Poets in conversation about the healing power of poetry.
The second episode begins with a short hiatus as our guests face technical issues with joining the circle (haven't we all been there). Our host Sukanya then goes on to introduce herself (her bio is in the "About Us" section). She says that writing has been deeply therapeutic, ever since the beginning of her writing journey. There is a host of studies that suggest there are a broad range of benefits with regard to self-improvement, emotional coping mechanisms, psychological healing, developing interpersonal relationships, and so on and so forth which writing poetry brings along. She then briefly goes on to introduce our guests for this episode, Samridhi Aneja, and Vachaknavi Sarma aka Hiya. She gives Hiya the mic asking her to elaborate on how poetry has been therapeutic for her.
Hiya is a very charismatic personality. She states that poetry came to her in bits and pieces when she was in the deepest and darkest phases of her life and she never believed that what she was writing was poetry, albeit she was just penning down her thoughts. She believed that she was venting out her thoughts on paper so that she did not take impulsive decisions. So since 2012, she has taken to poetry as a way to release all the negative or positive energy pent up within her which could have harmed her in a negative or impulsive manner. She writes to heal herself. She writes whenever she is in pain. She writes whenever she is too happy. She says that in a way poetry has been helpful to her to heal herself.
Sukanya then gives the mic to Samridhi and asks her to first of all talk about her latest release, "The Red Colored Bliss" about how it was conceptualized, the co-authors, and how the process has helped heal the co-authors considering it is on such an important topic, menstruation (still considered as taboo in many parts on India). She starts off by vocalizing that poetry has been a very huge learning curve for her and has added a lot to her personality. On the topic of the healing power of poetry, she quotes that there is a study by Sigmund Freud which gives a scientific explanation of why people express themselves through art, a study called "Sublimation". It is one of the defense mechanisms of humans, according to which the unconscious mind channels all of our deepest and darkest desires or regrets and frustrations into creating art. The mind is expressing those energies through art and that is why poetry is therapeutic. It kind of creates a utopia for us and our minds. Personally, for her, she says that poetry has completed her in a way because poetry has visited her in very significant moments of her life. She goes on to say that when it comes to her book or any book on a social-colored theme for that matter, poetry has been used to shed a positive light on menstruation. While writing a verse or stanza, she says that she gets a dopamine hit because of the change it may bring about in the minds of people reading that humble composition of her and her co-authors. She feels that even if her composition has kindled even one conscience then her purpose is fulfilled. She believes that we don't choose poetry, poetry chooses us, especially because when she is least expecting it, a verse pops up in her mind. One cannot force the urge to compose a poem as it is very instinctive and intuitive. We have all faced that impostor syndrome or writer's block where we are suddenly at a loss of ideas or thoughts to write about, and how when we strike the inspiration to write or compose, we suddenly feel alive again, and in that lays the healing power of poetry.
Our host Sukanya then asks our speakers to recite a poem each and I urge all of you, readers, to click on the audio link for episode two to listen to them recite their beautifully composed poems. Hiya recites a poem from her first publication "Wild Imaginations" called "A Girl's Life". Sukanya adds that all women usually suppress many emotions as they grow up and as a poet, all that is usually penned down on paper in the first instance itself. Samridhi recites a tiny poem that she has written which has been inspired by romantic comedies (how she pays attention to different narrative techniques) and that it is in open verse and doesn't rhyme.
Sukanya then opens the floor to recitations from the audience and a guy named Mehul joins the circle to share a motivational poem.
Someone from the audience asks a question for the speakers if they write in Hindi to which Hiya responds by saying that her Hindi is not that good although she tries to write in Hindi from time to time. Samridhi responds by saying that she writes in Hindi too but it doesn't visit her as frequently as English poetry does. Samridhi also dreams of someday writing in Urdu as does our host Sukanya who terms Urdu as a beautiful and poetic language.
Sukanya further asks which is better: whether the kind of work one produces when one is emotionally sober versus the kind of work that one produces when one is with the intent of healing or in a very emotional state. She herself feels that these two produce different flavors of poetry and opens the mic to the speakers. Hiya responds that if she was forced to write something then she would come up with words and rhymes but it will not be as tasteful as opposed to when written from an emotional state of mind. Samridhi responds by saying that she agrees with Hiya adding that poems are the truest when they are instinctive or intuitive. Sukanya funnily mentions that she writes when she is in an emotional state, whether happy or sad, but edits when she is emotionally sober. One of her editors had asked her to write when she is inspired but edit when she has detached herself from the subject of the poetry and looks at it as just a piece of work.
And on this note, the circle is closed. Readers, please click on the transcription of episode 3 to read about the healing power of poetry from our guest, Sofia Rodrigues. We are live on Mentza every Tuesday at 19:30hrs IST.
Samridhi Aneja is an independent graphic designer and poet from Amritsar, Punjab. Former Design Coach for interns at Kadam NGO, she has also been instrumental in conducting workshops on graphic design & creative writing for Cambridge International School, Lady Irwin College, Lovely Professional University, Amritsar Startups, Clips & Pages, Teach for India & more. She calls herself a disproportionate blend of a writer and a graphic designer which has enabled her to conduct a nationwide period art campaign called ‘The Period Art Wave’ with the help of Kadam and conceptualize, compile, edit & publish the literary anthology titled ‘The Red Colored Bliss’ on Amazon and Kindle.
Vachaknavi Sarma aka Hiya is an automobile designer by profession. She belongs to a small town of Digboi, in the state of Assam in North-Eastern India. She writes poetry in her spare time. She has been writing for the past 5/6 years. Wild Imaginations is her first publication. It is a collection of her very first poems. Reflection of Life is a collection of poetry and letters from the author's chest of words. "And writing for me is a way to express my present feelings and a way to flush out my negativity."
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