E = written in English
        S = translated from Sinhala
        T = translated from Tamil

     19     Introduction

Aazhiyaal (b. 1968) T
    37     Unheeded Sights
    38     Manamperis
 
Bashana Abeywardane (b. 1972) S
    39     The Window of the Present

Packiyanathan Ahilan (b. 1970) T
    40     Days of the Bunker III
    41     A Poem about Your Village and My Village
    43     Corpse No. 182
    43     Corpse No. 183. Newborn No. 02

Alari (b. 1976) T
     44     When Someone Is Killed
     44     A Lifeless Sea
     45     The Sun Wanders, Searching for Shade

Liyanage Amarakeerthi (b. 1968) S
     47     Once Upon a Foreign Country
     49     Will We Find the Strings of the Veena?
     52     A Poem’s Plea

Premini Amerasinghe (b. 1933) E
     52     The Matrimonial Column
     53     A Rustic Scene

Indran Amirthanayagam (b. 1960) E
     54     The Death Tree
     55     Not Much Art

Anar (b. 1974) T
     58     Killing a Woman
     58     Woman
     59     Zulaikha

Jean Arasanayagam (1931–2019) E
    60     The Wasp
    61     The Poet
    62     A Country at War
    63     Ancestors

Parvathi Solomons Arasanayagam (b. 1964) E
     67     Identity
     68     A Familiar Terrain
     68     Human Driftwood

Thiagarajah Arasanayagam (b. 1934) E
     69     Kappal Matha – Kayts

Ki. Pi. Aravindan (1953–2015) T
     72     Look at the Sky
     73     Directions
     74     The Night Approaches

Upekala Athukorala (b. 1986) S
     74     Snaggle tooth
     75     Some Yashodaras
     76     Crazy Woman

Avvai (b. 1965) T
     77     The Homecoming
     78     The Return

Thilakaratha Kuruvita Bandara (b. 1941) S
     80     The Gods Alarmed, Descend to Earth
     80     A Child’s Pestering

Ruwan Bandujeeva (b. 1983) S
     81     Earthworms
     82     A Tree to its Flowers
     82     A Joy – A Bliss
     82     What Answers from the Common Crows?

Briyanthy (b. 1985) T
     83     Sorrow Created and Sorrows Relieved

S. Bose (1975–2007) T
     85     My life in Books
     86     from The Veenai
     86     Now

Suresh Canagarajah (b. 1957) E
     87     Lavannya’s Twilight Bike Ride

Cheliyan (1960–2018) T
     88     Those Who Enter the Pit
     89     Untitled
     89     Merciless Ones
     90     On a Rainy Day

Cheran (b. 1960) T
     91     I Could Forget All This [1983]
     92     My Land [1981]
     94     Nandikadal [2009]
     94     Grave Song

Rienzi Crusz (1925–2017) E
     96     Song of the Immigrant
     97     Leaving – Michael-style
     98     The Elephant Who Would Be a Poet

A.P. David (b. 1964) E
     99     Fishermen

Megan Dhakshini (b. 1983) E
    100     In Lockdown
    101     21

Wimal Dissanayake (b. 1939) S
    101     Anuradhapura
    102     Strange Flowering
    103     Homecoming
    103     Anjali

Dushyanthan (b. 1964) T
    104     They Do Not Know

Patrick Fernando (1931–82) E
    106     The Fire Dance
    107     Aeneas and Dido
    108     Ballad of a River

Sandra Fernando (———) E
    109     … and in the middle
    110     Setting the Table for Dinner
    112     Shirt

Ru Freeman (b. 1967) E
    113     Erasure
    114     Loose Change
    114     In Your Hour of Need, God

Buddhadasa Galappathy (b. 1947) S
    116     I Am Not Sita
    117     Alms for King Vessantara

Kapila M. Gamage (———) S
    118     Teriyum Kokila
    119     Prayers to Konesvaran

V.V. Ganeshananthan (b. 1980) E
    121     the faithful scholar dreams of being exact
    121     from The Five-year Tongue Twisters

Yasmine Gooneratne (b. 1935) E
    123     Horoscope
    124     Peredeniya Landscape
    124     The Brave Man Who Keeps Snakes as His Pets

