Dr. Malachi Edwin Vethamani -

Malachi Edwin Vethamani

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2003:In-Sights: Malaysian Poems. Petaling Jaya: Maya Press. 2003

	INTRODUCTION ------------------ IN-SIGHTS: Malaysian Poems is a compilation of poems by Malaysians, which were either written or translated into the English language. It is probably the first volume of poetry that present work that's has been translated from Bahasa Melayu into English poems that were originally written in English. The title of the volume, IN-SIGHTS, reflects the various pictures the poets paint of Malaysian life: its sights, sounds, smells and scenes. In a country where homogeneity is often extolled, IN-SIGHTS is a celebration in diversity. It is a celebration of the many voices that enrich Malaysian literature. These writers bring their cultures and individual beliefs into their poems and share them with us, and the rest of the world. These voices give us a variety of Malaysian perspectives and perceptions. The publication of an anthology of poems are rare and infrequent in Malaysia. Though there are more opportunities today for poets these opportunities are still few and infrequent. Student in schools do read poems and literature students in universities, as part of their course requirements, also do the same. IN-SIGHTS is a collection of poems for all readers. It is structured thematically: family, growing up, people, relationship, nature, conservation and landscape. The contributors for this volume of poems are both established and emerging poets. Their voices represent the differing generations, cultures, gender and perspectives. Muhammad Haji Salleh's "words for father" open this volume of poems. In a culture where children are expected to be seen and not heard, a child has words for his father. It is the voice of a young man to an aging father: ... It is time to rest now / to close your voice on the world, to feel the luxury of the holidays / that u never took ... . Comforting words are they? In the section on "Family", poets portray relationship between the different generations and deal with number of family-related issues. The poems consider both celebrations and conflicts that family members encounter. This section closes with dialogue between a grandfather and a grandchild, both considering the other's world in M SHANmughalingam's "Heir Conditioning". The section on "Growing up" presents various portraits of the transition from childhood to adulthood. Shirley Lim's "Hands" and Hilary Tham's "Becoming A Woman" highlight the receiving of maternal wisdom while Bernice Chauly's "Picking Fruit" deals with a child's response to the death of a parent. Muhammad Haji Salleh closes the section with the recollections of childhood in "on a dry bund". A number of poems in the next section, "People", dwell on the arduous lives of Malaysian in relation to their occupations-the fishermen, the satay-vendor, the dulang-washer, the farmer and the maid. In many ways, the opening lines in Wong Phui Nam's "For My Amah", "To most your dying seems distant, / outsides the palings of our concern" reflect our relationship with these people. Yet, through these poems we get a glimpse of Malaysian lives as they are lived. In the section on "Relationships", the poets present a range of relationships. Fadzildah Amin, in her poem "Dance", uses the Malay dance ronggeng as a metaphor to describe the nature of the relationship. Cecil Rajendra's "Untitled Poem" examines what love while Charlene Rajendran in "A Question of Rights" voices some of the concerns related to being single or marrying, for a woman. The section entitled "Nature" presents both Malaysian fauna and flora. In "To a Shrub", Ee Tiang Hong celebrates the bougainvillaea and Shirley Lim considers a "Land-Turtle". Poems in this section also depict the forces of nature that is experienced in Malaysian. Muhammad Haji Salleh's "poem rain" presents the dependence of man nature for survival. The last two sections present poems in these two sections bring to the readers' attention to the need to take charge of one's are visual poems, "cross-word poem" and "The Wall". These poems show us yet another way of capturing our experiences and the world. Omar Mohd. Noor's "three layers", closes this section and IN-SIGHTS, succinctly portraying the ever-changing Malaysian landscape. IN-SIGHTS is structured thematically and it merely suggests one reading of the poems. Readers will find other ways of reading the poems and this only goes to ascertain the multiplicity in the reading of any good literary work. Adrian Mitchell (1964) wrote: Most people ignore most poetry, because, most poetry ignores most people. IN-SIGHTS, a thematic anthology of Malaysian poetry, is an attempt to bring poetry to more readers and present poetry that considers a variety of people, their experience and concerns. In so doing, give les cause for ignoring poetry. CONTENTS ---------- FAMILY ............... words for father - Muhammad Haji Salleh My Father - Shirley Geok-Lin Lim Mother's Grave - Usman Awang Little Flower - Cecil Rajendra Note to Siti - Zurinah Hassan Grandmother - Kemala A Father's Words for a Lost Child - Suhaimi Haji Muhammad Dialogue (for my mother) - Kassim Ahmad A Family Dialogue - Ee Tiang Hong At the Door - Wong Phui Nam A Figure Forgotten in Hours Not-of-Need - Kee Thuan Chye Family Portrait - Ajmal M. Razak Manji - Bernice Chauly Heir Conditioning - M SHANmughalingam GROWING UP ............... Hands - Shirley Geok-Lin Lim The Voice - Siti Zainon Ismail Exitence - A.Wahab Ali Picking Fruit - Bernice Chauly Becoming a Woman - Hilary Tham The Hills & the Sea - Cecil Rajendra on a dry bund - Muhammad Haji Salleh PEOPLE ............... For My Old Amah - Wong Phui Nam My Clever Pupils - Omar Mohd. Noor Dulang-Washer - Shirley Geok-Lin Lim The Midnight Satay-Vendor - Ghulam-Sarwar Yousof three beserah fishermen - Muhammad Haji Salleh Grace Razario (1898-1976) - Leonard Jeyam Father Uith - Usman Awang Little girl - Usman Awang Malacca Song - Chin Wong Ping The Flute Player - Siti Zainon Ismail Old Friend - Ajmal M. Razak RELATIONSHIPS .............................. Dance - Fadzilah Amin Offerings - Hilary Tham Untitled Poem - Cecil Rajendra A Song of Silence - Siti Zainon Ismail Parting - Latiff Mohidin Friends - Hilary Tham The Other Love Poem - Zurinah Hassan A Question of Rights - Charlene Rajendran Rays of the Sun - Hyacinth Gaudart NATURE ............... rain - Muhammad Haji Salleh To a Shrub - Ee Tiang Hong Tree - Kemala Angsanas - Ghulam-Sarwar Yoursof Waiting - Latiff Mohidin seeds - Muhammad Haji Salleh Offerings - Ghulam-Sarwar Yousof A Quarrel between Night and Day - Omar Mohd. Noor Land-Turtle - Shirley Geok-Lin Lim Bamboo - Chin Wong Ping CONSERVATION .............................. Re: Construction To Whom It May Concern - Charlene Rajendra cross-word poem - Abdul Ghafar Ibrahim To the Turtle - Latiff Mohidin Death of a Rainforest - Cecil Rajendra LANDSCAPE ........................ The Wall -Abdul Ghafar Ibrahim The Kampongs - Chin Wong Ping Kuala Lumpur! Kuala Lumpur! - Fan Yew Teng Visiting Malacca - Shirlety Geok-Lin Lim Kuala Lumpur - Ee Tiang Hong the travellers - Muhammad Haji Salleh three layers - Omar Mohd. Noor -------------------------------------------- Petaling Jaya: Maya Press. 2003.