Poetry of R K Singh: Innate Beauty and Essence
-- P C K
Prem
Singh
was born, brought up and educated in Varanasi. He is a university professor
whose main fields of interest consist of Indian English writing, especially
poetry, and English for Specific Purposes like science and technology. He has
authored more than 150 research articles, 160 book reviews and 56 books,
including Sexless Solitude and Other Poems (2009) and Sense and
Silence: Collected Poems (2010). His haiku, tanka and other poems have
been translated into many languages.
I Am No Jesus and
Other Selected Poems, Tanka and Haiku (2014), Here She Goes: A Selection of Micropoems (2014) and
Beyond the Shadow (2014) are other e-collections of poems. His bio-bibliography appears in some 30
publications in UK, USA, India and elsewhere.
He defines
social worries in concrete shape and resorts to asylum in love and passion. He
seeks release from emotional tensions, and discreetly and cautiously describes
man-woman relations and, in the process, ingeniously establishes profound
emotional ties with relations and man. Poet’s thematic voyage never deviates
from the basic philosophy of love, life, beauty and woman, and asserts the
existence of such dominant truths with awful power. Singh was born in free
India so one finds pure Indianness in poetry. I find a unique characteristic of
innate dedication to the national cause, and in thought content, he
deliberately and ardently, weans a man off from the idea of colonial burden.
When I wanted to know what he feels about poetry in the
contemporary context, he tells, “Life is too real to be believed, yet we must
keep dreaming and try to live with a resonance of what we think while we touch
various levels of reality—political, social, personal, or spiritual—and be
ourselves. Genuine poetry happens as an event to be truthful, clear, courageous,
and honest to oneself; to be open about things one often tries to conceal.
Poetry provides an opportunity for expressing ones intimate moments with the
same passion as while talking about the interwoven outer realities.”
On
probing, he says softly, “My experience convinces me that we are not limited by
what we are, but we are limited by what we are not. Poetry becomes a means to overcome this
limitation, and thus, allows us not only to know ourselves but also to expand
on what we are… we should not let our own rigidity destroy our potential, but
rather we should evince a forward-looking, tolerant, and open mindset if we
wish to create future.”
Singh’s poems from My Silence (1985) to The Face in All Seasons (2002)
reveal many dimensions of his poetic strength. Social awareness in terms of
contemporary life and values exposes man’s essential instincts, pretense and
nakedness. The poet understands myths, legends, history, politics, culture and
religion, philosophy of humanity and interpretation of art and tradition.
****
Absolute
misuse of religion for petty gains through whimsical individuals and
countries around the world is a disturbing trend. For personal gains, a man can go to any
length to fulfill sadistic desires and therefore, he manipulates religious
teachings. A man follows and adopts religion as a ruthless technique to settle
social issues. Religion creates fissures to unsettle a man’s living in
dangerous conditions. He started poetic journey
with the flight of fancy and found solace and solitude in ‘nature and woman,’
but unexpectedly faces challenges of life and finds that everything “Life lost
in petty worries / is the core worry: I’m diseased / in soul before the devil /
reappears I must commit / the act or suffer…” (“I Can’t Remedy,” Sexless Solitude and other Poems
66)
Quite conscious of violence, he is
unhappy with men in power, who behead women and children to achieve power in
the name of God, and sadly, religion functions as a conduit. He recalls
nerve-racking violence playing havoc in Algeria, Zaire and other
countries.
...who must spread
their values and shun truce for power
in the name of God turn the clock
backward
imposing ordeals of all sorts
next door political fanatics
in the name of social justice
close eyes to sadhus killing
housewives
teachers raping girls in classroom
and hoodlums burning women in slums.
(Cover to Cover –The Face in All Seasons 10)
Politics in religion is corrupting
social and economic life while a poor man perspires to make others’ lives
happy, and yet one foresees little hope of emancipation. If one goes through poetry of modern poets, a
stunning and lethal thought governs the psyche when they write about politics
and religion, politicians and religious gurus, for the four wise pillars (?)
appear an embodiment of ethical degradation –corrupt, greedy and
unprincipled.
Pseudo, shams, crooks and
politicians pervert:
empowered by their…
sometimes sweep the ground
and sometimes get swept with seams
CBI earths
their head moves ahead
unreal their rhetoric
pull up if you can.
(Above the Earth’s Green 59)
An appalling modern attitude of
influential men eloquently tells about the deplorable plight of vulnerable
people. No religious fervour or love of moral code exists among men in
authority. A consistent attempt to pattern religious teachings to benefit hunger
for more is a truth
****
Politics
is an obsession with each man in contemporary life, and the creative artists are not an exception and so “pseudo seculars,”
fake scholars, academicians with least concern for clean morals flourish parading
religion and values. Politics leads to disgust and disillusionment. In an incisive indictment, he holds sullied
politics responsible for widespread evils, chaos and anarchy.
The
disorder in my inner world betrays the tensions outside:
the anger over fanaticism and loss of
ideals, politics and corruption
the degeneration all round and
struggle for survival amidst lying and conniving…
(Above the Earth’s Green 46)
He couldn’t change his caste
so he changed the religion
(The Face of All Seasons 18)
Many hued camouflages of truth and
ethics fail to change the world because insincerity governs politics. Talks of
caste and religion appear ugly fragmentation of man’s thoughts and
feelings. A man lives a futile existence
amidst proclamation of sanctity and piety, and finds man in a frenzied state of
mind, and search for harmony in disturbed times looks empty. Singh not only hints
at filth in politics, he is also in search of music and rhythm:
Watching the waves
up and down
I stand
like an island
shielding chaos
I hear the serenade
and live my joy
(My Silence and Other Selected
Poems 156)
Intriguingly, he presents an image
of self-contradictions and intrinsic dissonance, and a fearful severity reveals
disturbing urbanity:
Your vacant eyes
Reveal this city:
Dim, absent-minded, humid
Orchestrating bronchial noises…
(My Silence and Other Selected
Poems 158)
He touches various themes briefly and then,
appears to escape without notice leaving a disjointed poetic message and it
constitutes an extremely surprising element in Singh’s poetry. One ought to display calmness and
understanding and only then, one can comprehend meaning of subtle running away.
