Songs for the Unsung...

This past January, when I was in Kuala Lumpur, I came across a book of poetry written by Cecil Rajendra, a professional lawyer practicing in Penang, Malaysia, and who is, apparently, one of Malaysia's best known poets. His bio indicates that he has seven volumes of poetry published, and his works have been translated into various languages like Chinese, Japanese, Malay, Urdu, and German.

Unable to read the original, I can only read and admire the nuances conveyed in the English language. Despite everything lost within the translation, I thought it was most admirable that he tackles, unflinchingly, issues of social and political concern. Inside these poems, he takes on poverty, hunger, nuclear war, disease, industrial development, war, refugees, etc., in sweeping songs of condemnation and lamentation, of hope and rejuvenation.

Poetry that deals with these issues are not often written, and when they are, they are crafted poorly. Rajendra's poetry is no exception. His poems are interesting to me not because they are exquisite lines or are of finely honed aesthetic, but only b/c they are daring and courageous in wanting to deal with large issues, with problems and challenges that surpass geographical, cultural, economic, political, social borders.

I cannot emphasize enough how much I dislike poems filled with phrases like "i want to sing / of all that was / but no longer is" and so on, so on. But, there is something in Rajendra's poetry that is acceptable, worthwhile. Redeemable? Redeeming?

No celebratory song

So long
as car-parks take
precedence over hospitals
multi-storeyed hotels
over homes for people
irrelevant factories
over the paddy-fields
of our daily sustenance

I shall
sing no celebratory song
no matter
how many suns go down
This tongue
will be of thistle and thorn
until they right the wrong

So long
as Law comes before Justice
the edifice before service
the payment before treatment
and appearance before essence

I shall sing no celebratory song

So long
as the poet is debased
and the businessman praised
the realist rewarded
and the idealist denigrated

I shall
sing no celebratory song
no matter
how many suns go down
This tongue
will be of thistle and thorn
until they right the wrong

So long
as foreign investors
devastate our estate
and the voice of capital
speaks louder than
the pleas of fisherman

So long
as blind bulldozers
are allowed unchecked
to gouge our landscape
and multinationals
licensed to run
amuck across this land

I shall
sing no celebratory song

So long
as our rivers and streams
our beaches, our air
our oceans and trees
our birds, our fish
our butterflies and bees
are strangled, stifled
polluted, poisoned
crushed, condemned...
by lopsided development

I shall
sing no celebratory song
no matter
how many suns go down
This tongue
will be of thistle and thorn
until they right the wrong