The Wordsmith

I don’t particularly like Facebook but I am conditioned to use it because all my friends and family are scattered around the four cardinal points.

A couple of years ago, I did something very atypical. I decided to follow through with one of the sponsored posts that popped in my feed. And it was one of the best things I have ever done.

It was a post about multicultural poetry, inviting the public to a poetry workshop organised by Mother Tongue.

Taking part in that workshop has changed my life in many ways. It has encouraged me to pursue my love for poetry and I found new, unexpected ways of writing, combining languages and pretty much disregarding every rule I have known before.

But the most important thing that happened is that I found myself in a supportive community where I met some remarkable women who became my friends, my mentors and my supporters, occasionally.

Anita is one of the strong voices that encouraged my writing for the past two years showing support and offering valuable advice. She also encourages me and motivates me to submit works for publications, an idea that I wouldn’t have even thought of before.

I remember well the first time I heard Anita reciting her poetry because it was almost like a revelation.  For as long as I can remember, I have been passionate about synaesthesia and the ways one can add value to their words by throwing in sensory experience depictions.

And in Anita’s poems, there is a wonderful mix; you can feel her poems with all your senses: there is the taste of the mangoes or chilli – in fact there are so many exotic mesmerising flavours, you can smell that fragrant rice that the young girl loved so much. You almost feel the sun scorching your skin and you definitely see the “splintery teeth of a paling fence”.

Her work has been recognised in many journals and publications such as Australian Book Review, Cordite Poetry, Not Very Quiet Journal and Mascara Literary Review, to name just a few.

- "I am not sure I knew what I wanted to be when I was four years old. I most probably wanted to be a fairy at the bottom of the garden. But I did love words from a really early age; I just loved the shape of them and the sound of them. I always knew that I wanted to write something for someone.

I was about five years old when I first started to write. I could read and write very early. I wrote these little stories and my mother had to use a mirror to read them because all my writing was back to front and really messy – I had infantile dyslexia, which corrects itself. It’s very common. 

When I was 8 or 9 years old, I started to send my writing to various newspapers. One day, I sent a poem to a newspaper and it was published. This success whet my appetite for more. As soon as I could make those shapes on paper, I wrote. I made stories or poems.

It was at this time that one of my compositions won a prize in a Singapore newspaper. That fired up my excitement about writing words and making them mean something to other people. Those things that happen when you are a child influence your life so much. I couldn’t do anything else at school; I was rubbish at maths or numbers but I always loved reading and writing.

The first book that I absolutely, passionately adored was Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren. My father had taken me into  Foyles Bookshop in London - I was about 5 years old; he lost me in that shop and then found me at the back, reading this wonderful book. I still have the copy because he bought it for me. So, my very first friend in the world was this unruly, tough, cool, colourful little Swedish girl and I still love her.  She could do everything that I couldn’t do – she could pick up policemen and throw them around, she had a monkey, she could fight burglars…I was quite a timid child so I loved all her adventures, I loved her spirit and her fearlessness.

I wanted to be a writer but I also wanted to study at university.  I completed my degree in English literature and then I went into teaching. By very good fortune, I fell into the most perfect career for me.

My dream has always been to write anything that people would read. When I was a young mother, I started to write poems for my children based on all the day to day silly, funny things they did. A couple of these poems were selected by Harper Collins to be published in an anthology of Australian children’s poetry titled Pardon My Garden.

Who I am now? At this autumny part of my life; I find myself in a joyous position, I have become part of a community of poetry and writing which is full of inspiring and supportive writers. I am also a mother, wife, grandmother and a teacher. I’ll always be a teacher – every so often there is something I can teach people around me. At the same time, I am a learner; I am always learning from others. I think the act of teaching is also the act of learning. I don’t think I ever taught anything without learning more from my students. I am a diasporic Australian who is very connected to my heritage.

I have Indian, Portuguese and Malay blood lines. I feel like I belong everywhere and nowhere.  I am Australian but I never feel like saying confidently “I’m only Australian”.

I have many different roles and I take time to enjoy exploring each and every one. I love where I am, I love this point of my voyage through life. I am very excited about my creative life and I am a delighted grandmother.

