Exquisite words of sadness cry out in resignation

Channels Volume 8 Number 1 edited by Anne Ranasinghe. Reviewed by Susan Rosenberg, Secretary 'Voices' Israel Group of Poets in English

I would like to tell you, and do justice in the telling, how much I enjoyed reading the stories and poems in Channels Volume 8 Number 1, published by the English Writers Cooperative of Sri Lanka and edited by Anne Ranasinghe.

The Editor, in sending me the small book, ended the accompanying letter with: "You will note that you live a very different life in a totally different world, and speak with a different tongue." At first, I was somewhat offended; but after reading the stories and poems I had to acknowledge the truth of what she has said, and I became aware of the many differences, but at the same time also of the many common human denominators that bind us. It was valuable for me to read the English language written so simply yet clearly, and yet with what one might call a 'foreign accent'. I would of course like to know how to pronounce the names of the authors and the places and characters they write about, but not knowing the sound of it, does not stop the flow of language, nor the messages delivered with such punch.

One of the huge differences between us is, I think, the acceptance of and resignation to life however difficult, unfair and tragic it might be in the Sri Lankan culture. Is it a Western attitude, or a particularly Jewish one, to cry out in outrage at injustice and cruelty? Not to accept things as they are, but to try and change them? For instance: the soldiers in A.M. Hettiarachchi's story Night At Elephant Pass, or Chiranthi Rajapakse's Incident - a young girl's remorse at not being able to help a beggar; the way the woman in One Month's Extra Pay by Gertrude de Livera dealt with her humiliations; and the sad story of Saman, such a bright and lovable child, of what happened to him during The December Holiday, by Sunila Nanayakkara; or the only solution that seemed possible to Prema in Sea Gull's Sister, by Priyani de Silva McLeod; or The Shut In's fatalistic attitude to her personal tragedy. So many of the stories are sad, yet at the same time there is an understanding of life, and a kind of joy in the interpretation of it. Where the poems are concerned I liked best Buddhika Dassanayake's Possessiveness which had also been quoted by the Editor in her Editorial:

"In form, feather and freeness of flight".
If you ask me, "What is the best thing?
I shall say, "My kite -
My Kite of patience, and paper, hope and string."

I also liked the two Haiku written by nine-year-old Gillian Ranasinghe -so young to recognize beauty and to describe it with such an economy of words and at the same time quite exquisitely. Once again, in the poems Savannah and Suicide Bomber by Imara Perera and Amila Weerasinghe respectively I feel the resignation and sadness; the awareness coupled with acceptance during A Summer Across Europe by Ramya Jirasinghe; turning disappointment into unselfish joy in The Treat by Rukmini Attygalle; and I really appreciated the way in which Talitha Cherian Mathew expressed her love in the poem titled Glass. But perhaps more than anything also Meditation by Thusani Dayaratne describes what I am trying to say about almost all the stories and poems so beautifully channelled in Channels,

concentrating
"With a patient mind,
Shutting out
The world I live in."

I am going to lend Channels to my daughter who is a psycho-linguist and teaches teachers to teach English as a Second Language at Bengurion University of the Negev. Some of her students are Bedouin, some are new immigrants from Russia, some are Ethiopians and then of course there are the Sabras, the native-born Israelis. I think she will be interested to see how Sri Lankans use the English language and she may want to demonstrate the writing in Channels as examples for her students.

So, with Buddhika let us
"Wait for the winds.
Then - Run. Turn.
Free Him. Hold the cord but never keep him back
Let Him ride the breeze and rise and swoop in arcs
But never fall
There is much upness to reach out for."

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