Reflective Response

One who attended the elective more or less regularly would hardly deny about the impact/influence

Crafting Poems has generated. Even as a visual artist, the course made me think how poetry as a

medium of expression could be so direct and can have an edge over other forms of expressions.

Whether its about reading, composing, listening, responding etc.I realised the gradual change

taking place in my approaches in relation to these aspects. I would try to reflect upon the journey

starting from the first poem till my twelfth poem in this response.

The love poetry workshop really broaden the understanding. It developed certain new ideas at the

same time de-established the old notions about the thing we all perceived as "love". It was really

fascinating to look back at the lives of poets such as Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Agah Shahid Ali etc. Coming

across the idea of Ishq-i-majazi(metaphorical love ) and Ishq-i-haqiqi (true or divine love) through

their work kind of exposed their tricky relationships with their "loved ones". Nazm and Ghazals in

terms of their freedom and structure opened more possibilities for compositions. How can one forget

the magic of similes? Adding a pinch of humor and mockery! Personally I was never that much

conscious about enjambement. I have always been using it way too conveniently. One would more

or less agree with Katherine when it comes to syntax, space, sound, speed, surprise and sense in

relation to enjambement..

Ghazal workshops were equally intriguing. Discovering so much between the matla and the makhta:

experimenting and exploring with Radif, Kafiya, Alfazon ki Bandhish(arrangement of sound and

words) and Khayalaton ki nazakat(sophistication of feelings and ideas). And revisiting the classics

like "Dil Cheez Kya Hai" was a visual treat which acted like a cherry on the top. Transition from

Ghazals to city poetry was indeed smooth. However, questions like: where in the city one felt loved,

unsafe etc made some surprising and shocking revelations. And weaving such ideas of insecurities,

nostalgia etc into poem was a challenge in itself. After analysing my own city poem and after

receiving the feedback, I realised the scope how one can play with ambiguity, representation and

personification to put forth the objective or the idea which the poem encapsulates. Mapping

whatever happens in the city through words was enthralling but at the same time reading the work of

T.S Eliot, Manglesh Dabral and Duffy gave such fragile, isolating and existential vibes which were

not hard to resonate with.

And when we talk about resonation, one would think about the political poetry workshops where we

came across two models where personal resonation and public aspirations came forth. Different kind

of political poetries ranging from I speak up bluntly  to I see Kashmir from New Delhi at midnight

 gave a sense of concentrism: how politics works on different levels. Few of the political poems

written by other classmates really shook the core and the way they used and exercised free verse in

their compositions added more spark to it. Well by this time almost 6 poems made it to the blog

which more or less  incorporated all the elements, methods etc that were taught in the class.

Reading nineteen lines of the villanelle was delightful but writing them was quite painstaking. I

realised I had a taste for a villanelle even though I did not have literature background. Nothing broke

my heart like One art and Mad girl's love song did. The refrains, rhymes used in the five tercets and

a concluding quatrain made the central idea/objective of the poem profound. This form of poetry was

indeed efficient enough in inducing the feelings of the poet into the minds of the listener/reader.

Evidently the refrains were impactful.

The prosody workshop was extremely important and helpful since it opened more possibilities in

relation to the pattern of the rhythm and sound. However, it is sometimes still difficult to guess the

meter of the poem. Another interesting thing which came across while composing a nonet right after

the prosody workshop was the kind of world it opens for you. Because of the syllable constraint,

something unique happened with the theme/idea of the poem.

The reprise political poetry session too opened a new dimension when aspect of performativity was

attached to it. It was so evident from the recital of Rafeef Ziadah and Hussain Haidry, how their body

was experiencing the poem. How each and every word coming out of their mouth was making such

deep impression and how it was influencing the whole ambience. The mood of the poem kind of

creates a muscle memory for the poet. For example, the poet kind of makes some decisions in mind

about which particular words and lines or stanzas he would stress more so it could cast a deeper

impact in comparison to any usual recital. Nitoo Das and her poems derived some real creative

streak out of us whether it was about persona poetry, her "How to" ones or ones centred on the

objects of daily use. It really embossed the way how one could actually bring things around us to life

through words. Other of her work centered around the idea of sexuality, protest, ecology

(specifically birds and lake) etc. proved how poets can be versatile and experiment with different

genres. Her poetry reading session was even more dynamic than her poems. Absolutely loved the

way she draws the line between a poet and a literature professor.

Working on poems in groups was exciting too! Always staying with that one line.Or just changing a

word line or the whole stanza at times. It was indeed a fortune that few of us could make it to the old

railway station for place poetry. Listening to poems and songs close to the heart of people in the

green field on a windy day was equally mesmerising. Feedback and response by Nitoo Das were

pretty enlightening. Everyone grasped something from her “act of love”. I guess what is also worth

mentioning is the list of the poems and the articles in the course structure and overall pedagogy

which undoubtedly helped all of the aspiring poets of crafting poems to grow in certain way. Hope

that everyone sticks to the bond that they established with poems and poets during the semester.