Love is forever. So is poetry
Her words have this unique quality. A resonance – reverberating as they are, long after they sound the gong in the mind of the beholder. Like the haunting melody Buddhist chants in some monastery in the sub-conscious, that makes one want to drop everything to unravel their meaning. The images they weave too have this ethereal quality about them, the purity of the fathomless deep, of snow clad peaks, of a child’s laughter…
Meet Somolekha Sur, poetess, music maker, agent provocateur from the Republic of thoughts:
Q1. Why Poetry? Why now?
Because, poetry creates a rhythm that is an extension of the rhythm of life. Notice closely and you will see that everything in life follows a rhythm of it own. Well, that is not to say that all life’s rhythms rhyme all the time – perish the thought! There are moments that are jittery, like momentary lapses brought about by punctuations, like blank verses …
Why now? Because, now is forever. Because the “now” is infinitesimal. Because Now, like Life, is forever. Just like Love is forever. So is poetry. And it is this eternity that I wish to touch, to embrace with my poems.
Q2. Written words for the hash-tagged generation in search of instant gratification? Do they connect? Even if they can read?
Yes, I do believe that establishing a connection between the written word and this generation is difficult. But the ones who do connect, remain transfixed with the meanings within. Their desire for the instant fix – call it the Nirvana Pill if you may – sucks them into a vortex, where the only way forward is achieved by shedding their superficiality. Only after they decipher the meaning of the words that they are able to comprehend the meaning of the thoughts, that reach out to caress their souls.
Q3. What’s next? Surely, you have a lot more to give to all those who seek you with all their senses?
My writings are more a quest, a journey that I partake in. A journey that is inward – into the dark recesses of my soul, into my very being. It is constant, as eternal as the ebbs and tides of life. Sometime the pen goes into a slumber, only to burst forth with a fresh lease of life at others.
Besides, like all labours of love, poems too, happen. They cannot be constructed with brick and mortar rationality, nor can they be commanded into formations … they happen. It is such a pleasure to be an extension of the pen when the thought bearing words get strung, when poems pour their passion on paper … but, to answer your question: no, I have no plans to retire, though I don’t know when I will have my third collection ready for the presses.
Q4. Any plans to go digital? Even the Psalms have reached out for the palms, you know?
Off-course. I already have a presence in Facebook. You can follow me in Somolekha’s Page in Facebook. I do go there often, but am still quite a puritan when it comes to writing, preferring the feel of the nib brushing against the paper and waiting inordinately for the ink to dry.
Q5. Your advice for those who are waiting in the wings?
Don’t bother about who’s listening and who’s not. Go ahead and write. Let Karma do the rest.
Somolekha’s Books:
Conundrum
Spark book company
ISBN 9788193230589
Little tales from la la land
Sahajatri
ISBN 9789384996024