POETRY THAT FINDS HIGHER TRUTHS IN THE HERE AND NOW
Mind – A
Sacred Place
http://www.nation.co.ke/lifestyle/artculture/Joan-Sikand-poetry-in-Mind-A-Sacred-Place/1954194-4126536-10i8tgwz/index.html.
By Joan
Sikand
Reviewed by Margaretta wa Gacheru (Posted October 3, 2017)
Kenyan
writer Joan Sikand is best known for being an activist environmentalist who has
strong opinions on countless social concerns. Yet her public persona rarely
reveals her penchant for poetry or the deeply spiritual side of her
personality.
It’s taken
her third book of poetry, entitled “Mind – A Sacred Place” to expose just how
seriously she’s committed to understanding humanity’s quest for spirituality in
the here and now.
In her
previous poetry books, one published by Mvule Africa Publishers entitled
‘Meditations’, the other by the American publisher Path Press, called
‘Makonde’, Mrs Sikand has blended her writings with elegant artworks by a
number of East African artists.
Both books
have paintings by the Sudanese artists Hassan Fadul, but ‘Makonde’ goes further
by including the late Tanzanian artist Meshack Fidelis Kalembo and one anonymous
Makonde carver as well as acclaimed Kenyans like Jimnah Kimani, Kivuthi Mbuno,
Shake Makelele, Erick Sande Shitawah and the Italian Kenyan Edita Camm.
But in ‘Mind
– A Sacred Place’, Mrs Sikand seems more confident about her own creative
capacity and less inclined to collaborate with other artists apart from Hassan
Fadul whose artwork features on her book’s front cover. Her book is filled with
photographs that she has personally taken and which subtly serve to harmonize
with the messages in her verse.
For
instance, opposite the poem entitled ‘Heart’ is a photograph of the Sacred
Heart (Sacre Coeur) Church in Paris, France.
Her photos
further reinforce Mrs Sikand’s universal message that no matter what path one
takes spirit-ward, and whoever one follows as their ‘way-shower’, be it
Mohammed, Jesus, Krishna, Baha’u’llah or Guan Yin, the Buddhist goddess of
mercy, all ways are valid and vital to anyone seeking to find some sense of
oneness or unity with a higher power which may also be known as God.
Clearly Mrs
Sikand doesn’t discriminate, either in someone’s choice of guru or spiritual
leader or in the ‘sacred places’ where they might worship. The special imagery
in her text includes not only temples, mosques, churches, cathedrals, chapels
and synagogues; it also features a number of beautiful landscapes, colorful
flora and wild fauna, all of which reveals an appreciation of Mother Nature,
which theists might describe as pagan, animist or even Wicca.
Ultimately,
she doesn’t disclose her own spiritual preference although she might be described
as a theist or possibly even a pantheist, meaning one who identifies God with
the universe.
Either way,
what makes ‘Mind – A Sacred Place’ the most intriguing of her published works
is that one can clearly see how seriously Mrs Sikand has taken her own quest
for spiritual understanding.
Coming from
a family where her father was a Protestant pastor and whose North Korean
ancestry might well have included a bit of Buddhism or Confucianism or both,
it’s no surprise that she has easily extended her family’s spiritual background
beyond the boundaries of one specific religion. It was even more probable since
she was born and brought up in the United States while her father’s church
catered solely to Koreans living in the Diaspora.
Yet Mrs
Sikand might be accused of escapism, especially as she clearly wants out of
what she calls ‘this vulgar, repulsive age of gross materialism’ with all of
its decadence, individualism and depravity.
But it’s
hard not to be impressed by her knowledge of world religions, especially as her
university degrees (from Brandeis and Fordham) are not in comparative religion
or even philosophy but in English literature and law.
Mrs Sikand’s
poetry books haven’t had a wide circulation as yet in Kenya, although ‘Mind – A
Sacred Place’ was recently launched in the US at the American Library
Association conference. In fact, it was Prevail Arts Company and Martin Kigondu
who lifted her poetry off the printed page and produced an imaginative play
entitled ‘Love and Peace’. That play which drew on a popular theatrical form of
spoken word or performance poetry gave the poetess her first major public
hearing in Kenya. It also invited one to look for more of her thoughtful verse.
I express herein my heartfelt appreciation of Dr. Margretta WaGacheru's comments on my poetry and art. To benefit from her wonderful recognition is astounding. Indeed, deep thanks.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Mrs. Joan Paik Yoosook Sikand, Esq.
Author/Poetess