Between the Poet and his Word, there is a crisis of faith and loyalty”
-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.
In fact, it is an interrogation of the text, and the reader writes an autopsy report. What is there alive in it, what is dead, how it died, and what happened at the last moment. Sometimes writing appears to be like a hunting expedition. 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. No one can write ‘OK. Tested’ on it. For, it is an evolving mechanism, which acquires new meanings every moment of the day. The idea of finality with regard to a text is a sacrilege.
Fire-Play
Contending with words is not an easy affair. They have their own traditional values, their own ethos, in which they are racially placed. They signify living patterns and socio-psychological values. They have a life of their own. Generally, we do not use words with the deference they deserve. They need to be respected, and used with care. A poet who plays with words knows, he is playing with fire. Poetry is a fire-play, words are burning bodies, giving light and spending themselves, to be reborn in the readers’ mind again.
What the poet wants to say is, in critical creed, dismissed as intentional fallacy and, what the reader thinks of it, is also dismissed as affective fallacy. The fact is that both these fallacies [intentional/affective] have some truth in them, and the final truth is what we get out of a writing. After reading a poem, you do not remain the same, that is the true test of a writing. True poetry moves the author and its readers, and brings up new visions of reality, in order to make things more understandable, not to confuse and confound the reader.
Confusing Realities of Contemporary Times
The present day reality is confusing. Particularly, when every word and every idea stands emasculated. What is good? What is evil? Even the description of a saint is under great strain. Are white clothes symbols of purity? How dacoits dress themselves? In black? No, not nowadays. They are dressed like gentlefolks. It is only their actions, which are amiss. But, the society has developed an alphabet which does not contradict the wrong. Nobody speaks. Silence is the new alphabet. It is a shocking spectacle in which words are afraid to mean what they have meant for centuries. Think of the poor condition of the word ‘saint’ or ‘a sage’ with hundreds of sages behind the bars for offences you cannot mention.
Can a poet afford to project what good means and what evil stands for? He prefers silence than to confront the chaos. Poetry is under severe strain in this world of make-belief. Meaning does not exist in words, or their formulation, it is determined by those who wield the gun. This is our world. Better find a way between the intentional fallacy and the affective fallacy which only talks of truth, but can ensure a safe passage. It however appears to be the best way to join the cacophony, and start writing about beauty, sun, moon, winds, waters, and sighing over declining eco-system. Best start accusing gods, it will surely help.
Prophecy
If you come across the true meaning of a word, better avoid stating the truth. Take the other route. But don’t forget. If the words join hands, and set after you, they may arraign you and might announce a public hanging. Words will not spare you for maltreating them, for miscarrying their intentions, and for not portraying them in their reality. Poet, you have before you a forked option. Take up their cause for truth. Or, mask their faces all over again, twist their meaning, emasculate them, and perpetuate this unholy charade of truthless tales being spun in glossy metaphors.
Dr. Jernail Singh Anand won the Seneca Award, the Charter of Morava, Franz Kafka and Maxim Gorky Awards. Author of 175 plus books, his name adorns the Poets’ Rock in Serbia.
