Tuesday, August 25, 2009

I don't write poems in Sinhala any more!

While you craft your metaphors
And write as you like
In Sinhala,
While you win awards
I struggle here,
Under watchful eyes.

Post-colonial poets
Look on as I polish
My words into metaphors.

At night, when your metaphors cry out
And shine in their newborn glow,
I climb cliffs of foreign imagery
And bleed for a simile.

I eat, I drink, and worship white poetry;
I don a white mask
To overcome the self-pity.
I send you postcards
With 'cool pictures' of Perth!

3 comments:

  1. WOW, I have read your sinhala poetry decades back. Great to see your English poems.

    I am waiting to read them from another corner of the world,not developed like Australia.
    All good wishes!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow, good to see your English poetry. So cool.
    I was reading your poems for decades....And now in a cyber BLOG....All the very best!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dear Akkandi,

    This is indeed a late response. A poet has to write poetry from a given place (sense of place) but s/he could roam to capture his/her feelings from anywhere. You also need to take into account why I am writing poetry in English from Australia! It is a part o my own journey!

    ReplyDelete