha’s poetry is one of dichotomies; of warring dualities, conflicting energies, and fierce tugs in opposite directions. An aspect that repeatedly stands out in his poems is the tug-of-war between opposing forces which birth...

Ondaatje & Halpe: “Lakdhas Wikkramasinha”

By W. Van Der Beck The collected works of Lakdhas Wikkramasinha (also spelt in other places as Lakdasa Wikkramasinha, Lakdas Wikkrama Sinha, and Lakdas Wikkramasinha), edited by Michael Ondaatje and Aparna Halpe , based in Canada, was released recently. The collection was in the works for a while and was launched in the New York...

A Decade of Uncertainty: Hasitha Wickremasinghe’s Post-war Impressions

By Vihanga Perera Hasitha Wickremasinghe Hasitha Wickremasinghe’s Connected by a Breath (2022) is a collection of 36 poems written over a decade and a half, from 2008 and 2022. This odd ratio between composition and time spent composing highlights an important aspect in this poet's work: that Wickremasinghe doesn’t force herself to produce with a...

Spittel’s Wild Poetry: A Necessary Addition to Narratives of Remote Ceylon

Jungle river fold me in your noonday haze, Lave me in your waters shotted with the rays Of the golden sunlight gleaming through the green As you wander seaward on your rippling wings. Seaward, ever seaward, sighing as you wend, Softly o’er the level ways, burbling round the bend – Minstrel of the woodlands, when...

Some Defining Aspects of Palitha Ranatunge’s “My Epitaph for You”

By Vihanga Perera My Epitaph for You (2020) is Palitha Ranatunge’s third collection, after A Shifting in My Paradigm and The Crimson Sky, and arguably his best work to date. It consists of 41 poems of which the personal poems dominate the collection including a corpus notable for its expressions of anxiety, vulnerability, and moments...

In Kusuma’s Memory: U. Karunatilake’s Poetry

By Subhagya Liyanage In Kandy Revisited and The Kundasale Love Poems, U. Karunatilake demonstrates an enviable mastery of style and technique in what is an emotional tribute to his wife Kusuma. These moments of love, grief, and remembrance are a joy to read and have a sincerity to them that leaves behind in the reader...

Concerns Like Death and Decay in Vivimarie Vanderpoorten’s “Borrowed Dust”

By Subhagya Liyanage Vivimarie Vanderpoorten’s Borrowed Dust demonstrates a straightforward writing style that predominantly explores the themes of love, loss, death, and some issues of socio-political relevance. Although the blurbs on the book’s back cover make note of Vanderpoorten as a “deceptively simple” writer who “hides her art and craft” (emphasis added) in uncomplicated poetry,...

A.P.G. Sarathchandra’s “Bicycles and Bombs”

By Subhagya Liyanage Named after the 2001 Gratiaen shortlisted and self-described “long, epic poem”, A.P.G. Sarathchandra’s collection Bicycles and Bombs contains several engaging poems but, for the most part, is an underwhelming corpus. The collection’s chief drawback is that most of these poems - although dealing with sensitive, socially and culturally relevant issues - are...

“China Bay Blues” and the Raw Exotic

By Gayathri Madhurangi Hewagama One-liners have a tendency to linger, to mislead, or never do justice to the book on review. However, to identify Afdhel Aziz’z collection of poetry and short stories as producing the effect of the raw and the tropical exotic (Shehani Fernando’s photographs of coconut trees, beaches, Buddha statues and moonstones heightening...

The Redeeming Features of Isurinie Mallawaarachchi’s “Flowers Teach Me to Let Go”

By Nipuni Ranaweera Isurunie Mallawaarachchi’s Flowers Teach Me to Let Go (2022) is a collection that brings on a writer’s brutal honesty in discussing (mainly) difficult truths dealing with one’s self, but which also demonstrates scope for improvement – mainly, in the formal aspects of the poetry. It’s a maiden collection by a poet who...