197-glimpses

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SHRINE

Bianca Elliott

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*Masihi Sansar, Jalandhar, Panjab (India),

April 15, 2001, page 7; also Kafla International,

Chandigarh, India, Sep.-Dec. 2001, page 25-26

I have never touched a person with AIDS. I never have spoken with a person who has suffered extreme neglect or persecution. The knowledge about these and other people like them exists but they are only on the news or in the paper. I don't "see"them. That changes a little when I read Shrine. Through simple words and phrases, Dr. Gill paints the picture of hurt, disappointment, disillusionment, and much more. I feel the fevered brow of another soul ignored by others. I look into the face of a teenage prostitute. I grieve with the mother of a child who has lost his innocence. I weep.

Patricia Prime, a prominent poet and critic from NewZealand shares the same experience. She says, "in many of these poems I felt myself becoming immersed in the poet's emotions; as in the poems "Mother of an Aids-ridden Son", "A Heroine Addict", and the deceptively fine concluding poem "Autobiography."

Dr. Gill's book is not morbid, just realistic. Many may not want to face the pain but Dr. Gill writes for those who cannot turn away from the ugliness of the situation. He is their voice. "Amputee" spoke to my heart because in my classroom I see daily children who have suffered a small version of what the woman in the poem went through. In "X'mas Spirit" I see myself thinking only of myself when so many in the world (my neighbour?) is not able to enjoy the same time of year. Dr. Gill uses phrases that move the soul. An example would be in "Refugees" when he writes, "I have gazed/into the graveyard of their eyes/often grabbing/the dry bones of their silence." I can't look at a picture of the refugees from any where in the world now without seeing what he sees. In the poem "Me" Dr. Gill has a heartfelt cry to just be oneself. The poem is a prayer as well as a dream for too many individuals.

His poems describe the pain and suffering he himself witnessed when in 1947, after partition of India, the Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs slaughtered each other in city streets. In preface to Shrine he says: ANo amount of ink can describe the frustration of my anguished soul that went in search of an oasis. It was a shock when I realized that the darkness I left behind had been chasing me continuously. The thought of cruelty of humans always remained in my mind like my own shadow. The more I thought of it, the more I became obsessed to write about it."

This obsession has a clinical effect on him. In the words of Pritam Singh, "writing is a cathartic experience for Stephen Gill. He uses it as a device to unburden his soul of frustration, despair, weariness disgust and cynicism." (Advance). Poetry for Dr. Gill becomes an oasis. Professor Dr. R.K. Singh and Mitali De Sarkar says: "The idealist in Gill expresses a longing for the Elysian fields from social, political, territorial, moral, ethnic and ecological pollution." (Mawaheb). Rick Gamble, a staff writer of The Expositor, believes Dr. Gill "builds bridges with his books. He believes strongly that literature is a vital force in promoting world peace and understanding."

Dr. Gill urges again and again the futility of war and bloodshed. Some of such poems include, "War Fever," "Hostage", "The Gulf Crisis on TV," and "A Familiar Scene." In "War Fever", he says:

war

brings darkness to the mind

spoils the taste of happiness

mutilates the body of humanity,

compelling

the worship of violence

In The Gulf Crisis on TV, he watches

women crying

around debris

men hurling abuses

children confused and despaired

the Patriots intercepting the Scuds

the showers of the bullets

downing the planes, and

the bombs piercing through homes

present a video game of Nintendo

or shots

from a festival of firecrackers.

He warns in "The Last Dance":

Science would write

the last chapter

and religious bigotry

shall provide the title

to the last dance

on the hills

inhabited by the children

of racial insanity.

Stephen Gill is not just an armchair philosopher. He sprinkles answer to the Armageddon in several poems. In "My Belief" he repeats:

I do not believe

in suppressing the truth

nor using arms

to settle disputes.

I do not believe

in the right of might

nor in shedding blood

to promote a creed.

Stephen Gill is committed to world peace, justice and unconditional love. Shrine is a cry to end torture, war, and abuse of humans. Dr. Gill knows whereof he speaks. He has lived in many places in the world such as New Delhi, Ethiopia, England, and Canada. Dr. Gill has flourished in Canada. He describes it as a United Nations in microcosm. His list of accomplishments is long and extensive. His main areas of interest are global peace and social concerns. He has received numerous awards and distinctions from all over the world. He has received honorary doctorates and is asked to speak on radio, television, at universities, colleges, public libraries and other gatherings all over the world. His writing also appears in anthologies and assorted publications. Dr. Gill is a an impressive poet because he is real, honest, powerful, compassionate and passionate, and because of the beauty of his poetry which is the voice for those who are voiceless.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

*Advance (India). Pritam Singh, June 1990

*Mawaheb International, The (Canada). Prof. Dr. R.K. Singh & Mitali De Sarkar, June 1998.

*Canopy (India). Patricia Prime, Vol. XV11 39 & 40, July 2000, pages 35-36

*Expositor, The (Canada). Wednesday, Sept. 8, 1976.

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*Bianca Elliott, a teacher by profession in the United States, has contributed book reviews to several publications.