Bøger af Aruni Wijesinghe

This book wouldn't be possible without my mom. She's supported me and believed in what I've tried to do throughout my life. Special thanks to all three of the idiots at Two Idiots Peddling Poetry. The community they've created is something special. I'm grateful to have a space where I can be myself and be embraced in all of what that means. To anyone who has ever taken the time to read my work or listen to what I've shared, thank you. I only hope to be able to keep doing this for as long as I'm able to. Gratitude for being a part of my journey helping me walk my path. BiographyJonathan Humanoid writes poems and is constantly confused. He would like to believe that the writing poetry thing helps with the being confused, but there's no evidence to support this. He writes in the hopes that others will feel less alone by reading his work as he feels less alone by sharing it. Jonathan has had poems published in Freeze Ray, Fight Evil With Poetry - Anthology Volume One, and Sh!t Men Say to Me: A Poetry Anthology in Response to Toxic Masculinity. He likes making old-school DIY chapbooks and has released three so far called: I Was Never Going to be Normal, How to Accept That Your Words Are Going to Outlive You, and All the Light in Me. The collection This Is the Ship I Used to Be, which explores his experiences with Borderline Personality Disorder, is his first published full-length poetry. Jonathan is grateful to have so many people who love him. He is glad to finally be one of those people. PraiseJonathan Humanoid offers readers passage on his journey into building and rebuilding a self and a life to be lived. Framing his search for self through metaphors of ships and storms, wreckage, and ghosts, he pulls us toward an understanding of what it means to craft a sense of belonging amidst impermanence.In spite of its size, the collection explores the subject of self and progression through varying subject matter-navigation and traveling, graveyards and gardening, hunger and cooking, love and loving-with the "this poem used to be" poems charting a circuitous path. This is Margaret's answer not from god, but from an Uber Eats driver who got hungry while waiting.Never didactic, This Is the Ship I Used to Be is all at once a late-night conversation between friends, philosophical discussions of time and meaning, geeky wordplay, lyrical confessions, and a promise of better to come.-LeAnne Hunt Jonathan Humanoid's This Is the Ship I Used to Be is a collection filled to the brim with warrior words. The unfinished roads to self-love and reinvention are so beautifully paved in the lines of these powerful poems, edited within an artfully structured narrative arc that takes you on an empowering journey. Humanoid's innovative, accessible poetry will resonate with readers and move them with its courage, humor, heart, and unflinching depth.-Kevin Ridgeway, author of Invasion of the Shadow People (Luchador Press) The route to healing can be a path of storms, where doubt of survival rears its head. Jonathan Humanoid takes us on a voyage, inviting readers to witness poetry of grief and growth. This Is the Ship I Used to Be is an honest reflection of a soul as it chooses the path of self-love, exploring what it truly means to be oneself in the face of constant change.-Ellen Webre, author of A Burning Lake of Paper Suns

Aruni Wijesinghe is a project manager, ESL teacher, occasional sous chef and erstwhile belly dance instructor. She holds a BA in English Literature from UCLA, an AA in dance from Cypress College, and a certification in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) from UC Irvine.A Pushcart Prize-nominated poet, her work has been published in journals and anthologies both nationally and internationally. In 2020 she served as guest editor of Redshift 5, an anthology of pandemic-themed poetry (Arroyo Seco Press). In 2021 she co-authored The Undulating Line: Writing Poetry Through Belly Dance (Picture Show Press), a collection of essays, poems and writing prompts that explores the connection between dance and the poetic impulse. Aruni's first solo full-length collection of poetry, 2 Revere Place, was published in May of 2022. (Moon Tide Press).The Litany of Missing is Aruni's second poetry collection. In it, she explores the themes of love, loss, the non-linear journey of grief, and how what is lost is ultimately found again.She lives a quiet life in Orange County, California with her husband Jeff and their cats Jack and Josie. You can follow her writing at www.aruniwrites.com and on Instagram @aruniwrites. In reading The Litany of Missing, I am reminded of words in Robert Hass's "Meditation at Lagunitas" Longing, we say, because desire is full/ of endless distances. The Litany of Missing is filled with distances: geographic distance, the distance between want and fulfillment, and the ultimate chasm between the living and the dead. Wijesinghe's poem, "November 1st" begins: you arrive/ as a wintering monarch/ the day the veil between worlds/ is thinnest. This collection is a tender meditation on desire and grief.-Donna Hilbert, author of Threnody, and Gravity: New & Selected Poems A love story like no other, told in linked prose and verse so hypnotic it shakes us to our collective core. Wijesinghe's journey transports us through the vicissitudes of memory, longing, grief, and poor timing, mining the deepest emotions without a trace of sentimentality. Her searing examination of loss gives readers new perspective on their own blessings, one of which is getting to read the work of this powerful and important voice. "My camino is toward a different compass bearing," she writes. Follow her path.-Bruce Ferber, author, I Buried Paul An achingly vulnerable journey into the wilderness of grief and the accompanying despair, rage, and longing. We join Aruni Wijesinghe as she wistfully embraces recollections of her beloved Alex and mourns the dimensions of what could have been. Her captivating depiction of a friendship that traversed years, languages, cultures, and countries will leave an indelible impression on the soul of anyone who has loved and lost. The Litany of Missing courageously honors the pain of loss and embodies the process of starting anew in the face of anguish.-Veronica Waters, M.S., LMFT