  Poetry
This week: The Magical Feel of Live Poetry Edited by: THANKFUL SONALI back on Jan 4  
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We have a gathering of poets every month. People of all ages (eight to 80!) from all walks of life, get together to present original poems. Some of them follow the given theme (it changes each time), others do a free reading, of any poem(s). Poems are in English, Hindi or any regional Indian language. Poets present their work individually, or in pairs or groups, sometimes accompanied by music. The only two rules are: 1. Poems must be original; and 2. Each poet has a time limit of five minutes.
Often, magic happens.
I share with you some tidbits from some meetings. |
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Dear Poet,
If you live anywhere near Bangalore, India, or are visiting on the third Saturday of any month, drop by for a gathering of poets. Listen to poems on themes like Gravity; Love; Mistakes; Identity; Resolutions; Satire ... you name it!
To recap what I said in the 'About' section above:
People of all ages (eight to 80!) from all walks of life, get together to present original poems. Some of them follow the given theme (it changes each time), others do a free reading, of any poem(s). Poems are in English, Hindi or any regional Indian language. Poets present their work individually, or in pairs or groups, sometimes accompanied by music. The only two rules are: 1. Poems must be original; and 2. Each poet has a time limit of five minutes.
So, here goes with some of the discussions and experiences we have had:
1. Language
If they're reading in English or Hindi, poets don't need to explain the poem unless they want to. For any other language, they have to give a short summary of the poem in English before they read it.
There's a lady called Maitrayi who reads poems in Bengali. Each month, she writes to the theme in her native tongue. She likes to give elaborate explanations of each thought and each image contained in the poem, in English, before she begins. There have been discussions on this -- some folks say they'd like to hear the poem without explanations in the beginning, just to get a feel of the words even if they don't exactly understand them; others say they enjoy it more when she explains, so that they have an idea of what they're listening to.
There's a guy called Harish who once wrote a poem in six languages! That's right, six different languages in the same poem. It was loads of fun to listen to him, and shift from understanding exactly what he was saying when you (listener) knew the language, to conjecturing when you didn't.
2. Individual v/s. Pair
There's a guy called Nitish who often writes poems involving two voices. Sometimes, he does both. In which case, he changes timbre and hops from one side of the floor to the other, to indicate that he's now the other person. Sometimes, he works with a partner and each takes a voice.
This lady called Tripti did an innovative thing once. She had a poem in which Romeo and Juliet are having a conversation. She painted one side of her face and stood side profile. She turned, so you saw either the painted side or the non-painted side, depending on which character she was depicting for that line.
Once, we had a 'debate' poem -- two people, one going 'for' a topic, the other 'against', in verse. Sometimes, the poets read alternating verses, sometimes, one poet read their entire poem first, followed by the other.
3. Dramatisation
People often perform their poems. How elaborate the performance is varies, according to the poet and the poem. This guy called Alistair dramatised three of his poems. In one, he was talking of a melting snowman. He stood on a table and drooped slowly as the poem progressed, melting beautifully as he spoke of himself, the snowman. In another poem, Alistair spoke of a fish that learned to walk and the animals he met on his walks on land. Alistair changed voice and body language for each animal in turn. In the third, he spoke of the anguish of the mother of an addict, and how she is on trial for her role in her son's bad habits. He took the role of the 'questioner' and the mother, changing voice and body language, and shifting between a sitting position and a standing one.
4. Props / Accompaniments
Some poets use props -- a poem about the rain saw an umbrella being brought in. Some write poems based on their own sketches, or sketch something based on the poem, and hold the sketch up as they read. Some have a friend strumming on a guitar in the background.
Once, there was a husband and wife team. The wife read out her poetry, the husband painted on a blank canvas as she read. By the end of the evening, he had a finished painting.
So - we've experienced poetry, we've explained it, we've experimented with it ... and it's so much fun!
Thanks for listening!
Verse on,
Sonali.
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Thanks for the feedback for : "Poetry Newsletter (January 15, 2014)"
LostGhost: Seeking & Learning  Amazing newsletter, Sonali. I was awed by the desert description.
Shaziane Thank you for this. I am at present going through photography workshops and this has compounded the point that one art helps another, enhances observation.
Lou-Here By His Grace Thank you so very much for this beautiful article combining poetry and photography. I am a professional photographer as well as published poet/writer. Sometimes the poetry is in the picture, sometimes picture in poetry.
JACE  So, don't wait so long to do another Poetry NL. This one was great, Sonali. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
zarkianmouse This was a very nice thing to share. 
Marci Missing Everyone Thank you for such a poignant article. I definitely find poetry in the world around me, but I love to use pictures, whether photographs or drawings, to inspire me. A recent poem that I wrote was inspired by a photograph taken by our very own Elle - on hiatus  . See "Invalid Item" . Thank you again! |
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Poetry: June 29, 2016 Issue [#7716]
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