Indran Amirthanayagam
This week, Paris Lit Up Open Mic welcomes Sri Lankan-American poet-diplomat, essayist and translator Indran Amirthanayagam to feature at our weekly Open Mic night series. Ed Bell takes the opportunity to ask him some questions about writing, art and the meaning of life.
Not even somewhere else
Every moment of every minute,
Every instant split in two, multiplied infinitely by x,
Every word shared, rhymed, devoured
Every message drafted, delivered, received, answered
Every embrace dreamed of, fulfilled
Every silence eliminated
And every poem written - these are the ingredients
Of my soup of the day, my favourite meal, my
Not so secret vitamins - you, who I thank for this life somewhere else,
In front, the world as small as a droplet, a tear on the window pane,
The welcome gift of the pandemic,
Everybody undressing their metaphors without pretence,
Without shame,
A new intimacy to solve the crime of distance.
Indran Amirthanayagam will be featuring Thursday 21 October 2021 at our weekly Open Mic in Belleville, Paris
When did you first know you wanted to be a writer?
Indran Amirthanayagam: I had turned fourteen and had just landed on the island of Oahu in Hawaii after six years in London. On the island I was revisiting palm trees and ocean and prawns, even cricket on Kapiolani Field under Diamond Head volcano. And I started to write after one afternoon on the way to typing class: a girl took my hand and I froze. I had no idea how to respond. Later that evening at home I wrote. And then the following summer I wrote a poem every day and took each one to my Dad for his commentary. My Dad was a very good poet and he encouraged me during that first, possessed summer. He then introduced me to some of his poet friends and I kept learning from them. By seventeen I was calling myself a poet.
Who are you and who do you write for?
I am a Tamil from Ceylon, a country that no longer exists. I write for migrants, exiles, to assuage a reader's solitude, to bring joy, catharsis, a sense of deep satisfaction and completion. I believe writing releases endorphins, is useful not only for commemorations, is necessary like bread, water, wine. I write for all readers.
What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
Read widely, copiously, obsessively. Take notes while you are reading. If you want to write poems, first read lots of poems in your language, in translation. Then start to copy some of the poets you are reading. Learn style, technique, even themes by imitation. Then close your eyes and listen to your own music, your own story. Then write it down in your own words. Then keep going. Keep reading as well but make your own poems. If you know other languages, translate from them. That will stimulate your own Muse, your own original poetry.
How do you react to criticism of your work?
I welcome criticism, commentary, and suggestions. The poem is a solitary act, the revision can be communal. The poem is key. There can be many hands and minds, unseen and seen, behind the final definitive version.
How has your work developed over the last 12 months?
The last 12 months have marked the second year of the pandemic. I continue with Zoom, with virtual engagement. The pandemic continues to enter my verses. During this period I have been writing poems every week for columns in Haitian and Dominican newspapers. I have also been translating from Spanish and French. I remain very happily busy.
What does the future look like to you?
The future is promising on a very personal front. My blood and other bodily fluids are in good shape. I will get to see my daughter next month after a long absence owing to the pandemic. I have become a priest to a flock of poetry lovers around the world—principally through The Poetry Channel I host on youtube. And that gives me purpose, hope, joy while compensating for the absence of a regular companion.
What importance has other people’s art had for you and your creative process?
Just as reading leads to thinking and then writing, I have been stimulated, inspired, moved to write poems by paintings, music, dance, a conversation overheard on the street. In poetry the art of some great fundamental poets has been key, Nazim Hikmet, Pablo Neruda (whose poems I taught recently), W.B. Yeats, Sylvia Plath, Roario Castellanos, Nicanor Parra, these and many more feed me, give me seeds that germinate in my poems.
Have you looked at different ways of expressing yourself or taken on a new medium?
I founded a punk rock band called ‘The End’ when I was 19. I wrote many of the lyrics, and my friends the music. I have since collaborated with jazz musicians in Mexico—Omar and Emilo Tamez—and then in Haiti I made the album Rankont Dout in collaboration with some great and young Haitian musicians, Titi Congo, Donaldzie Theodore, Lafrans Cisco, Gogeria Laforest. You can find the album in the music stores.
As a teenager I acted in various plays. As a young man in New York I wrote theater reviews and criticism.
I believe passionately in the old idea of the relationship between dance, music and the word. If possible I would like to collaborate again with musicians and make songs. I would like to invite dancers to join the feast.
Tell us about someone’s work you admire.
One fundamental poet: TS. Eliot. I love his lines sculpted in memory: Let us go then you and I.
And Yeats “I will arise and go now and go to Innisfree”
And Plath: Daddy, Daddy.
Indran Amirthanayagam produced a “world' record in 2020 by publishing three new poetry books written in three languages: The Migrant States (Hanging Loose,Press, New York) Sur l'île nostalgique (L’Harmattan, Paris) and Lírica a tiempo(Mesa Redonda, Lima). He has just published Blue Window (Ventana Azul), translated by Jennifer Rathbun.(Dialogos Books). He writes in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese,Haitian Creole, and has twenty poetry books; a music album Rankont Dout. He edits The Beltway Poetry Quarterly (www.beltwaypoetry.com) and helps curate http://www.ablucionistas.com. He won the Paterson Prize; received fellowships from The Foundation for the Contemporary Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, and US/Mexico Fund For Culture and the MacDowell Colony. Hosts the Poetry Channel on Youtube (https://youtube.com/user/indranam).
(Translation of Non Plus Ailleurs by Ed Bell)