While going through the chaos and bustle of the city, if you cross ways with individuals reading out their letterings in parks, local trains or coffee shops to appreciative claps and hoots of an audience, don’t be startled. Its just one of many poetry clubs with zealous members that has been burgeoning in this vast metropolis of ours. Parth Shah delves into the theory of this new emerging societal norm for an attempt to
incite the love of spoken word in your lives.
Spoken word poetry is the new flavor of metropolitan cities. And to taste it more efficiently, the young amateur poets across the country have taken to forming poetry groups. These groups have taken poetry out of the stereotypical setting of conventional readings and literary festivals, of kavisammelans and mushairas and in a sense, democratized or liberated it. These fanatics brought together by a communal adoration for rhythm and metre, aim to create a stage outside academia and established circles to indulge in unending sagas told through poetries. Fledgling poetry clubs like Mulaqaat and Lump in the Throat in Delhi, Loquations and The Poetry Club in Mumbai, The Young Poets Club in Chennai, Yuva Gosthi in Bangalore and Bottola in Kolkata have taken poetry out of publications and strewn them into circles and groups. The drift of poetry clubs isn’t constrained to Hindi or English. Regional languages like Urdu and Kashmiri among others are seeing something of efflorescence with young writers too. These happenings have begun to draw large audiences generous with feedback.
MIND YOUR POETRY
Poetry wins over all 22 official languages of this country and many more that are spoken on the thoroughfares, but there is definitely one language that bonds all poets and that is the language of peace. Mumbai’s poets may arrive at it through different routes, define it in varying ways and seem to live in different worlds, but there is no denying that a common ground exists somewhere, even if it remains hidden on most instances. There are a few in this city that relish in the presence of poets and venerate and appreciate their art and provide them their ear but there are only a few that get highly stirred and venture out to write poetry of their own. Noveau poets need to realize that poetry is a way to expression; it’s just like talking. One need not always think about the rules of grammar while talking and sentence formation and in the same way, new poets must not always think of poetic devices and rhyme schemes while telling a story through their poetry but should just break free and get writing. On the other hand all of the above are essential nonetheless and rules have to be followed especially at poetry slams.
POETRY SLAMS
Imagine you are given a ground, more precisely a stage to speak out, speak not just your poem but also your thoughts, not necessarily in rhyme! Poetry clubs offer just the right amount of escape for the youth of our country to express their thoughts through poetry. This is what happens through poetry slams.
In a poetry slam, members of the audience are chosen by a host to act as judges for the event. In the national slam, there are five judges, but smaller slams generally have three. After each poet presents, each judge grants a score to that poem. Scores generally range between zero and ten. The highest and lowest are dropped, giving each performance a rating between zero and thirty points.
Props, costumes, and music are always forbidden in slams, distinguishing this category from its immediate antecedent, performance poetry. Additionally, most slams enforce a time limit of three minutes (and a grace period of ten seconds), after which a poet’s score may be docked according to how long the poem exceeded the limit.
Before the competition begins, the host will often bring up a “sacrificial” poet, whom the judges will score in order to calibrate their judging.
A single round at a standard slam consists of performances by all eligible poets. Most slams last multiple rounds, and many involve the elimination of lower-scoring poets in consecutive rounds. An elimination rubric might run 8-4-2; eight poets in the first round, four in the second, and two in the last. Some slams do not eliminate poets at all.
Poetry, spoken word or any other form is not just an art form. If done right, it can form a revolution. A country like ours, who has tasted a revolution fueled further by the penning of Vir Savarkar and Rabindranath Tagore, it is highly dissasfying to note the loss of this much-adored art form. Therefore, we highly encourage the youth to step out of their comfort zones and write, they need not read their poetry out every time but, make sure they have expressed themselves completely in script. Poetry clubs eliminate stage fear and give youngsters the confidence to state their opinion and defend it. Moreover, one should remember that poetry is an art and it has to be preserved, one cannot construct museums to preserve them but encouraging it is surely the way to go.
The Unsaid
Poet’s Society
Filled with wanderlust and a love for words that provoke your soul, Mayank Susngi gives us a peek into his life as a spoken word poet, and what inspires him to weave his words into the art that is poetry.
When did you first realize that spoken word poetry was something that you’ d be passionate about?
