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FLY ON THE WALL INTERVIEWS
Presents Stephen Gill
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*Appeared in Poetry In The
Arts, Inc. (
Newsletter No. 23, January 2001
Editor & Interviewer: Peggy Zuleika
Lynch
and
Masihi Sansar (
1. WHAT IS YOUR VIEW ABOUT THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF
POETRY IN THE 20TH CENTURY?
The
twentieth century will
be known also for the gradual flowering of poetry that reached maturity towards
the close of the millennium. It is the second Renaissance.
Whereas
literary historians still grapple with pinpointing the fountain of the first
Renaissance that flowered around the 16th century, it is not so with the 2nd
one. The computer and mobility form the fountain of the second Renaissance.
Both have broadened the intellectual vision of the human which has opened the
doors for the poetry to mature.
Today,
a poet can print a few copies comparably cheaply on a home-based computer
printer or do it on a copier. Even regular printing is cheaper because a poet
can make the first copy on the computer. This has encouraged more poets to get
into print.
To do
this, it needs leisure as well. There are more published poets today than there
ever have been. The government projects to help retired, unemployed and
disabled persons, single mothers and other social welfare schemes, particularly
in
Moreover,
there are several financial assistance programmes run by the agencies of
governments and businesses. The governments were lenient as far as taxes are
concerned towards cultural activities. Many businesses, instead of paying taxes
to the government, increased their funding.
As a result, there was a mushrooming of poets.
Availability of more leisure has increased the
readership. The media was more open for cultural activities. Proliferation of education
and the courses on writing offered by local educational institutions were
additional contributing factors for the over all flowering of poets and a
market for them.
The
previous millennium had produced experimentalists as well. Some of their devices
became popular and some
fell on rocky ground.
At the same time, the availability of means
produced several poets who did not know what they were
doing. With the force of money and time,
they pushed themselves and were able to catch some limelight.
The
flood of poetry also confused readers. A common person could not differentiate
between good and bad poetry.
No
matter how we look at, the twentieth century was the second Renaissance for
poetry.
2. WHAT IS YOUR INTERPRETATION OF WHAT POETS/POETRY
WILL ACCOMPLISH IN THE 21ST CENTURY.
This
flowering of the renaissance will continue in the 21st Century. The first few
years will be confusing because of the challenges posed by the overpowering
dragon of the internet. The old generation is coping with these challenges,
learning unknown skills to express themselves.
The
new fertilizer is growing a new crop of abundance of poets that would crowd the
already overcrowded bazaar for a more vigorous competition. As a result of this competition, several
serious poets will not be able to accomplish what they want. Their place will be taken by mediocre
who will emerge because of their money and their knowledge about the use of the
art of self-promotion.
The
computer has also eliminated geographical boundaries and the ease of mobility
has brought nations closer to one another. Consequently, the interaction of
languages and cultures will continue growing. More poets have started
clamouring for global peace. All these
factors will bring a wealth of splendour and nourishment to poetry.
Poetry
would be in a greater demand by musicians and singers as well. The third
millennium will produce more hunger for knowledge to make more money and to
gain more power. This will create a vacuum in the spiritual realm. The third
millennium generation will be
more isolated, lonely and uprooted. To fill that gap, there will
be more demand for singers as well as for poets.
Due
to high-tech there will be more unemployment than ever before. The governments and foundations will offer
their help to citizens many of whom would turn also to poetry to pass their
time, widening the sphere of poetry even further. Several non-serious poets
will be helped through these means and several serious would be neglected. It
would be an era without a James Joyce of Finigans
Wake and a Shakespeare of the sonnets.
I
have no doubts that the readership of the 21st century would ignore or
semi-ignore several top national poets. Their minor contemporaries would emerge
as more respectable ones. It is because
international standards for the evaluation of literary outputs have always been
different from the national standards. The international court of the
readership would have enough time and easy accessibility to distant literatures
to evaluate it.
3. WHEN YOU WRITE, DO YOU WRITE ANYWHERE, ANYTIME OR DO
YOU REQUIRE
I can
write anywhere and at any time. I am referring to my mental activity. Before
sitting before a computer, or with a pen and paper, I have to write in my mind
first. To others, I may be resting, sleeping, eating or just watching nature.
They don't know the activity that is going on within me. I have written a short poem on this subject
which I am quoting here to support what I mean:
BEGINS IN THE MIND
Don't be surprised
if for a long time
you hear from his chambers
the silence
that pervades a graveyard.
The writer is not idle;
he has to write in his mind
before pounding
on a typewriter.