Sunil Govinnage (b. 1950) E
    126     The City of Light
    126     My English Verse
    127     On Becoming an Intellectual

Amali Gunasekera (b. 1971) E
    128     How to Watch a Solar Eclipse in a Bowl of Water
    129     from Beloved
    130     Peace

Dayasena Gunasinghe (1936–96) S
    131     The Blue of My Eyes

Siri Gunasinghe (1925–2017) S
    133     A Memorial
    134     The Water Buffalo
    135     Renunciation

Yvonne Gunawardena (1926–2022) E
    138     Homecoming
    138     Ancestral Voices
    139     Thoughts on a Train Journey
    140     Letter to England

Romesh Gunesekera (b. 1954) E
    141     The Big Wave
    142     Circled by Circe

Rohitha Gunetilleke (b. 1954) E
    144     Eventually
    145     Cowboys

Aparna Halpé (———) E
    146     Poson
    147     5.45 at St George

Ashley Halpé (1933–2016) E
    149     the tale of Divnuhamy
    150     all our Aprils
    151     The Second Reading

Tashyana Handy (b. 1998) E
    152     C189

Lal Hegoda (b. 1947) S
    154     I’m a Man Because You Are a River
    155     Bhikku at the Ferry

Ajith C. Herath (b. 1967) S
    156     Last Station
    157     from Seven Dreams

Vipuli Hettiarachchi (b. 1968) S
    160     We Are Women
    161     Balachandran
    161     ‘Iron Lady’

Eric Illayapparachchi (b. 1954) S
    163     The Bomb at the Rooftop Restaurant
    164     Against Colombo

Faheema Jahan (b. 1973) T
    165     The Sea’s Waters
    166     After Catastrophe

V.I.S. Jayapalan (b. 1944) T
    167     One Night in Frankfurt
    168     Hope
    169     Blue
    169     from Song of the Defeated

Ramya Jegatheesan (b. 1993) E
    172     from The Ariel Collection, Or, Colonise my tongue and laugh at the irony

A. Jesurasa (b. 1946) T
    174     Under New Shoes
    175     In Memory of the Nameless
    176     Afterwards
    176     Yet, Time Remains

Ramya Chamalie Jirasinghe (b. 1971) E
    178     Food for My Daughter
    179     On Waiting with a Friend Getting His Heart Tested

Madri Kalugala (b. 1990) E
    180     Last night I dreamed your horse had died
    181     Sundowning

Karunakaran (b. 1963) T
    182     Along That Very Road
    183     Burning Nests
    184     The Warrior Who Could Not Part from His Shadow

U. Karunatilake (———) E
    185     Letter from Boralanda
    186     Hometown

Timran Keerthi (b. 1980) S
    187     The Forgotten Book

George Keyt (1901–93) E
    189     Kandyan Village

Parakrama Kodituwakku (b. 1943) S
    195     Court Inquiry of a Revolutionary.
    196     An Unfinished Lesson
    197     Little Brother

Senerath Gonsal Korala (———) S
    199     The Song of a New Shawl

Sita Kulatunga (1930s–2014) E
    200     Pitu padam namamaham (I worship at the feet of my father)
    201     Why

Neetha Kunaratnam (b. 1976) E
    202     The Afterlife
    203     Poppy
    204     Beeline

Latha (b. 1968) T
    205     from Untitled

Sundra Lawrence (b. 1975) T
    208     Gold
    208     Rassam

Mahakavi (1927–71) T
    209     Ahalikai
    212     from Birth
    213     from Excellence

Sunanada Mahendra (b. 1938) S
    215     The Mountain

Imaad Majeed (b. 1991) E
    216     arma christi
    217     ‘keppetipola mawatha’

Sharanya Manivannan (b. 1985) E
    219     The Mothers
    220     River

Arji Manuelpillai (b. 1981) E
    221     credit card
    221     after the Sri Lankan bombing that kills 360 (after the 20-year war that killed significantly more)
    222     after being called a paki

Mishal Mazin (b. 1994) E
    223     Rajagiriya
    224     Té Kadé

Ciara Mandulee Mendis (b. 1991) E
    226     The Dancing Woman at Embekke
    227     SWOT Analysis on Marriage

