“මම කෙසේ පවසම්” කාව්ය සංග්රහය මුලින්ම පළ වන්නේ වසර හතළිස් නවයකට පෙරයි හැත්තෑචේ දශකය වනවිට ලංකාවේ සාහිත්ය කලා ප්රවර්ගයන්ගේ සාධනීය අස්වනු පාඨක සමාජයට උරුම වෙනවා. එනමුත් ජනතාවාදී සාහිත්ය ප්රවණතා තදින් හැත්තෑවේ දශකයේ ආරම්භය තුළ මතු වෙනවා. දේශපාලන තේමා රැගත් ‘ජනතාවාදී – නැත්නම්…
The poetry collection “How Do I Say It” was first published forty-nine years ago
By the seventies, the positive harvest of literary and artistic genres in Sri Lanka was inherited by the reading community. However, populist literary trends emerged strongly in the early seventies. ‘Populist – or revolutionary’ poems with political themes were written. Over time, that trend also received the patronage of the coalition government. This poetry; this literature, Gunadasa Amarasekara severely criticized.
The wonder is that the poems written by the young J. Uyangoda were appreciated by Gunadasa Amarasekara. I would like to share a part of Amarasekara’s appreciation.
“While reading these poems by Mr. Uyangoda, I had a suspicion that many militant poems and stories written today to build socialism are a way to reveal the inferiority complex and the inferiority complex that lurks in the subconscious of the young people who write them. Mr. Uyangoda, who was sentenced to twelve years in prison for attempting to overthrow a government, fought for a most important cause according to his conscience and is serving a sentence in prison for it. Therefore, he does not want to display a false socialism. He also has no fear or hesitation in revealing the human heart as a human being. I think that the love and respect that arose in me from reading his poems grew even more because these poems are a genuine mirror that reflects his heart, which has the qualities mentioned above. The poet who wants to express an experience that is the subject of his mind into words and turn it into a poem, He has the ability to speak fluently…”
This assessment of the poet Amarasekara, who pioneered the development of modern Sinhala poetry; the judgment is unbiased and truly excellent.
The fact that the young J. Uyangoda, who actively dedicated himself to the 71 rebellion, identified ‘poetry as a category that can be used for the expression of emotions’, detached from ‘people’s ideology’, to express his spiritual isolation, is a manifestation of his literary knowledge; a well-defined literary perspective on the subject of literature. Although examining his poetic works today, it is apparent that Amarasekara’s poetic rules have primarily influenced him, I fondly recall his love for the poetic forms of the three ‘Mahagamasekara’, Buddhadasa Galappatti and ‘Monika Ruwanpathirana’.
When the pain of spiritual isolation becomes too much for one to bear, one is tempted to give up on life. But a person who has been able to understand life through his own imagination does not face it as one who is overwhelmed by emotions or as a loser. It can be said that a tear is shed from his eyes with a bursting heart. This is clearly illustrated in the way the poet dedicates the poem ‘Mam Kake Pawasam’ to his father.
“To my father, whose life was cut short with tears that fell from my eyes
I have not seen you, I have been crying alone for eight months, I am in prison, I am thinking helplessly, I am remembering your virtues, I am giving you these verses, my heart is boiling with emotion”
This dedication is an emotional sensation that sharpens the spiritual isolation suffered by a son, and the way the feeling of guilt is diluted as a feeling of life.
In this collection of poems, the poet Tanta has several painful memories that came to his mind. The poem titled ‘The second year of my father’s death is approaching’ also explains the relevance of personal experiences to a poem that touches emotional life.
“I tried to write a devotional song that is born from your virtues and hums with my heart, but ‘I have written only the first words a thousand times in two years, O Father, when the tears that flow down your face wash the leaves,’ how can I write beyond that?”
Here, the reader sees in his mind a tear shed by a son at the feet of a father for the wrong he has done. Only a reader who understands poetry and the language can move a reader without being too sentimental. Moreover, the question of where the end is, which pricks the conscience of a person who is tormented by the feeling that he is responsible for the pains his loved ones are suffering, also raises the pain of self-punishment experienced by the narrator.
For a revolutionary to reach a point where the heart is touched by the glorification of his struggle and the release of his emotions through poetry in a poetic way is not only poetry, but also the wisdom that lies within poetry. This is an example of this.
