Today, I find myself in this peculiar position – I am celebrating a number. But like Albert Einstein said, “Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas.” The logical and rather surprising idea here is the number I have managed to reach.
A nice, rounded, smooth-edged, no sharpness number – 50.
There’s a sense of wonder at my reaching the 50th column of Running on Poetry today. You see, I never in my life imagined that I would be writing about poetry for a paper I have grown up with. It makes me think about my involvement with poetry. Particularly the reading of it. School is at the root of this.
La Belle Dame Sans Merci by John Keats, is my first clear recollection of a poem. Of course, nursery rhymes stay with most of us who’ve read them, but this poem was prescribed for a recitation competition in a junior class. I spent hours memorising the poem. All that practice didn’t prevent me from saying belly for belle, though. But that poem was good to say out loud. Maybe my affection for the rhyme scheme (and apprehension about mispronunciation) stems from there.
My next clear memory is Kamala Das’s The Old Playhouse . I recall my friends and I being scandalised by the content of the poem and a bit nauseated by, “You dribbled spittle into my mouth/ you poured yourself into every nook and cranny…”
Our reaction came from a place of naiveté – we had never seen poetry like this, in-your-face, pull-no-punches, no-holds barred. Years later, I read the poet’s My Story . By then I had grown to like not only the word play but also the honesty in her writing. Reading the book put things in perspective for me. I have been an unabashed admirer for a while now.
There have been many other poems and poets along the way. This year, I took the Modern and Contemporary American Poetry course at Coursera. The course, offered by the delightful Al Filreis re- introduced me to the genius of Emily Dickinson. It enlightened me of her importance, a fact I seemed to have somehow missed. The ModPo course also gave me insight to some amazing times in the writing of American poetry. I hope you’ll consider taking the course. I might not have thought of it, had it not been for this column. I chose it because I wanted to learn more. I still do.
Running on Poetry has introduced me to so many poets. I am always amazed at the staggering variety of themes in poems, no matter where they originate from. Think of a topic and chances are, a poet has spoken about it in eloquence.
It’s the research that’s exciting to me, the unveiling of an unknown poet and the awareness that I will never really know every poet. But I will keep trying.
I am also happy for the emails from readers. More than anything, it proves that other people, apart from family and friends who have been forced to read my column, read my column!
It’s been a fun ride to fifty. I wonder what hundred will bring. I can’t wait.
Thank you for reading.
