books37.htm

Book Review

The Rubaiyat of Busblar Saddam

The poems of Cecil Rajendra

IN 1978 HEINMANN EDUCATIONAL BOOKS (Asia) published a collection of poems by a young unknown - Cecil Rejendra. The introduction by Lloyd Fernando was one of rejection and condescension. The abrasive protest poet was "expatriate" - a strange choice of language if Shirley Geok-lin Lim is considered a Malacca native, his type of poetry could not escape "shallowness of thought" and suffered from a "glibness of utterance"

Nor was the returned student one who deigned to cultivate popularity. He rudely signalled his posture with "Art for Art's Sake" which began with

Let us rescue poetry from
from the babarians
Those who would reduce
it to a flag, a slogan
a vehicle for propaganda

The brash poet has come a long way since then. Amnesty International, National Geographic, UNDP, UNESCO, WWF, OXFAM, Third World First and the World Council of Churches have not hesitated to use his stirring language to publicise their work. His poems have been reproduced in Time, The Literary Review (US), New Statesman and Society (UK), Focus (Ireland) and the Skoob Anthology (UK). And much of it has been translated into German, Japanese, Chinese, Bengali, French, Malay, Tamil, Urdu, Danish and Tagalog..

That Edwin Thumboo in a commentary on a collection of Ghulam-Sarwar Yousof's poems finally listed him among the poets must have been satisfying recompense for his past isolation. More appreciation was to come from Linda Jarven who, in Asiaweek, describes him as "one of the fines poets writing in South Asia today." Then the London based poet Sundra in a tribute told the press that Cecil Rajendra was one of those she had drawn upon for inspiration.

Poetry to Cecil Rajendra is not a private inner world. His lyrical impulse speaks for the oppressed and the downtrodden of the earth and in the process he draws, in the words of W H Auden, "beauty and truth out of dark places"

Perhaps one of the best examples of his restless agitation against oppressive laws is " The Animal and Insect Act," a work which has inspired many human rights activists and had the distinction of being attached to railings at Trafalgar Square during a rally in London against the ISA called UK Solidarity Action Against Malaysian ISA.

All his work, however, is not confined to cantos of rage against tyranny. "Postcripts" (1984), published by an appreciative Prai Malaysia Rattan and Wood Industries SB, "Lovers Lunatics & Lallang" (1989) and the private collection "25" reveal a sensitive touch of seductive tenderness and sublime beauty

In the 60s and 70s as local poets furtively emerged from their shy enclaves they agonised over their "colonial" language and moaned over discovered concepts such as "Engmalchin." But the "expatriate's" "Nite of the Iguana" must surely earn him a foremost place in the Pantheon of native poets, a pioneer work which gives voice to the pungent local dialect and displays the vigorous and sparkling effects of its language and tone.

"By Trial and Terror" is the latest volume which collects the poems under chapters headed Kali (destruction), Varuna (moral law) , Kamesvari (desire), Durga (an aspect of Sakti) and Bhutamata (goblins). The volume contains the long poem "The Rubaiyat of Busblar Saddam" in the style of "Omar Kayam" which damns the US illegal war and invasion of Iraq and the bombing of civilians.#

by Trial 'N Terror
Bogle-L'O'uverture Press
London

Lim Kean Chye

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The Penang File Issue 37