“Unaffected, the Kelani River Flows,” Amali Anupama Mallawarachchi’s 31st poem in her “Graveyard My Back Garden” poetry collection, states. Amali’s imagination also flows through the pages unaffected, sometimes even hard to be digested by the Sri Lankan “well frogs.” Amali’s poetry collection consists of 37 poems, divided into two segments: “Meteors and Fireflies” and “Crows and Carcasses.”
What grabbed my attention was segment two, “Crows and Carcasses.” Amali takes risks in addressing contemporary social issues. That is what struck a chord in me—aren’t we like carcasses picked by the administrative crows in this country?
Amali does not focus her “unaffected” writing on one theme. She picks different social incidents as well as what she has undergone in her day-to-day life. Her 21st poem, “Without it,” talks about the saree, “the six yards of multipurpose misery” in Amali’s words. This attire worn by women took a centre stage in Sri Lanka a few months ago. The matter was even brought to Parliament.
Amali skillfully writes the story behind sarees.
“Drape To look Elegant, proud, innocent, pure, decent Honourable, moral, noble and whatnot “
This is exceptionally true in this superficial country. She also adds, sarcastically, that even a saree could help you “walk out free from a murder.” It reflects the mentality and the superficial importance given to a saree by our society. She does not stop there.
“Possibly on battlefield if they could find an excuse…
Even brothels hide behind finely draped prostitutes.”
Amali moderately paints the bleak picture hidden behind the saree.
“A transmitter of culture forced on a manipulated body
Suffocation is discipline
A cradle before poverty A shroud before helplessness” Amali states that the “Six yards of misery” is a “transmitter of culture” but on a manipulated body”. It is not women who wear the saree have space to raise concerns regarding its difficulties. But it is all men who make those decisions, and women’s bodies always become an object for men to plant their whims and fancies.
“How lengthy but how short, How silky but how coarse, The six yards of multipurpose misery.
Without it, you are no woman Protest if you dare, They will hang you with the very same.”
Stark reality
Amali bravely takes a risk, mentioning the stark reality of contemporary society. Without the “Six yards of multipurpose misery,” you are not considered a woman in a gender-prejudiced society. And if you dare to protest, the very same six yards that made a woman “Elegant, proud, innocent, pure, decent, Honourable, moral, noble”, will be used to hang.
That connects me to her 32nd poem in the collection “Give Up” where she gives myriad of reasons for a woman to give up nevertheless women will never give up.
“How easy it is for a woman to give up, Having to use the office bathroom every half an hour When milk oozes out of her breasts.
How easy it is for a woman to give up When fifty-seven del unit of pain Crushes her every bone.
How easy it is for a woman to give up When her off time is at seven thirty in the evening And the packed train breaks down middle of nowhere during the night How easy it is for a woman to give up, When roughs, brothers, fathers, and grandfathers touch her private parts Instead of caressing her head.
How easy it is for a woman to give up, When she is to do what she is told,
‘Be a lady, no talking back or too much! How easy it is for a woman to give up, It is just that she will not”
Moving further, Amali has given a gothic and sinister touch in her poems, reflecting her liking towards imaginative and speculative thinking. Her imagination is scintillating when she writes the poem “Hear They Sing”, where she writes;
Upon the night of the purple moon,
Bleeding its marvel on the silver grass, From the ground appear ancient ghosts Hear they sing the ballad of farce.
When the blood boiled down to a thick paste A jam to spread on roasted flesh Boys were killed, men slaughtered Women raped and children cursed.
Personification
Amali has been successful in giving life to inanimate objects. She has woven her creativity charmingly around inanimate objects personifying them to an extent beyond imagination.
“Everything was fine until the hat started talking back
“You are going mad,” the head warned “Well, wasn’t it you who were talking to the hat in the first place?
“Yes, but isn’t it normal?
Talking with anyone who is willing to listen!
It is not easy to find one, you see Everyone is obsessed with their own stories The hat, too, had opinions.”
Amali does not stop there; in her collections, she has given the reader maximum space for interpretations between her lines.
“With no regrets, she burns To ease the coldness of the stormy night To keep the lover warm. Oh, the sweet sandalwood incense stick.
For some reason, Amali’s use of words evokes multiple interpretations. Her use of metaphorical language evokes the meaning that a woman burns herself in an act of sexuality to please her lover. Between the lines, Amali subtly demonstrates the act of making love in a nuanced manner.
In her collection “graveyard my back garden”, she touches almost every aspect of the society from age old folk stories to the 30-year prolonged Sri Lankan war as well as the recent mass uprisings.