Tyrrell Mendis (1934–2021) E
    228     Pivot
    228     Spring Morning

Carl Muller (1935–2019) E
    229     Deiyyo Saakki!
    233     Que sera, sera

R. Murugaiyan (1935–2009) T
    234     Variations
    236     Toil
    236     Aboard a Van

Neelaavanan (1931–75) T
    238     Sleep
    239     Murungaikaai
    240     Faster, Faster

Nilanthan (b. 1970) T
    241     End of an Age 2
    241     Kanji Song 1
    242     The Mother of Two Martyrs
    243     Pina Koorai

S. Niroshini (b. 1984) E
    244     Neruda’s Last Word(s)
    245     Period Party /
    246     Girl, Ceylon

M.A. Nuhman (b. 1944) T
    249     from Saluting Heroic Vietnam from the Corners of Our Little Village
    250     Last Evening, This Morning
    252     Buddha Murdered

Michael Ondaatje (b. 1943) E
    253     Letters & Other Worlds
    255     The Cinnamon Peeler
    257     House on a Red Cliff

S. Pathmanathan (b. 1939) T
    258     See Through
    259     A Thorn in My Flesh

Vihanga Perera (b. 1984) E
    260     The Playwright
    261     The Memory of Fragrance

Kasro Ponnuthurai (b. 1995) T
    262     Amir’s Lover

S. Porawagamage (b. 1993) E
    265     My Kinda Name
    266     The Wings
    266     The First Name

Pramil (1939–97) T
    268     The Desert
    268     (your) Name
    269     The Great Wind Tamer

Shirani Rajapakse (b. 1967) E
    269     Unwanted
    270     Chant of a Million Women

S. Rajasingham (b. 1927) T
    272     Lizards

T. Ramalingam (1933–2008) T
    273     The Future

Anne Ranasinghe (1925–2016) E
    275     Judgement
    276     At What Dark Point
    278     July 1983

Ariyawansa Ranaweera (b. 1942) S
    279     Today’s Lion
    280     The Giraffe
    281     Paintings at Gothami Vihara
    282     The Intersection

Eva Ranaweera (1924–2010) E
    283     In the Street of the Pearl Tree

Chalani Ranwala (b. 1991) E
    284     The in-betweeners

A.M. Rashmy (b. 1974) T
    285     from Songs in a Time of Confinement

Sahanika Ratnayake (b. 1989) E
    287     from Murmur
    288     from Case Study #1: Vocabulary Lesson
    289     Case Study #3: Chariot

Vidyan Ravinthiran (b. 1984) E
    290     Uncanny Valley
    291     Ceylon
    291     The Annupoorunyamal

Monica Ruwanpathirana (1947–2004) S
    293     My Grief
    293     Wife Lamenting
    294     from Your Friend She Is Woman

Pubudu Sachithanandan (b. 1980) E
    295     Anthem: The war is over

Minoli Salgado (b. 1960s) E
    297     Blood Witness
    298     Telegraph

A. Sankari (b. 1948) T
    299     Living and Dying
    300     In Their Eyes

Dipti Saravanamuttu (b. 1960) E
    301     Among the Icons
    302     Landscape Art
    304     Line Drawing
    305     Flying North in Winter

Peter Scharen (———) E
    306     Landscape
    306     Winter Lines
    307    Transitory

Mahagama Sekera (1929–76) S
    308     The Moon and New York City.
    309     No. 16
    309     No. 24
    310     See Yourself in My Poetry

Selvi (1960–91) T
    311     Summertime
    312     Raman, like Raavanan
    312     Within Me

G.B. Senanayake (1913–85) S
    314     Philosophers and Pundits

Dishani Senaratne (b. 1986) E
    316     Dreams
    316     Lament

Gamini Seneviratne (———) E
    317     Tune for Ariel
    319     Nangi
    319     Arjuna

Malinda Seneviratne (b. 1965) E
    320     Nangi
    321     Oil-bullets
    321     Mitsi

Seni Seneviratne (b. 1951) E
    322     Dear Mum
    323     Opus Tesselatum
    324     Slave Lodge, Cape Town

