Indranee Kandiah & Thiru Kandiah, whose review article** analyses A Tapestry of Verse, by Premini Amerasinghe {Nugegoda: Sarasavi Publishers. 2019. pp. 103]
Premini Amerasinghe’s A Tapestry of Verse, which was released last year, is a collection largely of her recent poems, but includes too a reprint of an earlier collection that, it might not be irrelevant to note, had been shortlisted for the Gratiaen Prize as long ago as 1998. The present collection is a far cry from the ‘welcome diversion (into) creative writing by a medical specialist’ as the blurb on the back cover of this slim publication over-modestly proclaims. True, there may perhaps be some who would be inclined to think that a renowned Consultant Radiologist who had worked for several years as Head of her Department at the General Hospital, Kandy, might not quite have what it takes, imagination, aesthetic sensitivity, mastery of language, whatever, to extend and enrich our literature. But a glance at the poems will straightaway dispel this stereotypical misconception and demonstrate beyond a doubt that she has not just the skills but also the inborn talent, as well as certain other important credentials, to do so. In fact, we suspect that her own specialised academic and professional training might even have helped release her to seek her way to her own distinctive creative voice with all that more spontaneity and integrity than a purely literary training might have done.
Premini Amerasinghe
