A time for rhymes

Centred around the theme of ‘Monsoons and the Rain’, the gathering shared and discussed both self-composed poems as well as pieces written by well-known poets.
The Poets’ Nook was founded by Prarthana Banikya, a freelance writer, who discovered her talent for writing poetry about a year ago. “I was keen to interact with and get feedback from like-minded poets, but knew very few people who shared my interest,” says Prarthana. This is what lead her to create the Poets’ Nook, a community of poetry
enthusiasts.

The recital was kicked off by Lavanya, a Ph D student, who read out a poem written by Shelley. Entitled ‘The Cloud’, the poignant piece was rhymed entirely in limericks, and was written from the perspective of a cloud itself. Lavanya confesses that she enjoys these recital meetings because they give her a chance to re-read classics such as this. “It’s one of my favourite poems. I love the rhythm of the piece; it reminds me about the patter of raindrops. The poem also describes how a cloud perceives the beauty on earth,” she said.

Prarthana read out a self-composed poem called ‘The Little Red Box’. She believes that the monsoons are a rich source of inspiration to all poets, since they lend a fresh perspective to the most mundane of things. This poem, for example, which was written by her after a particularly heavy downpour, was centred around the post box outside her house.

Dr Saxena, who has been a surgeon in the army for three decades and an avid reader and writer of poetry on the side, recited a piece called ‘Sometimes’, also self-composed. It described the beauty of poetry in both its subtle and blunt avatars, likening the flow of a poem to the movement of the clouds.

Not all the recitals, however, were inspired by the monsoons. Geetanjali, a young professional, read out a poem entitled ‘Change’, which she had written herself. The poem talks about the little changes that she has perceived over the years in both herself and the person that the piece is addressed to, asking the latter to accept them and move on with life. She says that to an extent, the poem was inspired by her own experiences. “All of us change, and with this, our equations with other people change as well. I wanted to capture that in this poem,” she explained.

Not all the members of the Poets’ Nook write poetry themselves. Some are a part of this community simply because they have a deep appreciation for it. Sylvia, a Ph D student, says that she wanted to come to the recital because she spends a lot of time reading poems and enjoys it immensely. “I like the fact that each poem affords the reader so many different interpretations, some which even the poet might not have thought of,” she said.