Mr. Chulananda Samaranayaka is one of the major translators of internationally acclaimed literary books, a poet of four anthologies of poetry and an author of a book of short stories.
"GLIMPSES OF A SHATTERED ISLAND" is his recent work of poetry.
This 40 page, 250 rupees valued Sri Lankan English poems are a revelation for the stream of Sri Lankan literature.
I have only read a few Sri Lankan English poems [from the old English literature syllabus for General Certificate of Education (G.C.E.) Ordinary level (O/L) - 2007 (Prior to the syllabus change)] and only one novel by Mark Wilde, The "Chucking the Dragon".
The below link allows you to read my review on "Chucking The Dragon".
https://bookerreadsdaily.blogspot.com/2017/01/03-chucking-dragon-by-mark-Wilde-not.html
Though it's an emotionally powerful book or novel it is very personal.
The whole novel is woven around a person and his perspective on the destruction of the whole country as a nation due to its decline in good ethics and attitudes.
The writer Mr. Chulananda himself has attempted to cover many aspects of Sri Lanka through his journey of glimpses of Sri Lanka by turning beautiful words into 28 poems.
Though the poet has touched and scratched the surface of many aspects of the Sri Lankan struggle and its political drama which will be an eternal tragedy until good men or women find their seats in the right places, these poems will be written over and over again.
But since the Sri Lankan English literature is much confusing and dark [Funny boy by Shyam Selvadurei (Not read yet), Chucking The Dragon By Marke Wilde] to the readers, these poems have attempted to reduce it to an acceptable level.
Poet not seeking excessive sexuality (Prostitution in the country), Old news (Riots and War) or the criminal uprisings have managed to focus on the economic and the political aspects of our country which is a good thing to the reader.
Besides several structural problems in the poem like,
(01) lacking more artistic elaboration of language to the scenario described than being straightforward.
(02) And some grammatical and language errors
It is a very rare sight for Sri Lankan literature readers to have an opportunity to read a Sri Lankan English anthology of poems these days.
I am very glad Mr. Chulananda Samaranayake, did this set of poems for he had unlocked a new paradigm for Sri Lankan literature to fearlessly go into the English language as well in writing and reading.
To finish my words of gratitude to him (Poet), the following somewhat haunting poem with a tragic aspect will be typed in this blog post to have one glimpse of our shattered island.
Glimpses 13.
An emptied
poison bottle
is lying
on a barren paddy field
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