Natchathiran Sevvinthiyan (b. 1974) T
    326     Until My Wineglass Was Empty
    326     Kokkatticholai 166

Sharmila Seyyid (b. 1982) T
    327     Three Dreams
    328     Keys to an Empty Home
    329     Fire

Alfreda de Silva (1930–2001) E
    330     Grassfields in Sunlight
    331     Cormorants and Children
    331     The End of Something
    332     Kotmale

Lakshmi de Silva (b. 1936) E
    333     Tangalla, 9th April 1971
    334     Addition and Subtraction

S.J. Sindu (b. 1987) E
    335     Gods in the Surf
    335     For Sale: 1997 Christmas Barbie, $600

Regi Siriwardena (1922–2004) E
    337     Birthday Apology and Apologia
    340     Colonial Cameo
    340     To the Muse of Insomnia

Shirani Situnayake (b. 1957) E
    341     Beginnings

Shanmugam Sivalingam (1936–2012) T
    342     Nowadays
    342     Unsung Songs
    343     In Memory of Our Songs

Sumathy Sivamohan (b. 1959) E
    345     on reading the astonishing novel ‘mm’ by shoba shakthi

S. Sivaramani (1968–91) T
    347     Oppressed by Nights of War
    348     [Untitled]

S. Sivasegaram (b. 1942) T
    350     from Faces of War

Solaikili (b. 1957) T
    353     The Story of a Golden River
    354     A Refugee Poet Talking to the Moon

Isuru Chamara Somaweera (b. 1981) S
    355     The Little Fellow
    356     My Pillow Is Wet
    357     Mother’s Actress Friend
    357     The Meaning of Life.

Sandaresee Sudusinghe (b. 1984) S
    358     from Gini Wadunu Piyapath

Pireeni Sundaralingam (b. 1977) E
    360     Lot’s Wives
    361     Fugue
    362     Times Two

Yasmin V. Tambiah (b. 1961) E
    364     The Civil War
    365     Sandalwood

M.J.T. Tambimuttu (1915–83) E
    366     My Country, My Village

Theepachelvan (b. 1983) T
    369     The Lost Kitten
    370     A Friend Stands Behind Me
    371     An Unpublished Poem

Ajith Thilakasena (b. 1933) S
    371     Where
    372     I do not know if…

Thiru Thirukkumaran (b. 1978) T
    373     Resurrection
    374     This Is How the Buddha Disappeared
    375     A Detached Feather

Thirumavalavan (1955–2015) T
    376     Mullaitivu
    376     Living

Shash Trevett (b. 1974) E
    377     Uduvil, Nightfall
    378     The Sinhala Only Act, 1956
    379     My Grandfather’s House

Urvasi (b. 1956) T
    380     Do You Understand?
    381     Why Must We Wait?

Vivimarie Vanderpoorten (———) E
    382     Cadaver
    383     Traditional
    384     Diplomatic

S. Vilvaratnam (1950–2006) E
    385     There Was a Time
    386     The Echo of Moonlight

S. Vinothini (b. 1969) T
    388     The Mask Maker
    389     The Night

Nandana Weerasinghe (———) S
    390     The Moon-shadow
    390     Full Moon on a Dewdrop.
    391     Kalidasa and the Moon
    392     Something Square-shaped

Rushika Wick (b. 1973) E
    393     Hair
    393     Ultramarine Pink PV15
    394     Yellow Phone in the Yellow House

Illavalai Wijayendran (b. 1961) T
    395     To Those Who Bear Sticks
    395     The Missing Children
    396     The Veenai and the Sword

Ratna Sri Wijesinghe (b. 1953) S
    397     Two Teardrops
    398     from The Motherless Two

Lakdasa Wikkramasinha (1941–78) E
    400     Don’t Talk to Me about Matisse
    400     The Flames, 1972
    401     Luis de Camoes
    402     Middle

Richard de Zoysa (1958–90) E
    402     Animal Crackers
    404     Corporation Love Song (1)
    405     [as Angela de Silva] Gajagavannama
    406     The Poet


    409     Translators
    415     Acknowledgements