Nostalgic thoughts on torn-between worlds
Jayanthi LIYANAGE
Title: Perceptions
Publisher: Vantage Press, New York
Price: Aus$8.95
‘Perceptions’ is a collection of delightful short poems penned by
Peter Seneviratna, expressing in lyrical language his life here and
working, retiring and growing old in Australia.
The poems are a treat for both the young and the old, while three
other short stories in the book are geared for young readers.
With the conviction that ‘civilisations have been influenced more by
poets than by emperors’ poetry for him has been an arch through which to
‘glean an untravelled world’. Seneviratne was born in Colombo in 1927.
He obtained a BVSc degree from the University of Madras and qualified
as a veterinarian. Postgraduate education at the Royal Veterinary
College earned him a PhD from the University of London in 1957. He
worked as a veterinarian in the Department of Primary Industries,
Canberra and later as an academic at Murdoch University, Perth until
2005 when he retired.
He is a member of the Australian College of Veterinarian Scientists
and was awarded a DSc for his outstanding research in Veterinarian
Science. He is also the founding Laureate Member of the International
Society on Poetry.
‘On Reaching Australia’ he muses:
Leaving friends and family
in a far-off place
Was trying my best to
get a job in a few days
But after sometime, one did I find
A Vet, Class One - a job of kind!’
‘Thus, did I supervise in abattoirs
The slaughter of cattle,
sheep and swine
To the crack of shots,
the sow’s wine
And the whiz of hissing,
leaking taps.’
He writes of ‘Perth’ as a ‘city where winters are mild/live over a
million of very race / who call this a wonderful place / to live and
raise a family / in sanity, peace and grace.’
He has also written of his experiences of different seasons in
Canberra which he says was inspired by listening to the musician
Vivaldi’s composition, ‘The Four Seasons’. Thus in ‘Winter Canberra’ he
laments:
‘A dark cloud moves away
as the cold wind blows
the sun shines;
the lake’s water glows:
The leaves of the evergreens
flutter;
But there is no bird sounds
that matter.’
After retirement, living in Melbourne with his wife, Seneviratne has
also penned endearing poems about his children, grandchildren,
grandmother and family in general.
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