What is poetry?

Refer to letters “Anybody can become poet?”(Nov 8); “A poem cannot be manufactured” and “Are poets born?” (Nov 10). There was a time when poets were not much appreciated in the society. They were mostly considered poor people, having not worldly wisdom. But now many poets make good money and name naturally, too. Some have become film lyricists and commercialised. Now we find poets at the helm of the affairs – even our ex-Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was a poet. Many businessmen and professionals are also good poets.

I myself being a Practising Chartered Accountant compose poetry, too. I write for my own pleasure and have penned hundreds of poems; luckily till date my 302 poems have been published in various newspapers and magazines – some are not well-known and some are home magazines. One poem was published in an Australian magazine and two were published in UK magazines. I can pen a poem on any subject. It depends on my knowledge and mood; I have penned poems on social and economic subjects, too.

Still I do not consider myself a poet! I am an ex-member of Poetry Club of India, too. But I am first a practising Chartered Accountant and than a poet. To add, poets are born poets! Poetry reflects the truth – inner feelings of a person. The best poetry – shayari – is only is in mother tongue and for readers in the language they are used to. - Mahesh Kapasi, New Delhi

What constitutes a poem?

Hats off to the esteemed Hans India for making space for a discussion on the making of a poem after Prof Sreenadhachary’s article(October 26) offered ‘ tips’ to the youth on composing a poem. Tilak, one of the renowned romanticists of Modern Telugu Literature, said in one of his poems that

“Poesy is alchemy Not every fellow Khaddar-clad Can become a Gandhite Nor a piece with a prosaic theme And a rhyming scheme Can be poesy Poesy is alchemy A bard alone knows it Kalidasa knew it … (Translated by SM Kompella)

With great respect for the Professor, I quote Dr S Radha Krishnan’s words “Kavayah Kranta darsinah” (Great writing is a sacrament and it can be achieved only by intense effort.” Great writers and poets are men of vision apart from their mastery of language and gigantic scholar ship. If one just follows the ‘simplistic’ formula as discovered by the Professor, one becomes only a poetaster or to put it jocularly just “a Tip’pu Sultan.” - M Subbalakshmi, Hyderabad-38