In Absentia
My blast through screens of Walmart.Com has left no visible trace, name drained from the database, the retailer cutting losses, unwilling to keep stock, especially in the department of war poetry. about…
Poetry
Miracle on the Green
I have forgotten last week, and last year took place inside a long glass twinkling with snow dust. Where are we now, The year racing perenially and not one stab in the…
The moon is out
In Sri Lanka The moon is out I think No, not a full moon Just a patch of light Straining through the darkness And not everywhere equally bright In the north I…
The New Hope
I have learned humility, to respect my brother, to walk on the straight line when the man in blue requires compliance, but I am not drunk, and I am not free, yet…
Cycles of joy and pain: Ode to the Jaffna cyclist
Build and break Break and build Is this not A child’s world? Stamp your journey with mildness Stamp your journey with gentleness Tread with care Disturb nothing Inherit the earth By being…
Did you too laugh, my brother?
Photo courtesy Tell me my brother in the North, Who is not allowed to weep today Tell me about the times when you laughed On your long road to defeat and subjugation…
waiting for the war to end
In this place there are No trees no old house With the rope swing Between the karatha kolombang Trees Here there is only White heat white-brown sand Four tin walls And a…
Five Years Later
Photo by Ron Haviv The pearly island, flip in the sea before munching hot prawns near breakers on the beach; be careful with a camera, no point and shoot in sensitive…
The Virtual Library
I have no image of the vault or shelves, or tables with lamps scholars use to consult books. I am seeing the library from a great distance, pleased that the building stands…
Ode
The following poem was read out to the Sri Lanka parliament by the Hon Lakshman Jayakody and appeared in the Hansard 1998. It was reprinted in the ‘Anthology of the Galle Literary…
An Eternal Hope, Mandela!
Photo courtesy People usually pay tribute to great individuals, once they are no more. However, I wrote this poem about Nelson Mandela, in order to pay homage to him, while he…
Howling
What shall I do, living in Peru, with this report of systemic failure in U.N. monitoring in Sri Lanka, how bureaucrats drove away from the disaster to come, buried hard- earned stats…
Happiness Blues, Sri Lanka
I don’t know what to say, my friend, I have some blues that don’t seem right, too light and fancy free, happiness and all that putty you poke and pat, grinning silly,…
The Writer Fighter
Have you become a lance corporal, wing commander, lieutenant, private, sergeant, major general? Or are you a writer transporting yourself into trenches to wield a saber against a vague menace, bespectacled, sitting…