I have
written several poems while driving. I keep a battery-operated mini
tape-recorder close to my seat. Whenever
poetic ideas hit me, I record them while driving on long highways. Later, when
I am in front of my computer, I type and polish the lines to clothe the airy
beings in a more beautiful way. I find it helpful to imprison my airy beings.
They should be caught right away. Otherwise, they are lost like vapour. Here is
a poem in which I express this aspect:
DELICATE OARS
Poets are adventurous;
they dive with the swimmers,
dance with the singers
and enter
the souls of tyrants,
as they paint
voyaging
in the seas of their thoughts
ploughing
the waters of their emotions
with the delicate oars
of their pens.
They catch unaware
free, naked creatures of waves.
To civilize,
they clothe them with images,
stitched with their words.
For
me, short intervals are enough to edit a poem. Because a poem is relatively
short and its fabrics are woven around one idea, I can write it, at least in rough
form, anytime. It is not possible with long pieces of prose. I should be in
front of my computer to do some writing and in many cases even my
thinking. In order to add to a chapter or an article, they have to be read
again. It often happens that by the time I go over those sections of my prose
to find where and what to add, I am tired or burnt out. I have to give up the
effort to recuperate myself by lying down, going to the kitchen to make tea or a
snack or phoning someone for a chat. I hate to make regular trips to my
refrigerator, but still have to do it for a change. Sometimes, I concentrate so deeply that I am tired by the
time I am able to just organize my material. At this stage, I force myself to
write at least a draft to develop it later.
I
think it is a proper place to mention that I started my writing with
poetry. For years, I gave more time to
poetry than to prose. I gave more time to poetry because there was something
that I wanted to convey. I have reached that stage of my writing where I can
say that additional poetry would be a repetition of what I have already said.
Now is the time for prose.
This
does not mean that I will banish the muse from the realm of my life. I have
poems in my drawers written not long ago waiting for my immediate close
attention for editing.
4. DO YOU VIEW THE COMPUTER AS A GOD-SEND TO POETS?
A few
years ago, I considered computers cold, remote, without emotions. I was not
able to type even a line,
except when I had to save a poem on a disk. My attitude has
changed drastically. I feel now I am lost without a computer.
However,
a computer is not as useful to poets as it is to prose writers, particularly to
novelists. The prose writers of book-length projects can move around their
pages and passages and do spell-checks as well. I use my computer for both.
Computers
are also helpful in sending query letters. There are
some software which can be used for grammar check up. I don't know how much
help they can give in checking the grammatical aspect of writing. I don't use
them for this purpose because I do not believe that computers can do it.
5. HOW DO YOU STAY FOCUSED ON THE GOALS YOU WISH TO
ATTAIN IN WRITING EACH YEAR?
I
work on a single lifelong goal. I divide
that goal into several steps for each year. They are again subdivided.
To
stay focused, I keep the single goal of my life before me and the steps I want
to take in a particular year to reach that goal which is always distant. I
believe that the goal is nonreachable-- it is a
continuous persuasion-- it has no "the"-- it is not a noun--it is
chase-- it is
a continuous flow of a river till it merges in the vastness of the
sea. The goal should be the sun that
cannot be hidden by any amount of the dust of intrusions.
To be near my goal, I have made it a
practice to do writing first at the start of my day and also at the close, and
in between whenever it is possible. I don't want to do anything else in the
morning, except making a cup of tea and rushing to my computer. Before I am
able to do some writing that I plan for that day, any intrusion, even a long
chat with anyone, irritates me. After having done my work for an hour or so, if
not much, I begin to feel in shape to face the rest of my day.
For a
change, I make use of my telephone.
Writers should not escape from other duties. They provide intervals which are also
productive, though too many intervals are as bad as is their complete nonexistence. I will call these intrusions or intervals productive
because they recharge my battery for the pursuit of my goal.
.
6. YOU WRITE AN ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF JOURNALISTIC PROSE
ABOUT THE CHRISTIAN DILEMMA IN
My
prose is to convey my message that I convey through my poetry also. I believe that I am a poet, and my basic
effort is for peace within and without. These elements are obvious also in my
prose.
These
days I write prose for the awareness of the human rights situation of the
minorities in the subcontinent of
Minorities
in
We are
living in a global village in which hatred and unfair laws produce
international reactions easily. It may create refugee problems also. Several
refugees may be fake. These fakes, as well as the
genuine refugees, may use foreign lands for their terrorist activities. The
unrest within a country may give headaches to the bordering nations. The unrest
within the country hampers the growth of economical health. The worst sufferers
are minorities because they are the soft targets.
