{"id":129328,"date":"2019-03-18T12:00:16","date_gmt":"2019-03-18T12:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=129328"},"modified":"2020-05-03T06:11:56","modified_gmt":"2020-05-03T05:11:56","slug":"two-international-poets-dialoguing-across-borders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2019\/03\/two-international-poets-dialoguing-across-borders\/","title":{"rendered":"Two International Poets Dialoguing Across Borders"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cAll real living is meeting\u201d \u2013 <\/em>Martin Buber (I And Thou)<\/em><\/p>\n

INTRO: Greeting our friend Dolly, exchanging pleasantries, I asked her how her poet-friend, Preeti, was doing.\u00a0 Dolly said she seemed a little \u201cdown,\u201d a little frustrated, because she wasn\u2019t writing very much.\u00a0 I asked Dolly to suggest that Preeti send me a couple of poems which might energize her Muse and reignite a couple of brief email exchanges we\u2019d had a couple of years before. The next day, Dolly forwarded this:<\/em><\/p>\n

Hi Dolly,<\/p>\n

I am attaching 2 Hindi poems with translations for Gary.\u00a0 You can forward them to him.\u00a0 –Preeti<\/p>\n

COURTYARD<\/p>\n

by Preeti Tej Singh alias Priyasi Lakhnawi<\/p>\n

You twisted the wings
\nAnd broke them
\nThen challenged
\nGo fly if you can
\nGreat heights
\nYou used to fly
\n\u200bSo proud of your
\nFlights you were
\nToday you can\u2019t walk
\nFour steps
\nWithout my crutches
\nFlapping away
\nThrashing about
\nHow grotesque you look
\nWinged creature
\nOh hunter how you gloat
\nOn caging me
\nYou unfortunate wretch
\nYou who never saw the sky
\nYou who remained on earth
\nThat\u2019s why the sorrow?
\nYou who couldn\u2019t fly
\nThat\u2019s why the envy?
\nNow you challenge a mute
\nBy saying
\nGo see if you can fly
\nEven beyond this courtyard<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SKELETON<\/p>\n

by Preeti Tej Singh alias Priyasi Lakhnawi<\/p>\n

Like a piece of meat
\nYou scrape every bit of
\nNothing is lef
\nWhy don\u2019t you leave it now?
\nCan hunger be satiated?
\nFrom mere bones
\nThat too when
\nWith your every attack
\nHer soul screams
\nMaybe you cannot hear
\nLust has blinded you perhaps
\nBut surely
\nYou must have seen
\nHer eyes
\nScared, terrorised
\nTied to a spike
\nAlas she could neither cross
\nThe courtyard
\nNor could she save herself
\nFrom the beast<\/p>\n

Preeti Tej Singh alias Priyasi Lakhnawi
\nGC:\u00a0 I responded the next day\u2014<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>Hello Preeti,<\/p>\n

Thank you for sharing your poems with me.<\/p>\n

I especially liked the first one, which I read\/heard as a dialogue or argument between 2 former lovers–one destructive and one defiant; one vindictive, and one transcending.<\/p>\n

You may like the way I re-imagined this.\u00a0 And, then again, you may not.\u00a0 It’s your poem, of course, to do whatever you wish with it.\u00a0 I enjoyed working with it, and I hope we can share other work.<\/p>\n

Here’s my thought:<\/p>\n

Far Beyond\u2026.<\/strong><\/p>\n

(a co-translation by <\/strong>Preeti Tej Singh alias Priyasi Lakhnawi & Gary Corseri of an original Hindustani poem by Preeti Tej Singh)<\/strong><\/p>\n

1.<\/p>\n

You twisted my wings
\nAnd broke them
\nThen challenged:
\n\u201cGo fly!<\/em>
\nGreat heights<\/em>
\nYou used to fly–<\/em>
\nSo proud of your<\/em>
\nFlights you were!<\/em><\/p>\n

“Today, you can\u2019t walk<\/em>
\nFour steps<\/em>
\nWithout my crutches!<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cFlapping away,<\/em>
\nThrashing about,<\/em>
\nHow grotesque you look–<\/em>
\nWinged creature!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

2.<\/p>\n

Oh, hunter, how you gloat
\nOn caging me
\nYou unfortunate wretch!<\/p>\n

You, who never saw the sky!
\nYou, who remained on earth–
\nThat\u2019s why the sorrow?
\nYou, who couldn\u2019t fly–
\nThat\u2019s why the envy?<\/p>\n

Now you challenge a mute,
\nsaying
\nGo see if you can fly!<\/em><\/p>\n

But, I have flown
\nfarther and higher
\nthan you can ever imagine.<\/p>\n

Far beyond this courtyard.
\nFar beyond the chains
\nof life
\nand death.<\/p>\n

GC: What an age is this!\u00a0 Within a few hours I had this response from across the Atlantic Ocean and the Arabian Sea:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Dear Gary,<\/p>\n