My innermost dream? Culturally, I have never been encouraged to have dreams. I have thoughts that make me happy and excited in the short term. I’ve always found it hard, having long term dreams. Each day we live, we step into the opportunities that we get; that’s how I live my life. So, I guess my innermost dream is to see everyone around me happy and safe and I would love to be able to continue reading and writing for the rest of my life. I always want to have true friends – it’s been my great good fortune to have had deep friendships throughout my life.

- If you were encouraged to dream, what would your innermost dream be?

- I’d choose to be able to change the world for the better through my voice. To be able to  speak or write something that would shift the world, making it a better place for women and for minority groups; a world without wars or poverty, a world without – dare I say -macho men running it, because this does not result in good things. I guess I would shift the world to be more cooperative less competitive.

I would love to have written something like Paul Keating’s Redfern speech (addressing injustice towards First Australians). I think it is the most powerful political speech ever given: “We committed the murders. We took the children from their mothers. We practised discrimination and exclusion. It was our ignorance and our prejudice. And our failure to imagine that these things could be done to us...Imagine if we had suffered the injustice and then were blamed for it. It seems to me that if we can imagine the injustice we can imagine its opposite. And we can have justice.” These are marvellous words. They changed my life and they shifted the mindset of many Australians.

I cannot remember who said “add your light to the sum of light” but I love this quote because it reflects how important it is that we all do any little bit that we can to better the world; every tiny glimmer of light counts. It’s a quote I have always cited to my students.

What keeps me going is the love of my family and my friends. And of course, being able to read and write.

I am inspired by conversations with people. If I didn’t have people around me, it would feel like a black hole. I get a lot of joy from reading and hearing other people’s stories.

I also feel very motivated by the love of my husband, children and grandchildren; knowing my children and grandchildren are coming to visit lifts my heart.

And of course I am so grateful for the beautiful natural world around me – every morning I wake up giving thanks that I live in this bush capital.

In five years’ time, I’d like to know that I made a difference to people around me- that I have been able to support other people in some way. It would be great to have written something very worthy. And I hope I will still be a vital, energetic person and able to do all the things I am doing now.

If I had 15 minutes of fame I hope I could use that time, in a public forum, to stand up for things I truly believe or to fight for things that need to be changed. If everyone stopped and noticed the small moments instead of chasing delusional dreams or desires, we’d all be much happier.

Like many people, my first role-models were my parents. They provided for all my needs. I saw them as clever and beautiful. Every small child sees their parents in that way; this view changes when you grow up but in the beginning, they are your everything.

Nowadays I have so many role models. Most of them are strong women from many different cultures and generations. Then there are elderly people who are living their years fabulously. There is this couple living across the street from us; they are almost ninety and they are still so present in everything, they enjoy life and they are interested in everyone. That’s how I want to be, at their age.

My favourite movie is actually a series of three films, “Fire”, “Water” and “Earth”, made by the Canadian/ Indian filmmaker, Deepa Mehta. They tell such important truths not just about India but about the human condition. Mehta has such a profound understanding of humanity.

I don’t believe in regrets. Everything, every choice you make is an open door for you. If you regret anything, it will leave you feeling that you missed out on things. Occasionally, I do have brief moments of angst when I think I made a wrong choice, but like Piaf, I don’t regret anything.

There are two types of places where I feel at peace. The first is this environment here, around Lake Burley Griffin, where I have lived for more than 30 years. It’s so embedded in my head and in my heart. I came here from Sydney where the traffic is so heavy and the people are so busy. When I return from trips to Sydney and I walk around the lake - I can feel my whole body melting into calm and relaxation. The other places I love are anywhere tropical because I was a child in the tropics. When I go to Broome or to Bali, or to the beach in summer, my spirit is uplifted and soothed.

Best thing about teaching? I was never very popular with management for saying this, but I think that students are the very best thing about teaching. The dynamic between teaching and learning is complex and subtle; a good teacher is constantly learning from students and teaching them at the same time. The truth about being a good teacher is simple: You have to love what you teach, you have to care about students and you have to have passion for this work.