He abruptly begins with a thesis, builds up an argument and ends up, and one
feels alone and bewildered. Nevertheless, an experience is immensely
satisfying, thrilling and provoking:
Life limits between
whence the sun rises and where
it goes to relax
(My Silence and Other Selected Poems 55)
A realistic interpretation of life
instills feelings of courage and authenticity:
Life doesn’t end with joys
of a day or two: it’s long
long time of living…
with memories that become
self in action, our karma
moulding the life to come.
(Cover to Cover 33)
The destiny of
man and the world agonize. It is not a
religious impact but faith in man. Sweep of intellect ensnares and chases
frequently. His poetic journey is quite undisturbed and gives space for new
rejuvenated thoughts and feelings. Maturity and depth of personal experiences
extend beyond the boundaries of intellect and emotions with an assertion, “One
may or may not justify / one’s romance with lethargy: /…one must leave much for
another / day or season, or mood or dream / and leisurely sketch happiness /
with dapple of light and darkness.” (My
Silence and Other Selected Poems 10) From abstract thoughts, he returns to
reality but a struggle continues as religious and metaphysical tensions
perturb.
****
He raises questions of life, love, death, ethics, politics and metaphysical thoughts
continue to flow with images and metaphors. “I do not question” is a difficult
poem with immense metaphysical conceits. It gives many meanings, and yet defies
a definite intellectual interpretation. In “I don’t fear Death,” he is
concerned about life. He says that “I don’t fear death / nor do I worry about /
Life- after-death…without/ fortuity / of birth and continuance” (My Silence and Other Selected Poems 2).
It is a far better proposition to tie up with nature than to depend upon
‘covenant and prophets.’ Poet’s anxiety and search for communion and unity with
soul is infinite. “I seek the roots” shows agonies and gnawing pains of a
rootless life.
A stream of
religious thoughts flows and he remembers Abdul Baha. Baha’s thoughts are unique and noble in sweep
he feels. In Baha’s teaching, one finds the ‘real spirit of Christ, hope
instead of condemnation, ‘love, unity and ‘a great assurance for all men.’ Singh remains intellectual and at times,
confuses and annoys a plain mind. His images obfuscate but deep down provide
intimations of modern anxieties. While showing anxiety, poets are conscious of
the obligations to society and man. Indian consciousness is the poetic
strength. Clarity, genuineness and simplicity of poetic art make poets truly
distinguished. Uniquely different in attitude to women, poets elicit genuine
praise. Ethics and value-system guide poetic journey but they regret
degeneration in virtues.
Singh’s razor-sharp and penetrating words
shatter in-built self-conceived idea about ethics, “Spring’s full youth / he
unbuttons / her printed skirt / on the red cushion” (Ibid 143). He condemns inherent frailties. The poet talks of Banaras (“Benares / seems holier
at night / mating dogs and bitches / joins pundits” (Ibid. 148) and Lucknow. Cities become symbols of ills, sins and
foul play. Thoughts of heaven and
salvation turn into myths where law and liberty lose meaning.
They repeat blunders
out of ignorance
or kindness
One can imagine the destiny of a
society where bureaucrats join hands with:
politicians and journalists
who appear
in mating season
…
and perpetuate the blur
…of decaying ancestors
(Ibid. 152)
A man in a chaotic mind tries to search
harmony in disturbed times. He stands, “like an island / shielding chaos / I
hear the serenade / and live my joy” (Ibid
156). The poet reveals disgust and
vice, “in cells naked gods nudge / borrowed girls with wealth / uncreate their
seeds / for hurried happiness” (Ibid
158) and elsewhere raises upsetting questions, “God alone knows / what clay
they are made of / but I have seen / traveling in Lucknow / but drivers are
annoyed / by conductors’ whim” (Ibid.
150).
An
extremely destructive role of politics is a truth. Singh fails to understand
‘why dogs defecate’ around and why mental miseries increase:
Politics is based
neither on knowledge
nor principles but scams…
hawalas, gawala and
loots to strip democracy…
connive with criminals
raring to patronize
rival systems from within.
(Above the Earth’s Green 41)
Unscrupulous and dishonest politics
leads to corruption and miscellaneous ailments. Politics brings condescension,
miseries, violence and terrorism and still unusual and strange obsession of man
with politics remains intact:
Each day ends in fear
of one or the other kind:
living in uncertainties
it’s life in death…
they may or may not sleep
in high security houses
but it will be too late
by the next election
(‘Terrorism,” Sexless Solitude and Other Poems 71)
A scathing criticism of politics,
principles, frauds, and patrons, system of government, God and god men,
religions and corruption with horde of social evils, attracts attention. A similar strain of gruesome scene instills
distrust, “encroach on public land / without murmur politics / plays its own
logic: / who can protest when / wolves mate bitches to create / a democratic
rate.” (Above the Earth’s Green, Poem 42)
In the name of faith
and god
politics fuels bigotry
strips the prophets
and corrupts clarity.
