I read somewhere that modern poetry was birthed and nurtured by the city...leaving the artificial constructs of form and rhyme behind. But I feel like that is not strictly true. You can find both solitude and immersion in a city. It is filled with man and his works, but nature refuses to be left outside the city walls. You must make/find your own space; but don't you do that anywhere?
Well your poem says all that much better and more beautifully anyway.
Yes, I think we build fences to escape from the crowds but the city is the muse too...so poetry comes despite the odds...a different form, a different rhythm. The open spaces have to be found within. Thanks so much, K.
I've lived in Tehran almost all my life, and your words resonate deeply with how it is to be an insignificant part of the bustle, or its quiet silence. Thank you for sharing your voice, Rajani.
I've been reading Duplicity, slowly though, and the moment I read the first few lines of this piece I knew you were going to quote Duplicity.
I was in Delhi before this place and I could so relate to ... how easily you stop hearing the noise. I lived close to a railway junction and the highway, and over the course of four years got so used to the chugging and vrooms that I stopped noticing them. In the small town of Jodhpur, the silence of where I live is a stark contrast.
Thank you, Sonia. It is an instinctive way to cope, I suppose, or we would just drown in the human-created noise. Am glad you're reading Duplicity. Hope you enjoy it! :)
wow, I resonate with the melancholia here. Cities weave into our identities so much..this exploration gives voice to the messy 'roundabout'-ness.. :)
Thanks so much, Divya...that is so true, we blend into the city and it seeps into us...quite unconsciously! Good to see you here!
I read somewhere that modern poetry was birthed and nurtured by the city...leaving the artificial constructs of form and rhyme behind. But I feel like that is not strictly true. You can find both solitude and immersion in a city. It is filled with man and his works, but nature refuses to be left outside the city walls. You must make/find your own space; but don't you do that anywhere?
Well your poem says all that much better and more beautifully anyway.
Yes, I think we build fences to escape from the crowds but the city is the muse too...so poetry comes despite the odds...a different form, a different rhythm. The open spaces have to be found within. Thanks so much, K.
I've lived in Tehran almost all my life, and your words resonate deeply with how it is to be an insignificant part of the bustle, or its quiet silence. Thank you for sharing your voice, Rajani.
Thank you, Mahdi. And yet that is what feels like home...hard to live with maybe but impossible to live without! :)
I've been reading Duplicity, slowly though, and the moment I read the first few lines of this piece I knew you were going to quote Duplicity.
I was in Delhi before this place and I could so relate to ... how easily you stop hearing the noise. I lived close to a railway junction and the highway, and over the course of four years got so used to the chugging and vrooms that I stopped noticing them. In the small town of Jodhpur, the silence of where I live is a stark contrast.
Thank you, Sonia. It is an instinctive way to cope, I suppose, or we would just drown in the human-created noise. Am glad you're reading Duplicity. Hope you enjoy it! :)
'In the belch of trucks'! Your prose reads like poetry! The idea of Imagined silences really got me thinking, Rajani.
Thanks so much. The city is the perfect muse!!!
"Fall or flight is not entirely a matter of wing." Brilliant! Your poem is wonderful. Such fine writing.
Thanks so much, Sherry. You’re too kind. :)
Such haunting musings, especially for me your line of 'Fall or flight is not entirely a matter of wing'.
Thanks so much, Mirjana. The book started as a series I was writing on WP called City Poems...reflections on the city before and during the pandemic.
So much brilliant stuff. Rajani
'Here, in the city, poetry is birthed in imagined silences.'
Thanks so much, Richard. That's very kind. It is true that we unconsciously tune out all the noise...a city of 10 million is always loud and buzzing!!