It is
in the interest of the majority to take care of their minorities. In other
words, there cannot be peace in that country which does not respect the human
rights of minorities. By writing about
the minorities of
7.WHAT IS IT THAT MAKES YOU WRITE IN ONE FORM OVER OTHERS?
Normally,
I do not have a form in mind when I begin a poem. What I have is an airy being
or an emotion which I would call a rough diamond. My work as a poet is to chisel the diamond to
make it presentable-- or more presentable. It is an effort from one heart to
touch other hearts.
While
doing this, I may find a proper tool to smooth the path of my journey. That may be called chiselling of the form in
which I would like to present my diamond. That may happen at any time-- while
eating, resting, driving and even during a chat with someone.
I may
add here that forms like a sonnet, ballad, or ode, are least important to me.
My first priority as a poet is to clothe my airy beings in the most possible
beautiful way.
I
believe that beauty is not found in one colour or shape. There are beautiful
songs and songs in the world. There is no one way to create a music that is
beautiful-- that is moving-- that is rapturous--- that sounds divine. There are
as many ways to create masterpieces as there are artists in the world.
8. YOUR WRITINGS HAVE INCLUDED NOVELS, ESSAYS AND YOU
HAVE EDITED JOURNALS AND ANTHOLOGIES. HOW DO YOU CONCLUDE IN WHAT FORM YOU WILL
WRITE. DO YOU BEGIN WITH THE DECISION YOU WILL WRITE A
NOVEL AND THEN PROCEED WITH SOME IDEAS? OR DO YOU TAKE AN IDEA AND DETERMINE
WHAT YOU WANT TO PLACE IT IN; A NOVEL, AN ESSAY, A POEM?
When I have something within to bring
out, I need devices which may not be argumentative and entirely based on an
intellectual approach. Those devices are the beautiful snares to catch my airy
beings. I am aware of the power of these devices, called tools. Even the ugly things in life become beautiful
if artists know how to use their tools.
I have written several poems on different
issues of peace. The same issues I have attempted in my articles and in
dialogues in my fiction. The issues remain the same-- just the treatment
assumes different shapes. When I have to convince my readers for or against an
issue, I go to prose.
Both
the fields-- prose as well as poetry-- have their
limitations, however. What writers cannot say in one form, they can say in another. Writers have more freedom in fiction to express
themselves through dialogue and remain impersonal at the same time. To enjoy
even more freedom, writers can use articles which can be poetic.
Take
the case of terrorism. The object of terrorism is to spread fear to silence the
citizens against injustice. I have written a poem and moreover several
articles. The objects of both approaches are the same but the tools are
different. In prose, I add anecdotes and views of others to support my message.
My writing about human rights issues and other aspects of peace are from this
angle. To prove my point, I seek help of other activists and writers by quoting
them. Prose become a sort of scholarly or
semi-scholarly effort.
9. JAMES DICKNEY ONCE STATED THAT POETRY IS A KIND OF
Poets
use words as rocks for their creation. History has proved it again and over
again that words are the atoms of the nitroglycerin
which are suffused with energy. The first artist or poet was God who created
the universe with His words. God created humans in His own image. In other
words, human is also creative. At the end of every creation, He said it is
beautiful. The creation of a true artist is also beauty.
To me
every creation is beautiful. Poetry is beauty. The other forms of beauty are
also poetic, including dance, painting, fiction and all that one can name.
But
there is no beauty in terrorism, violation of human rights and bloodbaths.
There may be beauty to the perpetrators of those destructive activities-- I
will call such activities as the aberration of creativity and beauty.
10. IN YOUR NEW DIRECTION OF SOCIAL CONCERNS WHAT DO
YOU FEEL YOUR WRITING WILL ACCOMPLISH BOTH HERE AND IN
Violence
is a disgusting aberration of beauty, and beauty is the music of creation. The systematic violations of the rights which
were universally declared and adopted by the General Assembly of the United
Nations are the worst aberrations. Both
These
Declarations are to maintain peace. At present, the United Nations is the
supreme mouthpiece of humanity because there is no other organization which
commands respect as widely as this organization does.
I try to make the citizens of
11. WHAT IS YOUR COMPELLING INFLUENCE FOR THIS
CRUSADE?
I
have seen the glass of peace being smashed into pieces when I was growing up in
The
compelling influence for my crusade is peace-- the peace that is beauty-- the
peace that is creative-- the peace that makes life meaningful.
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Award-winning
Dr. Peggy Lynch is a prominent poet from Texas,
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