Long Cf Poems

Disability, Illness and Fundamentalism

My brother died of Cystic Fibrosis, 
When I was twelve and he fourteen, 
It took away his ambitions, 
To study at Oxford - the pipe organ’s steam. 

I understand being born with...

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 A French ‘Indianist’ Doctor: A Tribute to a Die-hard Humanist
                         ...

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 TUAN TATA : Song of Uda - I
by T. Wignesan

(Patrick Noone, a British anthropologist, discovered the Ple-Temiar tribe living isolated in the jungle highlands in the State of Perak on the west coast of...

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Bharathidasan’s “Pulikku nay enta muulai” (To the Tiger, the Dog knows no safe dwelling!) translated by T. Wignesan 

Bharathidasan (1891-1964) was a self-proclaimed disciple of the eminent Brahmin poet: Cuppiramania Bharathiyar (cf. two poems of...

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Unquotable quotes: The Janitor, Gardienne, Landlady, Housekeeper, Portero, the Sereno and the Hausgast – XXXI  Part One

Be they so named or not in these here parts, visions of shrieking furies with Gorgon heads and...

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He reignited my creative passion when he reentered my life
His can sense to the core how I am feeling and asked me right away to be his wife

Though it's been 45 years we have known...

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Metaphor of outrage, Translation of Carlos Bousono’s poem : Metafora del desafuero

			                    ( In celebration of...

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IF EVER I HAD A COUNTRY : LX - LXI

The Yijing says : " If the common folk commit crimes, the fault for them shall reside with this one person (i.e., the Sovereign) himself… "...

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Le vieil identique problème – Translation of Kevin Gilbert’s « Same Old Problem » by T. Wignesan

(For Kevin Gilbert – cf. the introduction to Inside Black Australia (1988) – as quite obviously for Oodgeroo, too...

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Mnemonic Devices: Rhyme and Alliteration in the THIRUKKURAL, a random example: Canto 4, K35 by T. Wignesan

alukkaaru avaavekuli innaacchol naangkum
ilukkaa iyanrathu aram (refined, shorn of connective particles)
The way of vileness, self-congratulatory aid, ire and foul-mouthing...

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THIRUK-KURAL on not offending the Great*: Periyaaraip Pilaiyaamai - Canto 90 K895 and K897

[* The "Great" here are indifferently the King or other learned and wise people whom the King ought to respect and fear....

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THIRUK-KURAL on not offending the Great*: Periyaaraip Pilaiyaamai - Canto 90, K899 and K900

[* The "Great" here are indifferently the King or other learned and wise people whom the King ought to respect and fear....

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Part Two

shrinking you again within our ruwai
though always fearing, always cringeing at the thought
of the day
when his brothers would come in numbers
bearing fire-spitting engines
over the sodden earth
in search of you

« My people… my PEOPLE…
Will avenge...

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We only talked sanely a few times, 
About how he also had a condition like me, 
Although my dad, who was a pharmacist, when James was small wouldn’t say, 
Obvious as it was that he...

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I was crying last night because I understood, 
Everything that Gordon Aikman said and postulated, 
It was mega, a long-awaited viewing, was food, 
As I could relate to the things that he had tested.

The BBC...

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Children of Xenophobia

Children eating bullets and firecrackers 
Beggars of smile and laughter 
Silent corpses sleeping away fertile dreams 
Povo* chanting new nude wretched slogans 
Overstayed exiles eating beetroot and African potato 
Abortions and condoms batteries...

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No one knows his name…

He is a villain though his back looks pitiful
because he walks with a limp; nevertheless, to hide his complex—one leg is shorter than the other, he bathes with innocent blood and...

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Gary, you are my little soldier boy,
who died on Veteran's Day. ('83)
My sunny, golden-haired soldier boy,
that I still miss in every way.

You had just turned 13,
getting interested in girls.
When CF took you from me,
my heart,...

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Prison Souvenirs, Translation of Paul Verlaine’s poem : Souvenirs de prison, March 1874*

(Verlaine was sentenced to serve a term of two years in prison for having shot his erstwhile lover in the arm/hand, the legendary...

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Villanelle: Nothing so upturns creative cauldrons as retching up art

Nothing so upturns creative cauldrons as retching up art
As the craft not art of constructing poetry for expediency
Does the poet’s art lie in not collocating words...

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Rather than the light of the day
why does the owl soar in the darkened night sky?

Does the owl soar in the darkened night sky 
avoiding dazzling daylight because it’s painful 
to watch the terribly misshapen...

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A Childhood Memory, Translation of Carlos Bousono’s poem : Recuerdo de infancia

(Note : Poem inspired by the figure of Bousono’s grand-aunt with whom he had had to live since childhood, after the death of his...

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RECIPE: “Poulet Roti” French Style - La Ballade “Le Chant Royal” -Concluding Stanza

(Note: As you can see, I have taken certain liberties with the fixed form, but have always kept close to the spirit of...

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What's purpose of life - thought provoking question.
Guidance stated by many is confusing.
Advice received doesn't give any direction.
Some say to find happiness or love people
or imbedded in culture, no confusion,
or follow God's will or to...

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Variations on the Malay Pantun : The Old Man and the Short Story

  for Georges VOISSET, the "Master Keeper-Nurturer" of the Malay Pantun

Check out:  www.stateless.mysite.com/Pantouns-20-Aout-2017.pdf

(The pantun line varies between 8 and 12 syllables...

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