Sitting amid wizards of words, one couldn’t agree more with Robert Frost who aptly said that poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.
There was the use of images, figures of speech and symbols, all of which addressed one’s imagination. A few of them followed a strict structure while others did none at all. Using poetic tools to create a rhythm and intensify the mood, they pieced phrases together into poetry.
‘Poetic Prism 2015’, a multi-lingual poets’ meet held in the city, was a first of its kind in Andhra Pradesh. The 45-odd participants from different states across the country were like soldiers liberating words from the steadfast possession of definition; like birds ignoring all frontiers.
Hosted by The Cultural Centre of Vijayawada, a CSR initiative of Malaxmi Group, the event aimed at promoting a cultural and literary exchange between people speaking diverse languages. Sharing their inspiring experiences, the poetry enthusiasts, through their works, made an attempt to connect the present generation to its rich cultural roots.
The poetic expressions from a mixed bunch of young and old poets, some of them internationally known and widely published, came in all shapes and sizes, walking the audience through meandering streets of myriad sensations, impressions and emotions that were concurrently beautiful and ugly and subtle and loud.
Poet and writer Padmaja Iyenger moderated the session, inviting each participant to come and read aloud their piece. Listening to the series, it was easy to conclude that poetry is what we turn to in the most emotional moments of our life—when a beloved friend dies, when a baby is born or when we fall in love. Connoisseurs of poetry bring this medium into play to express intense emotions of fear, joy, love, sadness, surprise or anger.
A scintillating ballet on Amaravati by S. Ramesh and his team members that preceded the session set the tone for the resplendent session ahead.
Bangalore-based Ambika Anant, a bi-lingual writer, poet and journalist portrayed the heinous crime of rape and its aftermath through her poem Nishabda Samadhi.
Tanuku-based award-winning poet Venkata Ramana Murthy alias Kopparthy recited an objective poem on pain; experienced by the poet in melancholic poetry, which is painful, feverish and yet warm.
Padmaja Iyenger (“Call me Paddy,” she insists) embarked on a humorous and satirical take on Mahatma Gandhi’s three monkeys, with a message.
One could not help but note how attractive words were brought to use to define other beautiful ones and many of them were interrelated.
They created all kinds of images in the mind-visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory and sensuous, all at once.
The works presented were striking, unusual and thought-provoking. Kakinada-based Addepalli Ramamohan Rao’s Kotha Samskruthi spoke of how alien culture is increasingly impacting the indigenous culture; Hyderabad’s Elizabeth Kurian (Mona) presented a ghazal on pain, struggles of life, friendship, courage, misfortune and God’s boundless grace.
There was this traditionally-clad Aparna S. Dhoble of Nagpur, a prize-winning Marathi poet describing through her piece the lifestyle of a tribe which is a collection of families bearing a common name, occupying the same territory, speaking same language and observing certain taboos.
The audience, comprising poetry enthusiasts, could not have asked for more.
The poetic soiree was engaging. People tried to connect with its rhythmical series of sounds that affected them as profoundly as does music.
Other noted participants included Sethu Kumanam from Chennai, Santosh Alex from Kochi, Perugu Ramakrishna from Nellore, Sunia Lulla, Vinita Sharma and Supratik Sen from Hyderabad, Sigma G.R. from Trivandrum, K. Pankajam from Chennai and Mallikachari from Aurangabad among others.
After savouring a delicious fare, as I walked out of the hall reminding myself that poetry is not just a good idea: not just an experience of falling in love; wishing that the dead could still be with us or talking about the beauty of a mountain, I felt a strange reluctance to give up its still-delectable aftertaste by doggedly reconstructing it.