A Second Sunrise

by R. Cheran, Lakshmi Holmström (Translator), Sascha Ebeling (Translator)

The sea swallowed the sun
splitting open, spraying
crimson blood
over the clouds.

A Second Sunrise showcases the best poems of Cheran, an accomplished poet of our times. The Sri Lankan civil war looms over much of his work. Poems of the precariousness of love are interwoven with poems of war. The idyllic seascape of 1977 when

Waves lap along the shore
spreading
within me
the sea

is ruined forever by the experience of war (1981–89). These are followed by poems of exile and the experience of the diaspora (1993–2003).

Now there is left
only a great land
wounded.
No bird may fly over it
until our return.

Finally, 2004 onwards, there are poems that take us to the devastation of May 2009, by when

The sea has drained away
Tamil has no territory
Kinships have no name.

With such a wide range, translators Lakshmi Holmström and Sascha Ebeling treat each poem both as fresh in its particularity and as part of the poet’s oeuvre. Their English renditions capture the resonances and rhythms that connect Cheran to a long Tamil poetic tradition that spans over two thousand years.

Genres: Poetry

158 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Cheran Rudhramoorthy [Tamil : சேரன் உருத்திரமூர்த்தி] (b. 1960, Alaveddy [alaveddi], Sri Lanka ) is a Tamil poet, playwright, journalist and professor. He is the author of more than 15 books in Tamil, and of three plays in English. He also co-edited an anthology of Tamil political poetry. In his works, he deals with the themes of identity, ethnicity, nationalism , emigration and violence.

Cheran has received several awards for literature and human rights , including the English PEN, Freedom to Write Award (2013), the University of Toronto International Poetry Award (2007), the Human Rights Witness Award, Montreal , 1998 ), and the Sri Lankan National Prize for Best Poetry (1994).

His works have been translated into 16 languages ​​including English , Arabic , Bengali , Chinese , French , German , Spanish , Indonesian , Japanese, Kannada , Malayalam , Dutch , Sinhala , Swedish, and Telugu .

Reviews

[•Paula•]

Only read excerpts for uni

[Manikya Kodithuwakku · Rating 5 out of 5]

Evocative and powerful.

[Divya · Rating 4 out of 5]

As always with translated works, I wish to read the original side-by-side :)

Some favourites from this collection include the title poem, Parting, On the banks of the river, and Merged landscapes.

[Deepa Ranganathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant collection. Each of these poems must be read more than twice at least. They are dark, deep, disturbing and delightful. All at the same time.

[Sneha Bhattacharjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

“When you are oppressed,
You see the blood of tears.

When you are the oppressor,
You see the tears of blood.”
- ‘War - A very short introduction’

These and many such poignant poems find a space in this collection of poems by Cheran.

His poetry demonstrates that the personal is political. His reminiscing through the voice of the poet of his experience in Sri Lanka allows us to see from a deeply personal perspectice the human consequences of policial bestiality and ideological obsession.

Cheran’s poems contribute to writing an alternative history of the ethnic conflict and civil war in Sri Lanka, a history of the personal and the particular, a history written by poets.

Cheran’s poems harbour a sober voice of reason, responsibility and human decency, constituting a nagging presence to those perpetrating crimes against humanity.

[Anjali · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful, gut-wrenching collection of poetry from Sri Lanka, that laments the loss of peoples and homes.