‘reasoning ceases
when mind purveys prejudice…
(“Poem, “Above the Earth’s Green 39)
Freedom
did not bring peace, hopes, affluence and honesty in living. Only pessimism and
distress fill lives of people. Country still fights against violence,
insensitivity and corrupt practices. Democracy does not provide honest and just
government and an irritating debate continues over the rich and the poor. An oblique hint at the spread of Hinduism does
not hearten or enthuse but disheartening scenario emerges as neta-log use religion for self-seeking
motives. Conduct of priests drives away
hope, and secular thoughts invariably get the beating:
Preaching Hinduism
They’ve lost God for politics
pull down churches
shed crocodile tears
killing the priest they kill truth
pseudo seculars
(Cover to Cover –The Face in All Seasons 15)
He paints a disgusting picture of women and
children often beheaded in the name of God. Another scene of prayer and worship
amidst sex acts and chanting of mantras
repulses. Words like “nail parings, pubic, hairs, lion-penises, cock’s
testicles and genital enthusiasm paint a disgusting scene. Poet understands
limitations, “I am no god or godfather to sacrifice / nor any gods of love
visit my house” (Ibid 13). Pervading
pollution disturbs, “the morning in Banaras / along the Ganges / is no longer
fresh”.
Sin, lust,
vice, and unlawful sex acts depict and overwhelm various word-paintings. He takes note of the miserable plight of
children and engulfing pollution. The narrator’s troubles continue to multiply
even if he changes religion. In a new religion, he fights a lonely battle. It
leads to serious and deep thinking over the scenario of smoldering obscenities
and dishonest rule. He affirms democracy did not offer peace.
Social responsibilities awaken but nothing
positive happens and he escapes to the original theme of sex and body, which
offer shelter away from the worldly inferno. A presence of gods and goddesses
in paintings and prints on paper and a Christ on the holy Cross decorating the
room continue to watch sex, payers and restlessness. Sex-obsession gives a jolt to the theme poet
wishes to elaborate but then perhaps, he tells that modern times and men try to
find truth and meaning in sex-like orgies.
****
Singh
cherishes sentiments about the mystifying influence of nature, earth and
other vegetation created in the image of the Unknown, who wields tremendous
power on the destiny of man:
I can’t decipher names in smoke
nor forget the faces emerging
from the matrix of tremors
that are islands to shackle
feet in silence close the cycle
of the waters that feed the sea…
(Cover to Cover 36)
Modern society ails and tells of teachers, who
rape girls in the classroom, and rogues take delight in burning women.
Unfortunately, a sinister thinking translated into violent realities it is and
men forget to behave elegantly. Anxiety
is quite recent and probably, it talks of an offshoot of virus of materialism and
misplaced concept about free life. In another short verse 7, the poet is pained
to recall a terrible advent of ‘sand storm’ where Taj is just a symbol of working and bleeding hands when dome of
betrayal hides miseries of poor men. Taj
is a tragic and devastating commentary on the brutal nature of man.
To confront
challenges of ambiguities, a man
must wade “through the maze of rootlessness/ fragmented memories and finger
prints” and rise again before extinction. He throws sufficient hints of a life
wasted, loss of values and morality. He is aware of a rotten socio-political
situation, for sufferings appear multidimensional. He
tries to find solution to a personal dilemma permeated with a congenital
anxiety. A movement from one thought to another, a journey in time through
variable impressions, situations, thoughts and moments, part hazy, confused and
jumbled, exists. The poet bewails, “he sees them sitting over the running
wheels / murdered innocence peep out from windows / but no one bothers the
tragic turn.” (My Silence and Other
Selected Poems 120)
Modern life
chokes man, and metros do not provide solace and contentment, for ear-rending
noise and pollution suffocate. Insidious and unholy deeds keep a man occupied.
Even in rouged faces, girls show hidden frustration, and nobody can run away
from the pains of inane, meaningless and frantic search. He finds life
pulsating and stimulating but next minute, darkness overwhelms. In failure and
vacuity of thought and loss of faith, poet impersonates as a protagonist of
modern man and decides to ‘swallow pills to live in a safer tomb.’ (Ibid. 124) A failure to set right ‘the
rotten state of man’ (Ibid. 125)
agitates and distresses.
Fears, vices
and uncertainties prove sickening. Gentle and lofty thoughts appear valueless
and meaningless, and a genuine self-contradiction surfaces. He struggles to
search concrete and uplifting moorings. In a world of market economy, shares
erode credibility of honest business and make life difficult for a man of
modest means:
We must wait
till the share scam
is smoked out
and resources
restored.
(“Share Scam,” My Silence and Other Selected Poems 17)
****
Manifold scientific and technological expansion did not help a man as too
much materialistic outlook creates scarcities. A man suffers from acute lack of
basic amenities and the horrible thought of water shortage scares. In a free
economy, a man feels stifled:
honest bread and peace
the hungry billions seek
no hi-tech slavery…
with politics of control
doom the future.
(Cover
to Cover 41)
Harsh
realities suffocate and injure when poet finds tensions, fanaticism, loss of
ideals, political corruption, degeneration of values, evils of drugs, orgies, chaos,
life in dark voids and doubts. Sufferings mount and escape from the ailments
eating into the vitals of society and man appears difficult.
In
modern sufferings, a bitter lamentation stays. He talks of education,
knowledge, repression and dependence. Failure drives to a new century without
redemption, and premonition fills hearts with trepidation. He is unable to find
a definite solution to issues of pollution, squalor and degradation.
Pseudo, shams, crooks and
Politicians pervert…
alone I suffer sins
I didn’t commit’
now un-embraced she turns
her back pressing
pillow between the thighs
curls no apology.
(Above the Earth’s Green 61)
A definite and weird current of
thought continues to flow in untitled poems but demonstrate unity in various
fragments, and one gets a feeling that it is one long poem. He is aware of the
socio-political situation and the rotten conditions to which society moves
ahead.
****
Evils
in politics cripple the man and
soul: “politics is based / neither
on knowledge / nor principles but scams.” He makes a point, “the criminal dies
/ and his followers extort / sums for Samadhi’ (Ibid. 42). The poet is aware of the poisonous role of politics
frightening the society. In such conditions, salvation is impossible and a man
takes pride “in snares of deceits / buries his own peace.” Wild apparitions continue to torture and
haunt. Chaos, disorder and turmoil born of ego, anger and fanaticism prove
strong and powerful. In lingering fixation with intellectualized sentiments, he
says –
I can’t suffer the crises, I haven’t
authored even in thought
I can’t endure aches of incompletion,
dark void that sounds aloud
(Ibid. 46)
Failures of man carry him to new
areas of thoughtful deliberation. A man
lives through pains and “alone I suffer sins / I didn’t commit”. (Ibid. 61) An extreme sense of
depersonalizing an agonizing experience born of iniquity society exhibits
towards a man of reason and goodness, gives pains.