I think Spoken word revealed itself like a cupboard with too many drawers. Drawers which I couldn’t open for the longest time. Each performance would make me feel like an anxious kettle waiting to boil over. It still does, I think, but one day you find a key to one drawer and it fits the rest as well.
How much of your work, would you say, is based on people you’ve actually met, or anecdotes that have been borrowed from your life? Do you consider them as good content for poetry?
The initial desire to write is like a bonfire which you keep fuelling with the tinder of memories and flints of experiences. It’s very difficult to write about something you don’t feel strongly about. So, yes a lot of my work is deeply personal and comes from my own experiences. They’re not only great content but can also be therapeutic when you allow yourself to be vulnerable and spill the insides of your mind in front of an audience.
How popular do you think is the spoken word poetry culture in India?
Spoken word while popular in the US for decades is quite a recent trend in India having picked up only in the last few years. But of late, a lot of Slams and Open-Mics are held regularly giving multiple opportunities for anyone interested to come listen or perform themselves. It’s still quite a niche audience, mostly consisting of those who perform themselves but things are quickly changing. In a few years, earning a living off performances might become a reality.
How do you deal with a negative reaction to one of your works while it was being presented?
I talk about things that bother me, and often while performing, it’s evident that you’re making quite a few people uncomfortable in the audience. But, then that’s precisely the point of any art, isn’t it? Of disturbing the comfortable, and comforting the disturbed. Talking about depression especially is a taboo that I feel needs to be broken. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten a negative reaction but when I write in Hindi or Urdu or Bengali, I’ve had people come up to me and say my grammar at best resembles scrambled eggs.
Cult of
POETRY
Trupthi Shetty and Ankita Shah, founders of Mumbai’s most popular poetry club, effectively named The Poetry Club, Mumbai, talk to Madhura Sansare about their innovative social venture.
What is the story behind The Poetry Club?
Both of us began writing regularly towards the end of our Bachelor’s degree. As we were studying to become CAs, our only source of learning poetry was reading it. Eventually, we started to look for poetry spaces where we could get feedback on what we were writing. On not finding any poetry clubs or groups, we decided to start our own. We were especially interested in spoken word poetry. Our inspirations included Sarah Kay and Taylor Mali.
And thus, TPC was born, out of the need for spaces where amateurs like us could share poetry and get critical feedback, without being judged. We began our first session at Kaifi Azmi Park in Juhu, with 7-8 people.
Can you give us a brief idea about how The Poetry Club works?
We have a mailing list of more than 600 poets, which is growing steadily. We have monthly poetry sessions where we invite all of these people to read, share, critique, and enjoy poetry. Usually we have an attendance of 40-45 poets in a session – these include poets in Hindi, English, Urdu, sometimes Punjabi and Marathi. In addition to the sessions, we also curate performance events in association with various cultural organizations like Lil Flea, Kitsch Mandi, High Street Phoenix, Culture Shoq. We’ve also collaborated with Alliance Francaise and conducted poetry writing workshops for them.
What types of poetry are usually showcased at The Poetry Club?
The types of poetry read at TPC are quite diverse. We have people like Vivek Sharma, who is an engineer and writes sonnets. We have a doctor, Siddharth Warrier, who can rhyme effortlessly and loves experimenting with forms, we have people like Biswadip Sen and Imroz Alam who write beautiful ghazals in Hindi/Urdu, we have people like Saurabh Jain, Prakriti Kargeti, Varun Garg, Tripurari Kumar Sharma who have made us realize just how soul-stirring Hindi poetry is, we have Ramneek Singh who writes Hindustani free verse and we have many, many spoken word poets.
Have you noticed a change in the way people perceive poetry?
Yes, in tiny ways. With Faiz and Gulzar poems being put to music in mainstream cinema, with publishing houses being more open and welcoming to publish poetry, with the growing audience in poetry events, with corporates approaching us wanting to promote their products through poetry, we’re moving towards a society that is learning that they all have the ability to understand and appreciate art, that it will resonate with them, if only they lend a ear.
Can you tell us a little about some of your upcoming events?
On 18th October 2015, we’re organising “Undoing Gender”, a pan India collaborative project to voice against gender stereotyping and to reflect upon a society without gender norms – in association with No Country For Women (NCFW), Bring Back The Poets, Delhi and Airplane Poetry Movement, and Culture Shoq. The event will happen at the Hive from 5pm to 11pm.
Volume 5 Issue 5