To the sick mother
When I heard that you were sitting on the bed, I immediately cried. When I heard that you had recovered from it, I cried again.
When you remember that your second son did not come to kiss your head while you were lying on the sick bed,
When you remember that your second son did not come to kiss your head
When you were lying on the bed, I would not be angry.
From all these circles, the reader is faced with the same narrator. All the experiences are filtered from his life. Since they make their life’s feelings the subject of their feelings without any hypocrisy or sincerity, the heart’s sensitive quality is well-established in all circles.
There is something common in the feelings related to separation from their loved ones; being immersed in a decision about a reunion. Someone who has gone to a distant country feels that loneliness. But the loss of ‘life relationships’ due to imprisonment is a complex experience that is completely different from that of ‘solitude’, which is caused by the constant pain of a sensitive human heart. For someone who grew up in an extended family, in a rural social base, and grew up, the feeling that he is guilty of that loneliness is a heartache that cannot be seen with the naked eye?
The poem ‘To the sister I saw once’ goes beyond the mere shock caused by the sister’s visit to the imprisoned deceased. The bond with an elder sister, based on an intimate life in an extended family, can be varied. That bond is sensitive according to the feelings related to it. Such a sensitive feeling can remain like a lead ball in the heart. Such an experience is experienced by the reader of the poem ‘Kalakin Dutu Akkata’. The absence of any poetic expression in that poem, and the creation of a sensitive meaning of life through metaphor, is a great sign of advanced poetry. Through the sensitive feelings that arise in the narrator, a passion for life that arises through human ties is highlighted. This example makes it clear.
“You waited for me, I waited for you, Finally you came to see me, After traveling a hundred miles, When my journey was delayed for a while
Come back at least once, Turn your face to my eyes, Speak with tears, How much more can a single drop of your tears tell me than what I have said for centuries!”
The poet describes the heartache of spending one’s young life in a prison cell, remembering human bonds, like a colorless watercolor painting created with a quick brushstroke.
The way human bonds are not ‘restrained – fateful’ but persist throughout the collection of poems, is not the raging anger of a young heart that has spent its life in a prison cell, but the desire for life.
The anguish of the emotional life of a creature that has been silenced – imprisoned. That lamentation is often heard in the background of the poetry collection ‘How Can I Say It’.
Examples
“Silence – Cold like when you are beating a drum – Like being tied up in a furnace” – (Prologue)
“Life is a pole, a place of torture, a hell.”
“I scream when I am burned by the flames, I scream when I am freed from the cold” – (A matter of emotion)
“My heart, with my head pressed against the pole, is weary. How will I spend the night until tomorrow dawn? Like a wild goose whose tail has been cut off from its tail
The mind that is running around, looking for something to hold it in one place, looks around for a small space that seems to be
A lonely flower tree in the middle of the darkness” – (After the sun has set)
The pain of spiritual isolation that is conveyed through these poetic expressions; The meaning of life can be explained in pages.
The poem ‘A Strange Goodbye’ included in this collection of poems is based on a deep life experience. The subject of this poem is the close relationship between two men; physical attachment. This poem is written from an experience that no poet of that era has ever written. The poem itself, ‘A Strange Goodbye’, is full of irony.
“You have no breasts full of children, no fins full of sunshine, where beautiful children have disappeared, the love you gave me for a while in the guise of a beautiful child has not been forgotten.”
The poet presents to the reader a view of life related to the norm and non-norm of the passion for life. Just as the existence of a life does not exist within a framework, the sensations of life do not exist in a transparent and solid state. This weaving of a young poet from a distant past is beautiful. Even with restraint, it boldly expresses the vision of the thinker emerging from the poet.
Professor Uyangoda, who was a prominent figure in the 71 rebellion, becomes a leading scholar completely detached from it. He becomes a top theorist in the subject of political science. Today, Professor Uyangoda has transformed into a broadener of the boundaries of Sinhala literary discourse.
Reflecting on his association with the rebellion and becoming a political scientist, Professor Uyangoda is today dedicated to the field of literature.
But whether he will be the second in the creation of poetry tomorrow is a question.
Scholar Jayadeva Uyangoda says that to write poetry, one must have a confused mind.
That requires an earthquake.
My wish is that there will be no personal earthquake.
But I remain with heartfelt hope that your poetic mind will awaken from the earthquake that is taking place in the socio-political culture.
Professor Sarath Wijesuriya