Bookstrapping: Your songs, my songs and the pleasure of poetry

Poetry day is observed in March every year, even though it receives far less attention than Women’s Day, Holi and Ramadan! And yet, poetry transcends every celebration there ever has been and ever can be! We celebrate three different books of poetry in our column today.

Sahitya Akademi Award winning poet Arundhathi Subramaniam says in the introduction to her collector’s item ‘Wild Women’ that she is setting out to serve a thali—an explosion of flavours and textures on a single plate—rather than a multi-course meal. She has curated an enthralling volume, a poetry book that talks to every woman, makes us remember what we have forgotten!

Sample this; Marathi Dalit poet Soyrabai who wrote in the 14th century CE (before her famous ideological successor Savitribai Phule, but in the same vein). She raises questions of the legitimacy between high and low, pure and impure, as she asks-

“Why carry these burdens on your head?

If the world still tempts you, all hope has fled.

Soyara says: I find it odd;

Those who know nothing, speak most of God.”

Or Indira Devi, who’s mystical conversations with Mirabai merged into her poetry.

“I’d renounce the entire world for you,

But tell me, how do I reach you?’

The book features exquisite translations- prepare to meet everyone from Andal to Habba Khatun to Yellamma in this esoteric volume.

In complete contrast is Harish Bhat’s ‘Restless Lives’, a modern compilation of poetry that captures his conversations with himself as he catches cathartic moments of self-reflection. A poem titled ‘Hope on a Sunday morning’ features the lines

“Every day. Every day my parrot is my own

For though it never comes home, and always flies away,

It will always, always be back in my park

Each anxious, cheerful Sunday morning.”

The third book of poetry I encountered was ‘The Days of a Small Book and Other Poems’, a self-published volume by film director Seenu Ramasamy, translated from Tamil by Prof N Elango. This book is an ode to everyday realities.I asked the author about his motivations and he said, “I write poetry to say thanks to this world,…..and also to apologize..to this land because I have nothing to give it except my poetry and cinema.”

“It cannot be found even in tales

That someone died when he wished to die.

Everything will come

Only to the one who wishes to live.”

I urge readers of this column to pick up the odd book of poetry, every once in a while. For what are we if we cannot express our soul’s deepest moments in song!

Reeta Ramamurthy Gupta is a columnist and bestselling biographer and reading coach. She is credited with the internationally acclaimed Red Dot Experiment, a decadal six-nation study on how ‘culture impacts communication.’ On Instagram @OfficialReetaGupta