Earlier he spoke of urban pollution,
and an awful pollution of Ganges –a symbolic warning pursues man everywhere and
if he fails to make amends soon, a total annihilation will engulf.
The bamboo garden
we picnicked and made love in
is now a concrete
managing environment
and pollution control
(Cover to Cover –The Face in All Seasons 16)
Social awareness and values exposing man’s
innate instincts appear amazing. He reveals inherent pretense and nakedness.
Understanding of myths, legends, history, politics, culture, traditions and
religion, philosophy of humanity and interpretation of art simply confounds. My Silence suggests that a curious
silence runs through little verses. Silence is a boon and a pillar of strength
and solid bases of intensity of creativity.
In nature, the
poet finds glimpses of infinity. Autumn tree looks like ‘a young woman’ and the
poet sees promises of return of spring, ‘too lovely to touch’ (My Silence and Other Selected Poems
137). He is enamored of the splendor of nature, its incarnation into a woman,
and thus, affords opportunities to the tender heart to dwell on the mystery of
life, its reality and pains. To him, “the best poetry / is a woman / concrete,
personal, delightful / Greater than all” (Ibid.
139). Nature, as a woman, is beauty and blessing, ‘She stands between two
parched trees like a sea of beauty’ (Ibid.
140). Images are superb, earthliness transmits vibrant sensations filling
hearts and intellects, and the poet attempts a long, difficult and meandering
journey into meaning of life and its purpose. He reveals realities of life
slowly, “To express sex / a crowd is convenient in the bus / during the Puja he
rubs hard / his cock against the ladies bottoms” (Ibid. 14). A terrific insight into a man’s heart shatters faith,
which should stun even a saint in subliminal thoughts when he ignores religion,
culture and traditions – all appearing a national waste.
Recurrence of
themes and contemporary worries haunt a sensitive poet, and so, he keeps
reminding a man of prevalent sickness, whether inner or outer, and therefore,
he travels from man to nature to woman and sex. Nervous anxiety of mundane life
with immense vacuum and loneliness disturbs.
Darkness has light and hope. Pollution is pervasive, “I wish I could
clean the cobwebs of legends that veil the vision, moralizing future.” Choking
stoically within and struggling for breath, he feels pains and agonies but
knows “I am no Jesus / but I can feel the pains of Crucifixion.”
God and belief
in God are now alien. Contrary to eloquent tributes to peace and harmony, fear
and insecurity in life remain a truth terrorism has brought and so “each day
ends in fear / of one or the other kind / living in uncertainties / it’s life
in death.” The poet awakens men to the facts and truths but does not sermonize.
Singh’s poetry
is simple but conveys subtle meaning and truth. It deals with theme of
sensuality and sensuousness with a razor sharp intellect and stirs everyone. A
man wishes to hide feelings of sex like vicarious pleasures, a hard truth as he
puts up a brave moralistic face. To the poet’s intellect nothing is lost—mental,
spiritual or materialistic, political or social, religious or moral anguish
continue to defy. Return to nature and woman ultimately makes a disturbed and
anxious poet comfortable.
****
Poets
speak of beauty and sensuousness of women with utmost caution and reverence. However, economy of words makes
Singh’s lyrics beautiful. Often suggestively sensuous, the poet is terribly
shocking when he reveals truths about man’s psychology. He never speaks of a
beginning but ends up just in no time while one gets the feel of verse.
I miss the sensuality of night
in icy bed the noisy breathing
holds no hope; there’s no drug to
hoodwink
time that’s ever young or climactic…
the seeds have dried inside no rains
can revive the lost world or create…
(Cover to Cover -The Face in All seasons 30)
In vacuum, meaningless living and
fruitless orgies, a man looks usually barren, and resuscitation is
impossibility. Impotency nearly drives a man to infertility in mindless
pleasures of constant frequency. If he personifies night as a woman, he
confronts a failed satisfaction, collapses like dead wood and stays still with
eyes open.
A woman
in poet’s vision
howsoever strange
is ever new;
pierce like diamond
or thread like pearl
to weld in her depth
her nudity
I love for
all mystery
perfect poetry
beyond the sky
(Above
the Earth’s Green 72)
He is a master of word painting. He
uses words silently without intimation and creates a huge storm. A vibrant
painting speaks of life in its fulfillment. A complete philosophy of earthly
life with an image of bliss soothes:
13
The dress hides
undress
and you look beautiful
14
A stray sperm
grow in the ovum
blooms as a puffball
(My Silence and Other Selected Poems
104)
In continuity of creation and preservation with purification
and sublimation of sexual sensations, he says, “How hard we try to empty / the
vessel that holds our seed / in her deep pleasure turns painful / causes
depression after two children / we want non-creative sex:/ now clean cobwebs
that hold red flow / to release our post-lunch tension. (My Silence and Other Selected Poems 105). He creates in intensity
life-like images. Singh says -
I also check
there is some sort of rhythm or pattern in the expression and no waste of
words. Since the poetic mood is short-lived, the poems are almost always short,
and as there is hardly a poem composed with a title integral to it, I prefer
not to give tile to my poems.” (Indian
Poetry and Fiction in English by Dr. Atma Ram 67)
He is
optimistic with a slow awakening even as questions of love and search for
identity crop up. In search of mysterious power and poetic idiom, he wants
vigorous expression and here, woman plays a significant role. Grammar of silence looks imperative. In love only, self-identity is possible. The
poet confounds and frightens with different interpretations of love and
pleasure. “The Tempest” appears erotic to the poetic vision, where “in the
orbit of love / legs slide by calls of pleasure / for life to continue. (Ibid. 20) and the winds turn
tempestuous, a trivial hint at a probable incident in an epic. An eerie walk
into physical joys gives pleasure but embarrasses when man crosses the
continents of ‘body, fate and psyche’ and forays into the world of physical
pleasures enchant the poet’s imagination. Images stir finer sensibilities. Slums
of sleep time float in echoes, orbit of love, asthmatic wheezing and yellow Sun
and breathing pipe are images that instill a deep sense of pleasure:
when I fail to sleep I seek
solace in her soft moist thighs
and pray to god to bless my passion.
