I discarded the words first.And then, for a while, mute silence.I watched and learnt like a mynah bird. அ became A ஈ became E ஐ I changed to a short, sharp I.After a while through whispers and croaksnew words emergedin the borrowed tongue of a borrowed land.Tentative, tiny and uncomplicatedbrand new, pain-free little words.Their strange scrolls flowed around me. F was once a little Fish Z was once a piece of Zinc X was once a great king XerxesFor the first time I formed an F, wrotea Z, sounded an X. In the borrowed tongueof a borrowed land I dressed myself in them.I abandoned two millenniaof poetry, mythology and history.No Pallavan or Cholan could claim sovereigntyover my mouth, my tongue, my mind.In the borrowed tongue of a borrowed landin single, stuttering, borrowed syllablesI began to talk againand the new words began to flow.
New words, new clothes
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“New words, new clothes” from THE NAMING OF NAMES: by Shash Trevett.
Published by Smith/Doorstop on August 12, 2024.
Copyright © 2024 by Shash Trevett..
All rights reserved.
Reproduced by Poetry Daily with permission.
Shash Trevettis a poet, critic and a translator of Tamil poetry into English. Born in Jaffna, Northern Sri Lanka, she escaped the civil war and now lives in the U.K. She writes about war and the effects of war on civilian lives. Her poetry has been published widely in the U.K and abroad and has been curated by the Poetry Archive. The Naming of Names (Smith|Doorstop 2024) was shortlisted for the Derek Walcott Prize 2025 and longlisted for the Michael Murphy Prize. Out of Sri Lanka: Tamil, Sinhala and English Poetry from Sri Lanka and its Diasporas (Bloodaxe 2023, Penguin India 2023) which she co-edited with Vidyan Ravinthiran and Seni Seneviratne, was one of the Times Literary Supplement’s Books of the Year for 2023. Shash is a mentor for New Writing North and the National Centre for Writing in the U.K, and for the Singapore Book Council. She reviews for The Poetry Book Society and is a Trustee of Modern Poetry in Translation.
Over 100,000 Tamil civilians were killed during the Sri Lankan civil war, their deaths often dismissed as collateral damage. What happens to names once the person who wore them dies? When there is no one left alive who remembers the laughter they once carried. In the ordinary course of a life every syllable of a name would be fully used up: a full life led. The violence of war doesn’t merely decimate the physical body: it shocks into silence names, lineages and history. This book is a tender exhumation of the lyricism of Tamil names: of flowers, the moon and stars; of beauty, music and grace.
Expanding upon the work in her powerful and moving 2021 pamphlet From a Borrowed Land, Shash Trevett’s The Naming of Names bears witness to the Tamil experience during the Sri Lankan civil war through poetry that spans a broad range of responses to this violent and tragic history.
"The Naming of Names saturates and resaturates itself with grief, remembrance, and terrible beauty. It exhumes the lyricism of Tamil names and the killing of over 100,000 Tamil civilians during the Sri Lankan civil war. Trevett’s brilliant eye is fearless when it comes to dissecting the breadth of this unthinkable loss. Each poem reflects on the deictic power of names: names that are “mausoleums” for 'denied gravestones.'The collection lodges itself in the chest from the moment it is read, like a potent and unforgettable offering."
—Shalini Sengupta (Poetry Book Society Autumn Bulletin)
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