Smoking in the 2nd Class

Hello my faithful readers,

This is the 'appetizer' for our next post: modern visual poetry.
Feel free to enjoy this 'sumptuous' spread of literary devices and revel in its definition-defying or rather the re-defining of the free form.

To view the poem, open it in a new tab and click on the image to enlarge. 

Mapping the City

The city is the place we live: we weave our lives and experiences around it and it precisely this that makes writing about the city so powerful. Whether in prose (narrative) or verse (poetry), when witing about the city, the writer is able to imbue the city with the values and emotions the want to ascribe it. When mapping a city, you can garb it as majestic, fantastical, unfamiliar, evil, barren, lifeless, rich, poor, tyrannical et cetera.

When mapping a city, it is useful to 'personalise' the city by language (by use of jargon), diction (choice of words), imagery, metaphor or metonymy and not to forget - memory. Memory is a very powerful tool, not only in writing but in any field. The way we perceive things historically, temporally (time) and spatially (space) can alter the ways we perceive the many different elements and experiences.

That is why "walking through the city" is important when writing poetry. It gives an important insight into the everyday life of everyday people - it talks about the politics of place, space and the inhabitants of that space; time  and the passing of time; popular culture and the populace itself ( and potentially a comment on demographics).

Below are links to two different poems that I think maps a city well and there is a lot to be observed and understood from these poems:
In the City and Mumbai.

All the best,
Loe.

Re-imagining and Re-defining Poetry

Our goal here at the Hive is not not just to suggest, address and digest all kinds of writing - although my focus has been largely taken up by the Just Write poetry project. I realise, after going through the few submissions trickling in that many people still do not understand why people write.

People write for many reasons - to express themselves, share thoughts and feelings, but beyond that, we write to problematise and document our everyday struggles and issues we face throughout our lives. Poetry is unique in its approach to persuade, disuade, suggest, portray the different issues through feelings, imagery, word play and sound.

While we're on this track, my main point is this: poetry need not be traditional (same rhyme, same stanza length). Personally, I suggest the free-verse and free-style of poetry as in can be much more liberating and allows for much more creative freedom.

At the same time, by employing certain techniques such as visual poetry (a future topic), palindrome (something like a mirror effect, also a possible future topic) can be more liberating artistically. The results sometimes forces the writer to move out of their comfort zone and write 'outside the box'. At the same time, it can be much more pleasurable to write, as well as to read.

For example,
below is lipogram (where an alphabet is dropped from the entire poem). The alphabet 'a' has been dropped from the poem.

Power is purpose corruptive;
corrosive forces curdling
white into sour milk.

Power is purpose corruptive;
Toy soldiers lumbering below
ruins of empires, broken.

Power is purpose corruptive;
Control too tightly eventually ruptures -

Fright, that flighty fiend has come home.

The poem is polysemic, in the sense that it carries a different meaning to different people. The rhytym does not flow and it is intentional - to disturb the reader, and provoke him or her to question 'power'.

Disclaimer: I am in no way suggesting that the above poem is the best. It is just an example of free form. Also, I would like those of you reading this blog to question the lack of consistent imagery here and how that affects a poem through its impact.