SEKIRANYA Zakariya Amataya menguakkan sedikit pintu yang menghadangi pandangan kita daripada kumpulan puisinya, No Women in Poetry, kita pasti dapat menebak bayang-bayang yang berlegar dalam kamar fikirnya.
Malangnya, Zakariya bukan menulis untuk menyelesakan kita -kita barangkali bukan satu perkataan yang beliau semat dalam hati ketika menulis puisinya- sehingga membaca lebih 30 karyanya itu, bermakna mengejar kepenyairannya yang berlegar dalam dunia falsafah hidupnya.
Dan harus kita ingat, Zakariya tidak sesekali mewakili bangsanya, Melayu Pattani yang terhukum di penjuru negara Gajah Putih itu. Beliau semacam mahu melarikan diri daripada stigma manusia terdera sehingga pemerhatian yang teliti saja berjaya menemukan jiwa asal bangsanya.
Saya percaya sebahagian bagasi bahasa dan budaya sudah tercicir ketika kumpulan puisi ini diterjemahkan ke bahasa Inggeris. Saya menanti terjemahan bahasa Thai-bahasa Melayu untuk menikmati jiwa kepenyairannya yang sedang melupakan jerit-perih bangsanya melalui puisi yang tidak lagi dikongkong oleh derita sejarah umat Melayu yang nasibnya bagai terkambus pada belantara ketidakpastian.
The stark beauty of his free verse is just awe-inspiring. It can be simple and poignant, and at times very complex in its use of metaphor. At its best, his work evokes the great Metaphysical poets of the 17th Century, and "Knowledge," "If I Die," "A Quarrel with Silence," "The Missing," "The Physics of Truth" and "History" blur the line between poetry and philosophy. The similes he employs in his lines often extend to their physical presentation on the page. "If Ai-Mai-Malai were Broken" and "Until every Private returns from Battle," are examples of the marriage between poetic form and function, their structure helping to reinforce the narrative verse.
Speaking on form, the 1st bilingual edition from 1001 Nights Editions is wonderfully put together. It is a gem from a design standpoint, everything from the choices in typeface, to putting the Table of Contents with the appendices, to the decision to include Amataya's original poems in Thai besides their translations. One should mention that Preeyaporn Charoenbutra and Sunida Supantamart provide some gorgeous translations. Editor Tom Radzienda has done well winnowing down a decade's worth of Amataya's poetry into such a concise, cohesive, collection. A book that manages to please old fans of the work while remaining accessible to new audiences. Each piece moves carefully into the next. From the epigraph— "I am traveling in poetry, Poetry is traveling in me, We are heading in the same direction"—and onward, the book reads like an ocean, always flowing, moving with hidden depths.
Jeg faldt over denne samling af Zakariya Amataya i den charmerende Bangkokboghandel Passport Bookshop. Den kom med hjem i tasken på grund af dens smukke udseende og lækre udførelse. Og så fordi det var lidt sjovt at få en bog på thai med hjem.
No Women in Poetry er en dobbeltsproget udgivelse: På venstresiderne er optrykt den oprindelige version på thai og på højresiderne den engelske oversættelse. Jeg forstår ikke en bønne af det thailandske, men skrifttegnene er smukke.