SANTOSH BAKAYA
So, friends, in the last week, did you pen any poem, on the sun, moon, and stars? On the woodpecker, Kingfisher, or the tiny sparrows chirping with a robust vigour? Right now, a flock of them has suddenly turned chatterboxes, and are having a merry time in the drizzle. This tempts me to write a poem on sparrows in the rain. Let me do it, till you mull over the various poetic possibilities surrounding you.
Now, let me come back to my favourite topic: READING
A whole new world comes to life while you read the world of the classic writers. These days, the world is confused, and chaotic; I have seen people bowing down under pressure. So, reading and writing can be an antidote to that. Through reading, one can be Far from the Madding Crowd, in our own parallel world.
By the way, have you read Thomas Hardy’s Far from the Madding Crowd?
If you haven’t read it, read it, and you will be swept away by its breath-taking rural landscapes, and the way Hardy reflects on human nature and its complexities.
Bathsheba Everdene, a fiercely independent woman, is the protagonist of
Far from The Madding crowd, who refutes all nineteenth century patriarchal norms, and runs her inherited farm singlehandedly.
Her words, are always at the back of my mind.
“I hate to be thought men’s property.”
I remember we were asked to write a character analysis of Bathsheba Everdene in the first year of Graduation, and I recall doing a good job of it.
I remember my father reading from TS Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, and we, the kids, going into a tizzy listening to the poem. The house shook with jolts of juvenile jollity as the rhythmic cadence put us in a cheerful frame of mind.
I am greatly inspired by Mary Oliver, who says that one should believe that one not merely visits the world, but enjoys every moment and celebrates every moment.
I keep reiterating that there is no such thing as perfection. You can never master the art of anything. Every day is a new day of learning and picking up new things along the way.
Hemingway believed that “we are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.”
By writing poetry, we can even appreciate the nuances of language; step into others’ shoes, looking at the world around with their eyes. Mary Oliver is one poet who, I believe, seems to touch everyone by her simple majesty. Her deep sense of wonder has a certain heart-warming appeal, and her simple language is so easily accessible that even a child can understand.
“Listen, are you breathing just a little and calling it a life?”
“I want to be light and frolicsome.
I want to be improbable, beautiful, and afraid of nothing as though I had wings.”
Mary Oliver, 1935 – 2019, had a quiet reverence for the natural world. She writes about mindfulness, grief, and the immense beauty of the mundane.
Her poetry is cathartic and therapeutic. If you read her, you will find it very uplifting.
The moment one feels that one has written something good, one feels purged of all negativities. To write something good, one has to be perennially amazed.
To echo Mary Oliver’s sentiments:
“All my life I was a bride married to amazement.”
” Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.”
There is a poet hidden inside all of us.
Poetry can transport us to different worlds.
Let me end my musings, by referring once again to Mary Oliver:
“Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting – over and over announcing your place in the family of things.”
Hush, listen to the world. Can you hear the symphony?
Can you read between the lines?
The author is an academician, poet, essayist, novelist, and TEDx speaker, with more than twenty published books to her credit.
