The Poetry of South Asia An anthology of Poems

Before we see whose poems appear in this volume, we should know something about the compilers.  
Dr Sigma Sathish is a friend of mine and she has sent a copy to me because I like poetry. She is an Assistant Professor in English Literature in a college in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Kerala.   
She is a widely published poetess both in India and abroad. She is not only a poetess but also writer and academic, advisory board member in seven International Journals. Author of four poetry books, her Feminine Blues is translated into the Serbian language.   
She has also won the award World’s Best Poet of the year 2017 from the World Institute of Peace, in Nigeria.   
On India’s National Press Day 2016, she received the Mirabhai Literary Award from Organization of United Working Journalist forum supported by Public relations Department, Uri, Govt. of Odisha.  

Sigma is a Greek alphabet as we all know. Her father’s gift is this name which means Sum Total. Her mother tongue is Malayalam. She could speak in Thamil too. She may be considered a Feminist.  
Dr Perugu Ramakrishna is also a Malayalee and is believed to be a Post-Modern poet, translator, and editor.   
He had participated in many national, international, and world events-we learn. At the 36th World Congress of Poets at Prague, the Czech Republic in 2016, an Honorary D.Litt. was conferred on him.  
In this collection, there are 53 poems by 36 poets. Among them, there are a few Lankan poets.   
One of such poets is So Pa (Somasuntharampillai Pathmanathan). Two of his longish poems are included.  
Would you like to read at least one? Here it is in full: 
 

In Search of Roots

By SoPa

Since my childhood  
A wistfulness  
Has been haunting me  
Unfortunate I was  
I had no grandparents  
I mean they were dead and gone  
Before I was born.  
-  

Kunchi my aunt  
Was a diminutive woman  
The shortest among five sisters.  
She lived a lonely life  
Having lost nine of  
The ten children she bore.  
-  

I need to run errands for her  
On one such visit  
I saw her pecking slowly  
At her plate of rice  
“How do you manage  
To nibble so slowly, Kunchi?”  
“I was like this  
Even when I was a little girl.  
Everyone would have gone to bed  
I would be eating my dinner.  
Appu would sit puffing a cigar  
“Take your own time, daughtie  
I am here”  
-  

Slowly, very slowly  
Emerged from the hazy past  
The figure of my grandfather  
Whom I had not seen  
Even in a photograph  
-  

Bare-bodied and sturdy  
Wearing a loin cloth  
Hair tied in a tuft  
Smoking an aromatic cigar  
waiting for his diminutive daughter  
to finish her dinner.  
-  

From the negative given by Kunchi  
my mind makes a photo-print  
of my grandfather  
to see whom  
I was longing all my life!  
 

The other Lankan poets whose poems appear in the collection are Kamala Wijeratne and Kamini Jayasekera.  
We should read the poems of the Editors too.  
Let us first look at what Dr Perugu Ramakrishna has written. There are two poems by him: Soul-Song and Mother is Tired.  

Soul-Song

By Perugu Ramakrishna

Those memories  
That measured the times,  
Ah never die, it seems!  
-  

I still remember vividly…  
Yes, all those evenings  
Used to blossom like night lilies!  
Those dim dusks  
Soothed the day-tired soul songs,  
And boldly invited the gloomy nights!  
-  

Lo, now again,  
I turned that secret strings in heart  
And covered the wounds  
With the mystic music-balm!  
When I restarted my life journey  
After a brief alight,  
Suddenly a new muse,  
Flashed in my mind:  
 -  
‘Yes, to throw out your heart,  
Hot and high  
You need someone at you nigh!  

R. Sigma G. R. also has written two poems: Living Chisels and Like a Folktale… Let’s look at this:  

Like a Folktale…  

By R. Sigma  

When he got empty  
In the royal residence,  
Mysterious male desire  
Wrapped her in the  
Looming pain of his heart.  
When cultural anxieties troubled her  
His mind got wreck  
In the female sexualities.  
Self-awareness of mortal him  
Was retrieved by his eventual wife.  
And the biggest hypocrites  
Were mere puppets  
In the hands of fate  
But,  
They bloomed in the secret room of life  
When the female identity of her  
Hoisted green flag  
Of domestic harmony  
The masculine authority found  
Female perfection,  
When he cuddled her in public?  
Morbid jealous in him  
fascinated her,  
And he partially consummated h  
In her private room.  
Why did he visit her in public?  
Life of an unfortunate man and woman  
Like a Folktale.  
I leave it to you to appreciate the poems of this interesting collection.   

Dr Ramakrishna, Perugu; 
Dr Sigma G. R, edited and compiled. Pp 116. AuthorsPress, 2017 INR 295 [email protected]