(My Silence and Other Selected Poems 23)
A sense of
passionate longing storms nerves, for he wants to run away or forget ‘the cares
of a crazy world’ and again “rains revive memories / shattering emotions / in
solitude” (Ibid. 24). Singh faintly
attempts to write sincerely another syntax relating to women but knows he fails
in efforts, for woman is a mystery, despite ceaseless exploration.
In Above
the Earth’s Green, the poet
returns to the theme of love. He suffers
immensely and the world outside does not give peace. He comes back to the
dreamland, and the ladylove appears to soothe a wounded body (or body in
seething passions?) and soul. In poem 57, he frankly admits, “woman / is the
measure / of all things: body, truth / love, spirit, God, society, peace / and
man.” If a man stops humiliating a
woman, he attains the ultimate:
it needs less than a
drop to procreate
but months and years of readiness to enjoy
sex sustain both life and art
(Above the Earth’s Green 71)
To a sensitive
man, a woman is a “mystery / perfect poetry / beyond the sky” (Ibid. 72). Not
for a moment, he runs away from the realities of existence. He does not wish to
philosophize when simple living can provide joy and happiness:
Philosophy frightens me
confounds obscurity
with profundity
(Ibid. 89)
He does not
want to complicate life. He seeks to restore love, an ecstasy, a prayer and a
strong basis for a meaningful life, for love is a sacred thought, a pious
relation and a purifying craft of nature and god. What the poet tries to tell,
notwithstanding feelings of eroticism, eventually baffles and yet illuminates
love. Out of deep feelings, inspiring art of life and existence is born:
I seek in sex
freedom of nature
…
and celebrate
pristine purity
of Prakriti
reach ecstasy
(Ibid. 103)
Materialistic
surfeit in man turns him unhappy, and in the intensity of activity, he is
thoughtlessly in need of releasing tensions and bodily exhaustion. Life of
speed and impulsiveness spells dangers to physical pleasures:
Trucks on GT Road:
invasion of the body
for a quick release
(Ibid.
110)
Illusions and delusions, hopes and joys
continue to enrich man.
Disillusionments perturb but joys attract and fulfill. Singh is an
inveterate optimist. He loves to roam about in shades and shadows of joys and
illusory world, and yet comes back to confront life:
I love rebel rays coming in
shatter narrow illusions
moon is the poem in sky
silence sounds in brevity
(Ibid.
118)
In My Silence and Other Selected Poems, as
he moves from poem 42, a new world of sex, love and joy opens up. In thoughts
and philosophical broodings, woman is important for Singh. She is predictably
present in each word. Each part of a woman’s body speaks out a different
language, conveys a fresh meaning, gives purpose to an empty man and lastly,
infuses a spirit to live life either to waste it willingly or to hold it. A
sensitive man enjoys a deeply passionate and dangerous poetry, and a discerning
lover of poetry finds new connotation and reason. He finds women exciting in
many ways. A woman submits to make man cheerful and comfortable, elevate and
teach man the art of love and life and here, a woman possesses a quality of
head and heart. She is the gift of God, who serves well through beauty, body
and intellect. The poet may appear erotic and sex-possessed but he convinces.
When a man penetrates deep, he is not different.
Lyrics like
“woman is the flesh / and spirit of poetry / eternal love thirst / growing
younger as / one grows older day by day / perfecting the body” (Ibid. 70), “call it yin and yang / our
basic sex, lingam and/ yoni harmonise” (Ibid.71), and “like a
woman’s mind / resides between her thighs joys / and satisfaction” (Ibid. 72) are boisterous and
entertaining celebration of a woman’s beauty, mind and wantonness. He treats
kindly. He handles wantonness of a woman with superb grace and decency and man confronts reality:
A meanest moment
of eternity it was
when I was conceived
(Ibid. 75)
A thought of
sin and guilt in the sacred act of procreation disturbs. Great act of creation is noble and purely
transcendental and a man should not consider it a sin or violence to the
sanctity of a woman. To create is a
blessing to humanity and not a sin. He shatters the belief –
after 40 years
I see same degeneration
my mother saw first
(Ibid., 75)
A consistent
and inevitable sullen strangeness in shifting thoughts surprises. Little verses
talk of intense worldly activities, nirvana
and mind-boggling flashes such as hidden “…between thighs / is the spring music
/ beyond birth” and “while reared the coital bliss / the little child woke up /
with erect penis cried / to spoil sex she slipped aside / and put out her
breast to feed him” (My Silence and Other
Selected Poems 103). Images and metaphors intermingle and communicate
subtle meanings. Poet glorifies the role of flesh and body. Underneath, he
tries to establish synthesis between body and soul. He creates tremendous
pressure of uncertainty in belief. Breaking norms, at times, the eighty odd
poems give birth to startling images of sizzling sex and tantalizing beauty. It
is celebration of sex and passion of a woman’s beauty and body, of physical
needs of body and sincere desire to satisfy love and then, purify soul:
under a bloody roof
my tattered trousers remind
the bed sheets love stained
before light shone
(Ibid.105)
Destined
culmination of a hurried yet indomitable sex act signals satisfaction and joy
inexplicable with strain of aversion transitory. The poet is perturbed about
the vital anxiety raising questions on life. He is capable of running away from
the mental grooves, which speak of utter helplessness and self-collapse as
indefinite mental degeneracy plays its fatal role. He keeps alive fertile
imagination and laments over the destiny of a modern man’s obsession with physical
pleasures:
Darkness is a whore
I sleep with
cross legged
without copulation…
(Ibid. 108)
A strong
desire takes roots to “maneuver to kill a poet / learning the secret of / the
first menstrual flow.” The irony is, ‘before he could even begin, he faces the
end’ ‘with the best of motives.’ The poet uses sex imagery copiously with
subtle hints and sometimes he is obvious. Each image explains mental obsessions
and aberrations of a man caught up in the vicious, rather thrilling cesspool of
sex or meaning of sex. Words like ‘milky silence’ ‘skin shrinks’ ‘wet bare
backs’ ‘two white moons’ ‘monkey’ ‘snakes’ and ‘night’ impart sensuous meanings
to each description and constitute a big force to “assail my visit / I fail to
distinguish / man from beast” (ibid.
