That was what it felt like to be seated in the shade of cool sea breezes in a very aptly titled venue that hosted the memory of the poems of Edward Lear. - The Owl and the Pussy Cat Hotel.
This was the occasion when we would learn who the five prize-winners of the Edward Lear Poetry award 2017/2018 were and have the pleasure too of hearing them read their own prize-winning entries.
Naturally the criteria also meant that “the theme should follow in the vein of Edward Lear’s ‘Nonsensical Poems’ bringing about a feeling of lightness and optimism to the world in which we live.” That then was what attracted this writer most in hearing these readings.
“Said the insatiable
Ceylonese girl
‘I’m going to read all of the
books in the world!’
Mother lovingly said, ‘It’s time
for bed’
‘Goodnight’ said the
Ceylonese girl
And yet, under the cover
of dark
A laugh was heard like a lark
For there in her bed, she
was filling her head
Reading books by moonlight
in the dark
The insatiable Ceylonese girl
Read all of the books in the
world
Just as she said, she read and
she read
That insatiable Ceylonese
girl.”
(Excerpt from The Insatiable Ceylonese Girl – Ayesha Ratnayake – 4th Prize winner.)
Shaahima Raashid the 2nd prize winner based her entry on what she said was a true story titled ‘A Little Boy And His Books’, and what greater truth do we face in this all-encompassing technology-saturated world!
What follows are relevant excerpts from her entry.
“The Smith’s three-year
old son
From before he was one
Possessed a love for books
he couldn’t yet read
First from board books to lift-the-flaps
Then to rhymes, tales,
and even maps
There was clearly no
quenching his greed”
……..
“About their young Sir
His parents would concur
That it was a chore to have
to read all the time
This thirst for the written
word
Was getting slightly absurd
They had even begun
thinking in rhyme!”
……….
“But then came the day
A big change came their way
When they brought into
the home a TV
Little man looked up from
his book
Inched away from his nook
“What magic is this!” he
would say.”
……….
“Now his shelves gathered
dust
As his mind turned to rust”
………
But events changed in the little boy’s life and he found ‘it had been an era and an age since he’d last flipped a page’ and so the realization….
“As tiring as it may seem
One must never come
between
A little three-year old boy
and his books.”
“The Little Giant” was the title
of the 1st prize- winner Khadeejah Samsudeen’s entry. What follows is an excerpt:
“I want to be a giant!
“ I shouted with glee,
“To capture dreams and
blow clouds! “
“But how my dear? You’re
still so small”,
“You have to grow to
reach so tall”,
“But I SHALL reach
above them all!
I’ll shoot to the sky in my
little plane,
And jump on fluffy mists,
And there I’ll remain! “ I said,
As I hugged my plane and
went to bed,
As I went to bed, WHAM!
I whizzed up instead!
I touched the stars and
zoomed ahead,
A little giant in a land
widespread.
I wish that in the future the participants will be urged to speak the pieces with the same amount of lilting joy and enthusiasm that they have used when composing the lyrics.
Edward Lear who was English was also an artist and illustrator who suffered all his life from epilepsy and melancholia but before he died in 1888 left us such a legacy of delight in the sounds of words both real and imaginary. Such is the joy we have now to realize that the memory of his work lives on so inexorably in our island nation.
I salute all those whose initiative it was to make this come to pass.