Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Prescriptive note

Poetry should be lean,
rippling with muscle;
not flabby, or squelchy like
gutter mud.
Poetry should be clean,
hard and bright, like
polished diamond;
shaped of sifted words,
purged of dross, like
refined gold.

16 comments:

feddabonn said...

i still think it should be like a side of beef, heh heh.

gold is pretty, but useless for any work. would 'steel' be better?

Calliopia said...

Yesssss, now this is what I call poetry! Sparse, lean, clean, stripped of diction, rhyme (gosh, am I ever so sick of rhyme!) and gushing sentimentality, just a macro shot of the thing as it is, with nothing to distract or detract from it. Ahhhhh, poetry! Bellissima, dear mesjay!

I've been planning to write an article on the need for change in Mizo poetry so as to encourage poetic growth and get us out of our self-induced time-warped Victorianism. Mind if I quote this? It goes just so beautifully with what I want to bring in.

Malsawmi Jacob said...

Feddabonn, gold is precious,lasting and refined. May be you can't use it to do the work of steel, but it certainly works. Honestly, would you rather compare poetry to steel? And how 'useful' is poetry in that sense?

Calliopia, feeling so great at your enthusiastic appreciation, almost feeling like a poet! I'm waiting to see that article. And of course, i'll be highly delighted to be quoted.

Sekibuhchhuak said...

pi mesjay, poetry lam hi ka thil thenna lama ni vak lova, chuvang chuan, " I van ziak nalh ve " han ti hluaiila, ka tehna kha ahlu vak dawn in ka hre si lo :-)

luliana said...

a va tawi tha tek tawk ve...chhiar chhuah a awmsam phian :D

Malsawmi Jacob said...

Seki, tuina zawng hi kan nei vek a. Kei pawh games lam an sawite hi chuan ka bo tawp zel.

Lulian, 'short and sweet' alom [lol]. I chhiar chhuak em ang chu maw?

Gauri Gharpure said...

lean without flab.. amazing...

Malsawmi Jacob said...

Gauri, just voicing my opinion. Agree, disagree?

Mizohican said...

Master, teach me poem!

:-)

Pi Mesjay, damn em? Great poem as usual. Been busy myself too, as the past 1 month, I'm hardly at Jogeshwari. 80% of the time I'm at Parel and Sion, as the people I know who are in the hospital suddenly increased triplefold.

Anyway, I do hope we can meet up soon, maybe during the weekends or something like that. :-)

Philo said...

Touche! Your rubric should apply to post-mod academic stuff that circulate these days. The other day, I came across a hyphenated subsection-"Profiting from Identity Slippage and Promoting Identification Scheming." Whew!!

feddabonn said...

i agree, i agree! does that phase out milton, bob dylan and under sundry sillies then?

Malsawmi Jacob said...

Illusionaire, damn lo, ka dam [lol]. You seem to have a real lot on your hand. Hope things get better soon.
Tonight i'm leaving for Goa on an exciting work trip. Will tell later if it works out well.

Philo, that level of sophistication is not my stuff. The quotation sounds like an imitation of Hopkins, though not as good.

Feddabon, by no means. Milton and the greats are the greats. (Though i don't opt for Mathew Arnold's 'Sohrab and Rustum). But we, lesser mortals, commit big blunders trying to follow their way and end up big bores!

Jerusha said...

Touche! That's just brilliant - you should write more. I'd read your poetry any day.

Malsawmi Jacob said...

Jerusha, thanks. That's a poet or writer's dream - to be read.

Gauri Gharpure said...

completely agree... it should be crisp and fast and hitting.. :)

Malsawmi Jacob said...

Gauri, yet again i think it depends...