112). Even religious fanatics dancing on
the top of tower “plan to erect / Shiva’s phallus as token of love.”
Consummation
remains a dream and then the narrator seeks to “redefine / her feminine hold / in
lonely sun” (Cover to Cover 22). A
poetic tribute to woman’s body and soul with an effort to give new meanings and
pleasures it is. Poetry for him is a religion, a passion and thought provoking
breathing assemblage. He does not release a word without sounds of music and
rhythm. He is transcendent, lyrical and poetic. Singh’s strain of thoughts and
philosophical mind-set continue in Sexless
Solitude and other Poems and words come straight from the heart, quite raw,
chaste and unsullied. If a man travels with the words, he enjoys and unique
blessings inspire to live freely as if in the Garden of Eden. He is neither
modern nor puritan in approach. He is definitely a poet of love, romance and
woman.
Ending with lewd joke
with sensation between thighs
his morning discourse
arouses the disciples
Dance in
groups and groping for sex where the exercise is ‘kundalini meditation’ and body for liberation, yoga and meditation,
work out a congenial function. Words dance and sing. Out of disgust and unripe
understanding of sex, woman, beauty and nature, one may condemn Singh’s glorification of physical
pleasures but in the end, when he realizes unspoken truths and genuine passion
revealed in right perspective, he may find a moral strength to grow up.
****
Urban
life creates fissures, and materialism overtakes. Singh is worried about
the sufferings of a common person. Wide spread corruption gives intense pain
and vociferous words against the corrupt equally shatter grace and honesty. Its
eradication not only puzzles leaders pledging to eliminate it from private and
public life but it also assumes colossal destructive postures to pollute public
life. Even world bodies like the UN fail
to make any difference:
He is amazed to see
so much corruption
in the system
of world peace:
his colleagues envious
of his foreign jaunt
with the UN
and earnings
…
while I worry about
freedom in Congo
untamed humans
safe sojourn
(“Peace Mission,” Sexless Solitude and Other Poems 4)
For men who matter, individual
prosperity in physical pelf and power is important. A depressing commentary on
people from whom the general masses expect relief, proves frustrating. Men
governing people should not eat up public money, one expects. Corruption is a
widespread disease and schemes meant to help the poor in rural and urban areas
are jeopardized for want of honest and upright people. Nothing tangible appears on surface and
benefitting people remains a dream. The
poor do not notice comfortable progress in areas of manual scavenging,
latrines, toilets and such like little welfare schemes.
Human Rights activists
discuss eradication
of manual scavenging
and construction of
wet latrines in villages
in the conference room
complain about poor flushing
in NHRC toilet
and routinely censure
the junior staff
before seeking provisions
for rehabilitating
liberated scavengers
(“Human Rights,” Sexless Solitude and Other Poems 8)
A genuine man is not at peace, for he
observes people expected to serve people fail to devote attention and so people
remain in miseries and poverty. Even faith is in danger.
I don’t endorse their pact
to squeeze adulation and
control faith of the masses
to shed blood and spread darkness:
…
the temple doesn’t attract me
I want to forget the myth
after the fascist owned him
Ram had ceased to be my god
(“Hey Ram,” Sexless Solitude and Other Poems 58)
Personal convenience takes
precedence over the general cause and he reflects on the wisdom of people supposed
to care of the downtrodden.
Singh is
sharp, sensitive, imaginatively devastating, perceptive and accurate when he turns
to woman, who continues to remain a strong fulcrum of poetic strength, and
here, he is quizzically insightful in creating word pictures. In Flight of Phoenix collected in My Silence & Other Selected Poems
(1990), a distinct progress in poetic journey is visible. He looks out for an
unconventional path. After writing a number of women-centered poems, he either
lands up with a coherent message or confounds with a question that refuses to
die down in spite of a cogent answer. He lives in estranged and yet warily intimate
relations with everyone. He is interesting, ironic and unpredictable. Entire
philosophy hovers around women. Singh feels several times a kind of long
distance from wholeness he looks out so assiduously in women, and it disturbs. He
may violate sensibility but in reality, he opens up grounds of new facts and
truths he ignored. Certain pieces of
short verses appear fragile and foreign to the major connecting theme but still
a surprising continuity appears on the surface:
I make myself man
each time I create
setting, character, tone
in a poem
(My
Silence & Other Selected Poems 53)
Poetry of ‘self’ will save man, feels Singh. He recollects a song lying
dormant in memory. He calls a poem madness “inverting the safe existence.” He
meanders in a terrible lane of secluded uncertainty of thought and emotion.
Emotions become thoughts, thoughts melt into emotions, and here, a mysterious
poet requires control and restrain even when he’s sleepless, “…poetry/ fails to
negotiate night/ I wait for white dreams”. (Ibid.
