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This week: Putting the words in context Edited by: THANKFUL SONALI Now What?  
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| I attended a poetry festival recently, where various poets spoke about the context in which they write, and what it means to them. I present excerpts from various panel discussions at the festival. |
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Dear Reader,
It was a day spent listening to insights about writing from various poets.
I am sharing these with you, hope you enjoy them!
(The following are excerpts from speeches / discussions by different writers at a poetry festival.)
Why a particular form of writing flourishes in a particular place:
I come from a region where there is an ongoing tradition of people writing serious poetry, and youngsters get influenced by their mentors. That's the reason why there are so many poets -- I guess it is to do with tradition. The people are musical and melody-loving, and this helps poetry, too. Poetry seems to be there in the land itself, in the form of ballads and folklore. The standard of poetry is high. Poetry has been in this region since the 8th century AD.
Why I write:
I was born in the early 1990s in a rural area. Technology had not really come to us. We had a cinema hall which played the blockbuster Hindi movies, but the rest of the entertainment was mainly storytelling. People would tell stories at night, for long hours. The stories were often in the form of long poems These were the two influences on my poetry. The rhythm of my poems is that of the 1990s Hindi music, and the content is borrowed from the stories I used to listen to -- mostly nature stories.
The other kind of poetry which I have been associated with in the last five years is the political kind. I come from a minority religion and my ancestors came from across the border. There is the assumption not only in my state but in the whole country that my community is composed of illegal immigrants. I write to challenge that, to prove that this is not a case of illegal immigration. Sometimes, I use the derogatory names that are thrown at me in my poetry, and state that I am proud of that title! That I will have it attested, and I will countersign it.
Any literature is incomplete without the readers' interpretation. While reading literature, a reader has to confront his or her own reality. How many of us are courageous enough to do this? I write to make people confront their own reality. There is a saying, "Cry in front of God, laugh in front of man." Being an atheist, I have no God. So I cry in my poetry.
On why I translate others' poetry:
I love poetry so much that I dare not write it, therefore, I translate.
It was only after I started translating that I realised what a difficult thing I had got myself in to. But I think I have been successful, people have liked my translations. Everyone can't experience everything personally. Some experiences are specific to some cultures. Translation is a way of allowing people from other cultures to share these experiences.
On why I translate my own poetry:
i have some poems which I've written in my mother tongue (native language) and then translated in to English. I haven't published the original, only the translation.
The reason for that is that these poems deal with women who smoke, drink and have sex. This is something that comes from the larger consciousness, not necessarily from my own experience. I do not want it to be construed as coming from personal experience, hence I feel more comfortable sharing it in English. I feel it is important to speak of these things, I want to express them ... but without sounding autobiographical, because that narrows it down.
What is a poem made of?
A poem is made of drops, feelings, experiences, memories and silences. It is not only made of words.
And there is an interesting thing about words. When a writer uses some words, they call other words. There have been instances of words re-surfacing in a poem after decades, or even centuries, of not being used. The other words in the poem called to that word.
A poem also gives a name to something that might not have been named before, gives voice to those who might not have had a voice before. As children, we had a text book called 'If they could speak'. In this, the river spoke, the Himalayas spoke, the Taj Mahal spoke. One function of literature is to give voice to the voice-less. We attempt to catch the world around us and present it to our readers.
Thanks for listening,
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Thank you for the feedback to "For Authors Newsletter (June 14, 2017)"
Lady Elizabeth Mormont
This was an excellent interview, thank you for sharing. I've never read anything from Pankaj Sekhsaria, but this definitely piqued my interest. I was also really unfamiliar with issues that the islands face, so I feel like I've been educated. I added a couple of his books to my Goodreads to-read shelf so I can learn more.
I also appreciate reading a writer interview that is also angled in an activism perspective. As someone who tries hard to be an activist in every day life, it's interesting to see other writers talking about their activism.
Azrael Tseng
(To Pankaj) Thank you sharing so much about yourself and what writing means to you.
(To the ed) Also for featuring my simple poem in your newsletter! |
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