Poetry: From creation to confrontation

We catch the words, make them mean something, and then, leave them dead, for others to come and see our kill. When you hunt them down, they die for a moment, and then, become liberated and fly away, to be used in some other context, in some other text. Like a painting, a text too is never a finished product.

- DR. JERNAIL S. ANAND

When we are writing a poem, it is a challenging proposition because here, our belief systems and the belief systems of the words, phrases, verbs and proverbs, are in constant confrontation. We choose the ones which we find pliable to our meaning. Even when we make them fall in line, they are subdued till they are read in the pattern we have laid for them. After that, they raise their heads again and stand up, challenging us. Thus, writing a text is an act of challenge, which is transferred to the reader who is reading the text.

The readers who are infinite, have their own belief systems, different from the writer. They either have to force their beliefs into the pattern drawn by the author, or they can draw the poet out of his haven, and challenge his beliefs directly. There used to be times, some fifty years ago, when the reader was asked to appreciate a poem. At the most, in college classes, teachers would teach critical appreciation. But, today, in these times of fierce consumerism and competition, no reader likes to accept what the poet says, rather he confronts the text. The reader is not interpreting or appreciating it. These are very docile words. The reader does not believe in the text, he tries to defy it, and finally deny it when he comes up with his own critical report.