54)
Love is my prison
and freedom both
in her presence
my wish her wish
to be everything
her Shiva and
Shakti a dual-single
me and she, one
(Ibid. 54)
Love leads him
to beauty and vision with perfection. The following lines on love are
innovative and refreshing in description and design:
It hangs like a drop
any moment evaporate
love is gullible
(Ibid. 56))
Suddenly, an idea enters the
physical joy of love –
When I inhale in
your mouth and exhale stroking
hairs or caressing
I ride you into joy and
make you hail the morning like earth
(Ibid. 56)
One witnesses
swift flights from earthly existence to terrestrial life and back. The poet is
genuinely concerned about man’s destiny and fate but falls into a trap of ideas
and feelings, which confuse and seem intertwined and detrimental. An emphasis
on a highly intellectual and imaginative poetry attracts, but thoughts on women
chase Singh’s mind. Music Must Sound
and My Silence carry ‘enigmas and
mysteries’ and a similar strain one witnesses in Flights of Phoenix. Changes in thoughts and emotions take place
with terrific rapidity. If man perceives efforts to shield ‘some dumb myths,’
he also notices an attempt to ward off ‘Moments of Truth.’
Winter is caught in
waves of narrow discussions
under the blanket
fingers move by nipples erect
without sensing consummation
(Ibid.
58)
He harps back
on the theme of bodily pleasures. A stark materialism destroys man and soul.
Even sexual overtures do not afford satisfaction. Such feelings and thoughts
lead to loneliness and waste. He constructs a new scene every time with
recurring thoughts, new tilts and contents, and makes the verses unique.
He feels forlorn and vulnerable and satanic
forces work to dupe. He wants to escape from the noise. In vacuity of mind, he
wants to forget. In nature, he wants to find comforts but fails wretchedly.
Singh shows preference for nature and its wildness. He turns meditative. Imagery
startles like Andrew Marvel’s, as he is full of satire and metaphysical
conceits. Many a time he tries to bring together discordant and
self-contradictory thoughts. Strange comparisons take place. For him, even
‘stony breaches’ give birth to ‘wild plants and creepers’. Word-construct like
river walks without shoes, the frog in mirror steps, damp towel, and stunning
lines like “growing hair on soul / man longs for known grooves of death / safe
in sterile womb” (Ibid. 65) create
word painting that requires intellectual and emotional efforts to understand. He
speaks of crazy people, who do not know what to do:
We are a nation
of cowards worshipping dumb
images can’t stand
a full-fleshed person speaking
nude in God’s home like in bed
performing love with
wife or self in dark alone
….
(Ibid. 67)
A restrained thought imbued with
dark and parched emotions runs –
Apple, snake and three-fifth of me
in bed manipulates man
inside selfish rubbles
(Ibid. 65)
One can easily
infer that while philosophizing over the fate of man engaged in
worldly/physical pursuits, he talks of inner despair and agony of man, who
finds consolation in physical pleasures though transient, and yet ever
ignorant, “moralizing / hell of fear / with legs tucked up / posing brave” (Ibid. 67).
Though it is not possible to say a final word about his poetic art and
philosophy, yet one can safely conclude that the poet is sincere, chaste, frank
and gentle. Others may hesitate to say about what a woman is, but it goes to
the credit of the poet that out of the mundane, he derives meaning and opens
new dimensions of life and philosophy. Singh is a poet of beauty and woman but
contemporary anguish, despite a host of retrieval measures, upsets and social injustice,
disparity and discrimination disturb.
He tells me about Indian English Poetry: “Technology is a great leveler.
It has made several new poets accessible via internet. It pleases me to see
many are writing better than some known old voices. Maybe, their sense of
rhythm is yet to mature or become satisfactory, but they share certain
international trends and appeal to audience everywhere. It is also very
positive to note that women and non-academics are producing good poetry. Most
of them are genuine and hold great promise with good expression. My only worry,
however, is the ignorance of the learned in the academia and media that have
marginalized a great deal of Indian poetry in English.”
H Hhh Like K N Daruwala, I K Sharma, O
P Bhatnagar, I H Rizvi and Chambial, he understands the intensity of sufferings
in modern life. As a teacher of applied language, he exercises terrific economy
in the use of words. A curious use of words with various shades of meanings
captivates, and while reading the lyrics, one must cautiously take care of each
word with multiple layers and meanings. Amidst enormous human sufferings, Singh
is truthful and candid in expressing distress and agony he undergoes and that
precisely demonstrates Singh’s poetic strength.
****
Finally, a few
words about R K Singh as a Haikuist.
R.K.Singh adds beauty and meaning to his
poetry through a number of memorable haiku. He has made a singular contribution
to the poetic segment in the difficult genre of haiku and tanka. Displaying his
superb and atypical self-confidence and aptitude, he has exhibited immensely
admirable understanding of the Japanese poetic form and spirit. In his
own way, he has made a significant contribution to their growing popularity in
the country.
He humbly speaks to Khalil A. Jomaa, “I view haiku
writing as something innately spiritual, with sensuousness as the key factor;
looking outside to communicate the inside, expressing the unity of human being
with all existence, imagining life in all its hues- from physical lust to
divine sensation, communicating nature with purity of feeling and sincerity of
experience. Haiku helps me create silence using words, just as it connects us
with all beings in the life cycle.” (WEC: 13:1, March 2023, 92-99)
He further says that
haiku contains full possibilities of growth if the poet has a sense of
proportion or harmony, the expressive side of language or rhythm, which
permeates the words and beautify the creation.
