POETRY  CHAIR.

(The article originally appeared in Economic and Political Weekly. A few modifications have been made by the author).

 

Froggy Poets in the Well

 

Since the 1960s, contemporary Indian poetry in English has been in a pathetic and moribund state.Today there is hardly any outlet in the Indian  media, or in the publishing houses where an  Indian poet can  confidently place his  Mss  of poetry in English believing that it’ll really be read before it is rejected.

Who really cares about Indian poetry in English? Certainly not our editors or publishing houses. There is hardly any  magazine in India that makes quality selections of Indian English poetry (an exception is The Caravan, perhaps.) There is no equivalent of a David Lehman here , the series editor for The Best American Poetry,  who chases  good, original poems with an almost missionary zeal year after year. Most of India's leading publishing houses do not even have a poetry editor. Not a single poetry or little magazine of calibre exists in which an aspiring poet may  hope to place his or her creative attempts.

Contemporary Indian poetry in English is in a truly sad, sorry, and pathetic state.  The reason for this is that no money comes from writing and publishing poetry. Books of verse, if ever printed, rarely make it out of the publisher’s godown – not even as wrappers for roadside peanut sellers. Some publishing houses do make an effort to show they care, occasionally bringing out “new writing in verse” but these rarely unearth genuinely fresh talent. Such publishing efforts are invariably cloistered with vested motives and agenda.

Poetry events appear most often as highly individualized, personal efforts and not as vibrant searches for true creativity. Jayanta Mahapatra, the Orissa-based internationally renowned poet for one, did pioneering work for Indian poetry in English over the years, talent scouting, and gathering quite a few new voices.  But so ingrained is literary corruption in the rotten body of our poetry publishing that in the larger scheme of things, it is difficult to function totally free of influence.

Sadly, today there are more poets than readers of poetry. Many self-styled poets imagine they alone matter, working overtime to suppress and even stamp out strikingly original writing, fearing it a threat to their own advancement. Worse is the parallel growth of poetasters who run their own damp squib  dark ink world, engaging in vanity publishing of limp and stilted verse.

That is why, even as there is great hullaballoo about Indians writing novels in English, depressingly enough, Indian English poetry remains an abandoned girl child no one is really interested in.

These days, there is hardly any outlet in India, where an aspiring Indian poet can hope to publish his or her poetry in English. But, there were days, when  forums did exist for Indian poetry in English, as in the pages of The Illustrated Weekly of India, Youth Times, Quest, New Quest, Thought, Opinion, Debonair, Kavi India, Poetry Chronicle, The Sunday Observer, The Telegraph, Femina and Imprint, many of which were edited by notables  like Pritish Nandy, Kamala Das, Shiv K Kumar, and Nissim Ezekiel.

If Indian poetry in English should really grow and if new talent should blossom, our English  language newspapers and journals must provide the much needed answer. They must set aside some space for serious poetry, even if it is in the comics or entertainment sections. The submissions should be whetted by accomplished practitioners of the craft. Narrow minded self-styled ‘ foster parenting’ of Indian poetry in English such as by Sahitya Akademi, or by a few     ‘all knowing poets’ should go. There is no dreath of poetic talent coming up if publishing houses are willing to shed their ‘poetry-barred’ approach. Major publishing houses in India should have well formed poetry editorials. They should be willing  more than ever to discover and assess new writing.  Publishing houses should broad base poetry publishing at least by  bringing out  poetry series booklets, to accommodate more and more poets in their imprints taking a cue from  the international ‘ Penguin modern poets/ Modern European poets  series”  that brought out volume after volume of magnificent poetry   with five to six poets per issue and carried elaborate poetry volumes out into the literary world. 

Several of the world's leading English periodicals devote columns for poetry, as with the case of Encounter, The Paris Review, The Nation, The New Yorker, The Atlantic and Times Literary Supplement, to name a few. Indian publishers should take a cue from them and begin publishing poetry in at least the weekend or literary editions of leading dailies. After all, did not even  Punch and The Spectator publish poetry?

Poetry has so many shades of splendour. It is time the Indian media and publishing houses , began to display a commitment to the growth of creative writing in English by giving Indian poetry in English a fighting chance.

 

Gopikrishnan Kottoor , a senior banker by profession, is an award-winning poet.