It’s been
four months since I joined this elective and needless to say I experienced the
freedom to express my thoughts by carving it through the means of poetry. Even
though I had participated in various poetry events, I wasn’t a regular
performer and was an amateur. I explored different forms of poetry like
ghazals, villanelle, city poetry, political poetry, object poetry, how-to
poetry and prose poetry. The journey so far has been a beautiful adventure
because of Akhil’s method of interacting and communicating with the students.
Through mutual interaction and the use of visuals and sound, I was able to
grasp and understand the meaning of the poems. Furthermore, my journey as an
aspiring poet and as a learner was difficult too. With forms like Villanelle
and ghazal I was unable to construct and craft a sensible poem at first but
through mutual interaction and communication with my classmates I was able to
understand the form and write a villanelle. As someone who’s trained in Indian
classical, Ghazal wasn’t something unfamiliar but the style and form was
explored and magnified in this course. I never thought I’d write an English
ghazal someday but I believe I crossed those hurdles that prevented my
expression. The course helped me express and channel my thoughts and
experiences through the medium of poetry. It has been a beautiful journey
because of the mutual co-operation by the students and Akhil himself. The space
in which I learned the poems turned out to be a space containing a plethora of
ideas, emotions and expressions and at the same time I was glad that ideas and expressions
weren’t snubbed or mocked. I’ve read war poetry and am familiar with ghazals.
However, this course was like the ocean in a drop. Within a span of 4 months I
learned new forms of poetry that I had no clue about. These novel forms not
only helped me engage with literature and poetry but also understand the
background and the space in which it were written. Out of all these poems, by
far my favorite is The Art of Losing by Elizabeth
Bishop. The manner and style of discussing poems and working on them was
very unique as it allowed most of us to engage with the poem with respect to
our own experiences. The style of approaching any poem also helped in drawing
the meaning and the depth of our experiences that’d further be the core essence
of our individual poems. The space became a cathartic and a therapeutic experience
for me where I could engage with my thoughts, emotions and connect it to my
poems. I was able to draw out the core essence of my poem from my subjective
experiences and through this practice I was able to write poems. As an amateur
poet I used to ( and even now) write my poems in an unstructured and a fluid
manner. I learnt the dynamics of writing poetry such as prosity, syllable
count, metre and line breaks that facilitated in structuring my poem.
I enjoyed
revisiting some ideas and the poems that I previously read as a student while I
was doing my Bachelors in English. The use of visuals- photos, videos- and
sounds while teaching a particular form of poem actually enhanced the process
of learning the new forms and styles of poetry.
From writing
poems to performing them, I have always been skeptical about performing my
piece in public but then the opportunity of open mic gave me a platform to
express my anxieties, my repressed emotions, my fears, my beautiful memories
and my rage all together with the help of my crafted poems. I’m glad I was a
part of this course and that I got to learn so much within a short span of
time. I’m glad I was able to construct my poems well and work with a collective
of creative individuals who respect their fellow poets. But I’m kinda sad also
that this journey is ending too soon. However I’m happy that this journey has
been a fruitful one in the sense that I met new people, learnt new forms of
poetry, explored different ideas in a creative space and expressed my ideas and
emotions through poetry. Lastly, I’d like to thank Akhil for encouraging
everyone to write poems and being humble to each other. Thank you for this
lovely journey. I shall take it forward in my life.
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