Peddling
Dreams (2003), The River Returns
(2006), New and Selected Poems,Tanka and
Haiku (2012), God Too Awaits Light
(2017), Against the Waves: Selected Poems
(2021), Silence: A White Distrust
(2021, Japanese and Spanish, Kindle editions) are memorable little
collections. More recently, e-books, A Lone
Sparrow (2021), Changing Seasons:
Selected Tanka and Haiku (2021), Lantern
in the Sky (2022), She (2022),
and Drifty Silence (2023), published
under the aegis of Arabic Haiku Club, Jordan, are Singh’s collections of
miniature poems. These are available free on calameo.com, and testify to the
poet’s international recognition as a leading haikuist for more than 25 years. R.K.Singh
writes three-liners without a distinction between haiku and senryu and conveys
his perception, experience and desire sensuously, recreating at the same time
what he perceives deep where its visual quality is noteworthy, observes
Patricia Prime.
The
poet’s tiny poetic outpourings give the essence of a moment, are rich in
imagery, sensory details, and metaphors. He creates vivid and memorable images
in the reader’s mind and thus, demonstrates intense awareness of the world
around him with emotional depth and solicitous insights. With his accessible and lyrical language, he
invites readers to introspect, reflect, and appreciate the world we live in.
References
with regard to Haiku and Tanka are available in R. K. Singh’s ‘Peddling Dreams’ in
Pacem in Terris. Trento, Italy: Edizioni
Universum, 2003; The River Returns.
Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot, 2006; Sense and Silence: Collected Poems. Jaipur:
Yking Books, 2010; New and Selected Poems
Tanka and Haiku.New Delhi: Authors Press, 2012; I Am No Jesus and Other Selected Poems, Tanka and Haiku. Translated
into Crimean Tatar by Taner, Murat. Iasi, Sos: Editura StudIS, 2014; God Too Awaits Light. Joshua Tree, CA: Cholla Needles, 2017; Against the Waves: Selected Poems. New
Delhi: Authors Press, 2021.
‘A Dialogue between Poet Prof. Ram
Krishna Singh & Arabic Poet Translator Khalil A Jomaa,’ Writers Editors Critics (WEC), Volume 13, No.1, March 2023, 92-99 is memorable. His tiny poems
stand translated in Japanese, Spanish, Arabic, Italian, Chinese, Romanian, and
French.
‘She:
Haiku Celebrating Woman That Makes Man Complete’ E-Book. Calameo.com, 2022 is another book celebrating the beauty
of woman. Another book Drifty Silence
published as E-book through Arabic Haiku Club /Calameo.com 2023 was richly
greeted everywhere.
One truth is
apparent. Tiny poems –haiku, tanka etc because of load of imagery, similes and
metaphors-- jump about and give pleasure …but at times, these poems may be
difficult to pursue. If a reader learns to enjoy in a little island, it is
tolerable or else he ought to struggle hard to arrive at the right taste of
words. However, in the end, result would be worthwhile.
Singh speaks of
life and existence intimately. If he speaks eloquently of emotions, he is
emphatic in the use of idiom, metaphors, similes, images etc and makes deep
impression. Political and religious thoughts attract and reveal hypocrisy of
those who profess adherence to the principles of ethical life. His acerbic and
incisive observations on politics and religious pundits are obvious when he
talks of pseudo seculars and suspected democrats. Singh has an immense
variation in themes he touches upon and he appears genuine and finely honed
sans clemency. He drives you with the force of argument to a deep narrow canyon
and abandons, and you fail to emerge out. However, the experience and thrills he
creates lingers on for days together and that is the beauty and strength of the
poet in R K Singh.
****
Works Cited
Singh, R.K.. My Silence.
Madras:Poets Press India, 1985.
---. Memories
Unmemoried.Berhampur: Poetry Time Publications, 1988.
--- . Flight ofPhoenix.
Berhampur: Poetry Time Publications, 1990.
---. Music Must Sound.
Dhanbad: Author, 1990.
---. I Do Not Question
Two Poets. New Delhi: Bahri Publications, 1994.
---. Above the Earth’s
Green. Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 1997.]
---. Every Stone Drop
Pebble [jointly with Catherine Mair and Patricia Prime]. New Delhi: Bahri
Publications, 1999.
---. Cover to Cover: A
Collection of Poems [jointly with Ujjal Singh Bahri]. New Delhi: Bahri
Publications, 2002.
---. Pacem in Terris [a trilogy collection with Myriam Pierri
and Giovanni Campisi]. Trento: Edizioni Universum, 2003.
---. The River Returns.
Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot, 2006
---. Sexless
Solitude and Other Poems. Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot, 2009.
Ram, Dr Atma. Contemporary Indian
English Poetry. Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 1989.
****
Brief Bio
P C K Prem (P C
Katoch of Garh-Malkher, Palampur, Himachal, a Former Academician, Civil Servant
and Member Himachal Public Service Commission, Shimla) an author of over sixty
books is a poet, novelist, short story writer, trans-creator and a critic in
English and Hindi from Himachal, India.
He has published eleven volumes of poetry
along with Collected Poems (in Four
Volumes) besides six books on criticism, four books on ancient literature, two
on folk tales, six novels and four collections of short fiction. In Hindi, he
has authored twenty novels, nine books on short fiction and a collection of
poems besides more than hundred critical articles, reviews and critiques
published in various national and international journals and anthologies.
P C K Prem -Echoing Time and Civilizations (Editors –Rob Harle, Sunil Sharma and
Sangeeta Sharma) 2015 and The Spirit of Age and Ideas (in the Novels
of P C K Prem (Editor –Dr Laxmi Prasad) in 2016 and Kathasagar of P C K
Prem (Dr Jogindra) are
books on him.
His latest
publications are - History of
Contemporary Indian English Poetry – an Appraisal 2019 in two volumes and The Lord of Gods 2019 in two volumes, Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana in three
volumes is likely to come out by the
end of this month. Eternal Truths –A few pages from Ancient Indian Literature (in
Five Parts –under print)
As I Know, The Lord of the Mountains -SHIVA PURANA a publication of Authorspress, New
Delhi is his latest book on ancients literature.
Presently he lives with wife Shakun in their
farm at Palampur, Himachal.
****
