I find Laki Senanayake perched among his sculptures in the Barefoot gallery, laughing as he talks with the staff. He’s bare-chested, dressed in a bright orange sarong, his modesty preserved by a shawl in bright pink, red and orange slung over his shoulders. He has a red lighter tucked into the fold of fabric at his waist. He is 78 years old.
Laki and his owls: he’s lost track of how many he’s sketched, sculpted and painted into life but the closest you’ll ever come to seeing them in the same place is in a book launched last week.
Dominic’s
patronymic
Sansoni,
to the non cognoscenti
may sound phony,
and to the natives
a lot of baloney.
But his dominant gene
can be traced in between
an Italian old crone
and a crony.
You will earn my eternal
gratitude,
If you awake from your diurnal
lassitude,
abandon your paternal
attitude,
and couch your praise
in a new turn of phrase,
and eschew the perennial
platitude.
To everyone and all the rest in peace,
and bless you merry gentleman
who nothing will dismay,
while shepherds floss their teeth
by silent night,
all dreaming of a Christmas
white as snow,
Lo and Behold woke up
and saw Frankenstein and Merle
in the gathering gloom
of a winter’s wonderland,
with Dancer and Prancer,
I want a phone
( for Gihan)
So you finally got yourself a phone !
And you think you’re no longer
Cut off and alone.
Well, you got another think coming lad,
Things are not as bad
as you think lad.
They’re worse !
And now you are glad
you are in touch,
though thirteen grand
was a bit much
to pay.
But such is the way
with life, boy.
The phone is just another decoy, boy.
To get you by the crotch.
The elegant Mrs Brandoff
appeared to some to be a bit stand-off-ish,
and to others, a bit of a queer fish.
They are mistaken I fear.
She is a dear.
Her heart is made of gold
and her head is made of glue,
and as she will be done by,
she will do by you.
Hi! Sherine.
And when die you last vent your spleen
On Don, that son of an off-brand?
Or when were you last off-hand
with that poor hoss
who poses off
as your boss?
I guess life in New York must be hectic,
Not to mention frenetic.
So no wonder you are splenetic.
And in case you thought that word fictionary,
Go check you dictionary.
I'll be suing you,
for that sordid love affair.
You thought that I was unaware,
didn't you?
Those long weekends you went away,
for business trips, or so you'd say,
and left me all alone to cope.
For this you'll stew in hell I hope.
I'll be suing you,
for all the dirty things you've done,
for all the filthy lies you've spun,
I going to have you on the run.
I'll sue you for every dime you earn,
and every dollar too,
and I'll be having fun
while I'll be suing you"
Incest
may well be best,
but it makes good sense
to declare rape
a penile offence