Seni Seneviratne’s debut collection offers a poetic landscape that echoes themes of migration, family, love and loss and reflects her personal journey as a woman of Sri Lankan and English heritage.
The poems cross oceans and centuries. In ‘Cinnamon Roots’ Seni Seneviratne travels from colonial Britain to Ceylon in the 15th century and back to Yorkshire in the 20th Century; in A Wider View time collapses and carries her from a 21st century Leeds back to the flax mills of the 19th century; poems like ‘Grandad’s Insulin’, based on childhood memories, place her in 1950’s Yorkshire but echo links with her Sri Lankan heritage.
“Loss, love, memory, from Yorkshire to Sri Lanka and back, Seni Seneviratne’s poems delve in and out of a complex history. These tender, moving poems weave a delicate web.” — Jackie Kay
“There’s something about us. There are historians that may record our experiences. And these experiences may be found in the galleries of the future. Preserved. But it’s in the poetry where the exhibits actually live. And it’s here. Let Seni walk you through the labarynthine gallery of Wild cinnamon and winter skin .” — Lemn Sissay
Here are sample tracks from Seni’s CD. To order the CD contact Seni |