Archive for the ‘Writers Under Siege’

Confessions

Stop this struggle He pleads Of his comrades A revolutionary leader Broken in pain In State Custody They set me on the wrong path He blames, pointing to his friends A young rebel in a Lonely rehabilitation camp Dreaming of a quick release. He frets about the cruelty of his Organization on Rupavahini.1 Thinking some good may come of it An old retired warrior Now surrendered into Military Custody. Praising the military loudly He serves sambhar2 into Sinhala plates. A Tamil waiter in Colombo fearing his own Sudden Disappearance. The Sad Truths he brought from a forbidden war zone are untrue He recants to the Rupavahini amidst a circle of Military Weapons. A doctor who treated thousands of wounded. Her daughter was a traitor Disowns a Sinhala mother of her daughter who died of a Sinhala bullet for a Tamil homeland. an elderly agitated voice amongst those celebrating an Ultimate victory. I see the desolation of an Abandoned Cause beneath…

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Beauty

What beauty in camps? I sit in my favourite chair listening to Beethoven’s last sonata, slient breezes in time. to the music. My world creates a sonata The other shatters all possibility of one. Guarded, malnourished; the beauty of rescue: possible? loudspeakers are silent. Waiting for a pass, a nod, family member to utter their name, to go back home to farm, toil, feed the earth feel the breeze of their own sonatas. Beethoven calms me. My children, near. one dressed. Pretty. Ready for her first ‘mixed’ party. The smaller cuddles her father, night air brings comfort. Smells of food. Dinnertime. Civilized. Red wine. Nourishment. No death here. just beauty and dignity. Part of the Writers Under Siege collection on Groundviews. For more information, click here. Repost This Article

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Liberation

You claimed to liberate hostages, to conduct the largest rescue operation in history. In other countries people robbed of freedoms, rescued, are treated by doctors, then sent home to be greeted usually by feisty and jubilant crowds. They are welcomed as heroes. Here, 100 Tamils share one latrine, women don´t eat so they will not defecate until night covers them squatting in bush by the perimeter fence conquering fear of snakes. Here boys and girls are picked up by goon squads who roam camps demanding bribes for teenagers they choose to leave alone for now. Part of the Writers Under Siege collection on Groundviews. For more information, click here. Repost This Article

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Belonging

The island belongs to centipede, rat, butterfly, lots of species each with their own habitats, and supervising all arable and fallow land the president king. Minorities may enjoy clean living in freshly cleared forest patches, welfare villages with amenities such as latrines and tents, gated communities. June 28, 2009 Part of the Writers Under Siege collection on Groundviews. For more information, click here. Repost This Article

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Einstein was a Refugee

Refugees are sometimes active have agency they Leave, Flee, Sneak Flow over boundary lines unchecked like rivers they Escape, Hide Cross territories they Flood places like unnatural disasters are associated with Asylum and Sanctuary they are A Problem An Issue Sometimes they have a voice if only passive they become Internally displaced (slightly more dignified) ordered out forced out asked to quit resettled relocated They come in all shapes sizes colours types Afghan, Kosovo, Vietnamese. Kashmiri Palestinian Sri Lankan Tamil Muslim Sinhalese environmental political etc etc etc etc If they are lucky they metamorphose into Returnees If they are really lucky they find their relatives If they get really very lucky they become famous. For more information, click here. Repost This Article

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Three poems by Sivamohan Sumathy

[Editors note: These poems respond to Indran Amirthanayagam's poems here, here and here. They are both part of the Writers Under Siege collection on Groundviews.] 1 i am not a writer i am not a writer nor am i under siege, i do not frequent the commons, nor the poetic corner. 2 i, savage why do i write when i had promised myself aching silence after kethesh’s fall and maheswary’s stunted end? why talk suddenly of the siege now, when i have stood at death’s door, refused its dare and now can finally slumber, in a snow stirring fantasy surrounding turkey’s trouble with its torture chambers, lulled by the bewitching tones of orhan’s magic? why the artist and the writer and colombo’s array of poets, rushing to versify, riding on guilt ridden stirrings of the heart, of us and them? it’s a tale told by an idiot, and yet, signifying so much, a tale told a countless times, to still…

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Dancing In Sympathy (Mullaitivu)

Six boys from Hindu College will enter the scene from Stage Left, an equal number of girls from Muslim Ladies Stage Right. They will shake their bodies, slide and writhe, and be still to rid bones of chains and memories, and invite guests, us, to sway in harmony even if we’re away from jungles which give shelter, or ash-filled homes whose roofs are open to whistling bombs and winds that sweep left-overs clean. That Boxing Day the Tsunami swept residents out; now the Army marches in four years later to find an abandoned town, and in nearby woods yakshas howling in Tamil calling for food and water, medicine, safe passage south… while in the capital, as I imagine the performance must end, on a stage a boy and girl will embrace. January 27, 2009 Part of the Writers Under Siege collection on Groundviews. For more information, click here. For a response to these poems by award winning poet Sivamohan Sumathy,…

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Equal Treatment

Citizens of Killinochchi and Mullaitivu fled before our liberators arrived. They live for the moment in nearby jungle under a canopy punctured by shells. Some moved to a safe zone demarcated by liberators where they have fallen since to errant fire. Others ran into liberators’ arms and live now protected in large barb-wired camps. January 27, 2009 Part of the Writers Under Siege collection on Groundviews. For more information, click here. For a response to these poems by award winning poet Sivamohan Sumathy, please click here. Repost This Article

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Forgetting, Mullaitivu

The town is full of stray dogs, cows, ghosts, buildings pockmarked, unhinged, open to wind and rain. Soldiers patrol on foot. Trucks and tanks rumble through the center. Rebels took all the fittings to jungle cellars, and we wait eagerly to discover how the Supreme Leader makes his bed. Look at Europe today, Germany lost 500 kilometers on its eastern flank. How many young people know this history? We will disappear. The tsunami swept a lot away. Our failing memory compensates for the rest. January 27, 2009 Part of the Writers Under Siege collection on Groundviews. For more information, click here. For a response to these poems by award winning poet Sivamohan Sumathy, please click here. Repost This Article

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About Groundviews

Located at the Centre for Policy Alternatives in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Groundviews is a citizen journalism website that uses a range of genres and media to highlight critical perspectives on governance, reconciliation, human rights, the arts and literature, democracy and other issues. The site has won two international awards, including the prestigious Manthan Award South Asia in 2009. The grand jury's evaluation of the site noted, "What no media dares to report, Groundviews publicly exposes. It's a new age media for a new Sri Lanka... Free media at it's very best!"

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