Poetry on poverty.

" Is this the poem ?''. He asked me.

'' Yes. This is the one about which I talked to you'' .I replied.

I do not know whether you have seen a person who is ' weighing his options'. They generally tend to have this serious look for few minutes, and in the minutes to follow, it takes a turn to the lost one. This may last for few seconds or minutes and they get their bearings and return to the original state.

Kochappan went through the afore mentioned stages and returned.He started talking to me.

I would break my narrative here and tell you about this poem.

Readers might remember my attempt at writing the heart rending story of
' The Cat' and the criticism it received. Moving away from the realm of writing in prose about feelings of cats and dogs, I decided to enrich and entertain my readers by writing poetry. The product of my first attempt, is with Kochappan for his opinion.

Back to Kochapps after the break.

'' Writing six or seven sentences, one below the other with a comma at the end of each line does not make it a poem''. he said.
'' Poetry is the powerful flow of emotions recollected in tranquilty''.He pointed his finger on my writing and asked me
'' What do you think this is? You read it yourself and tell me''.

This is the poem I had penned.

'' Ravipuram was the destination,
of Komalam's nnmenon,

Having no money for petrol was his problem,
A matter in which no help came, even from Komalam

' Take a free ride with someone' came the signal from his brain,
and thus went Komalam's menon
In the pillion of his neighbour Simon
To Ravipuram his destination''.

'' Well. What is the 'Theme'? What did you want to convey?. Kochapps waited for my assessment of my own creation.

I couldn't take this belittling my creative output.Yet I answered politely.

'' In this poem I have tried to convey symbolically the helplessness of such men who are poor, and suffering from not having money even to fill petrol in their car, and is forced to seek a free ride from a neighbour.I have been cautious in not describing the mental agony of the man, as against what I had done in describing the feelings of the cat, which you felt would sadden the reader and spoil his day.
Regarding the composition, I have maintained the 2-2-4 combination ( similar to that of a football team formation in a match) in the stanzas with End Rhyming''
I conveyed the matter fairly clearly.

The expression of the hero of '' Psycho'' a movie by Hitchkock, on seeing the ghost at the head of the stair case when he was climbing to the first floor, is considered the best even now, of expressions in that category.

Kochappan's expression on hearing my description ! You can't imagine.
I never thought that my poem would touch him to this extent. He struggled to stand up.Slowly and gingerly he started off towards his bedroom.He said he wanted to retire early.

While walking, in a desparate tone, I heared him muttering

'' Some people are ' wise ' some are 'otherwise' ''.

As it happens sometimes to me , I couldnot quite catch why he said that!

I will ask him tomorrow .........


menon ( aniyan )