It was so nice to hear from you after a long gap and read your interpretation of my poems. While you are right about the destructive and defiant part and vindictiveness and transcending over it; its not about 2 lovers. \u00a0Perhaps, because of the cultural disconnect between our two worlds, what it was meant to convey did not come through. \u00a0It is about the life of women, by and large in my part of the world, where patriarchy is so entrenched, a woman’s life is caged within the boundaries of her domestic life. Courtyards are symbolic in the sub-continent of the boundaries which a woman is not allowed to cross– making her kill her aspirations, ambitions, personality and spirit. \u00a0In defining those boundaries matrimony plays the biggest role, and the man makes the woman give up everything, then makes her dependent on him and mocks her desire and abilities to take flight.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>GC: To keep the fires stoked, I responded briefly and quickly:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Hi Preeti,<\/p>\n

Yours is the first email in my Inbox that I’m opening today.<\/p>\n

Good to hear from you!<\/p>\n

Thanks for the explanation of your poem.<\/p>\n

I think I got the basic feelings right.\u00a0 I understood it as a male-female conflict of values.\u00a0 But, it can certainly work as a female-female conflict; or, simply as older values versus newer ones.\u00a0 I think everyone can relate.\u00a0 Perhaps the gender of the opponents can be clarified.<\/p>\n

I’ll take another look at it later today and see if I have any more suggestions.<\/p>\n

I like the\u00a0idea of an argumentative poem and dialoguing thru the Arts (I almost always capitalize that word\u2014out of respect for real Art!).<\/p>\n

I wonder if we could think about posting–first, your original “Courtyard” poem, and then my “take” on it, inspired by your original poem.\u00a0 That might be a way to inspire readers to comment, to get involved, to give the poem more attention….<\/p>\n

Blessings– Gary C.<\/p>\n

GC: Shortly, I had Preeti\u2019s response to my note above, and I interspersed my comments back to her in bolds:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Hi Gary,<\/p>\n

Thank you so much for your mails and my apologies for not replying to your earlier one yesterday. Got caught up in baby-sitting my grandson the whole day yesterday.<\/u><\/p>\n

Sounds like a delightful adventure to be “caught up in”!<\/strong><\/p>\n

You are welcome to send my poems anywhere you think they will be published and read. I for one have slipped into a semi-comatose condition in the last few years, unable to think or write much<\/u>.<\/p>\n

I have periods like that…. But, so far, not fatal!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Your mails have really woken me up to some extent<\/u>.<\/p>\n

I am exuberant to hear it!<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have been going through a mental block. I think your idea about first sending my original poem and then the translation is a great idea. Your idea about dialogue is fine with me. You can put your name as translator. Please do whatever you think best<\/u>.<\/p>\n

I am glad we are in accord on these matters.\u00a0 In the days of the \u201cInternet Triumphant,\u201d I don’t know why more authors don’t interact this way.\u00a0 For us, it would be a dialogue of respected equals.\u00a0 But, it could also be a good way to interact between student(s) and teacher(s), <\/strong>n’cest pas?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I have three blogs on which I used to publish some of my articles, English poems and my Hindustani poems, but haven’t published in a long time. They are as follows:<\/u><\/p>\n

____________________<\/p>\n

____________________<\/p>\n

____________________<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(Note: Redacted for now\u2026.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I’ll pass on these for now–<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0May check out later after our project has moved along….\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

Thank you so much for taking interest in my works which have been buried now for many years.\u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n

I am glad to be involved unburying your treasures!\u00a0 And getting you out of your (protective?) shell.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I will try to get our first dialogue-in-the-Arts to my editor friends this weekend.\u00a0 I’ll hope for publication in March.\u00a0 Of course, I’ll keep you informed every step of the way.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’m pleased with it.\u00a0 It meets my high standards.\u00a0 I believe it will encourage and inspire other poets\/writers\/artists to dialogue, teach and learn.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I’m delighted that our exchanges have led to your re-discovery of some of your “lost poems.”\u00a0 In the last year, I have been “polishing” older work of mine to re-submit.\u00a0 Old wine in new bottles!\u00a0 It’s a good feeling, yes?<\/strong><\/p>\n

God\/Goddess bless you– <\/strong>Gary<\/strong><\/p>\n

______________________________________________<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Preeti Tej Singh has written 2 books of poetry: \u201c<\/em>I\u201d (Sterling Publishers, Delhi), and \u201c<\/em>Simantini\u201d (\u201cBoundless,\u201d from Minerva Press, India; republished by Writers Workshop, Kolkata).\u00a0\u00a0 An anthology of her Hindustani poems was published by Delhi Poetree. She has worked in private, government and academic institutions, and currently resides in Bengaluru, India. She is an \u201cindustry analyst by occupation and a writer by choice.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 She has freelanced for some of India\u2019s leading English dailies, and writes poetry and prose in English and Hindustani. She writes poetry \u201cto purge\u201d her soul.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em>Dr. Gary Corseri is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment.<\/a> He <\/em>has published\/posted poems, articles, fiction and dramas at Transcend Media Service<\/a> and hundreds of publications and websites worldwide.\u00a0 He has performed his work at the Carter Presidential Library and his dramas have been produced on PBS-Atlanta.\u00a0 He edited the \u201cManifestations\u201d literary anthology.\u00a0 He has published 2 novels and 2 poetry collections, has taught in US public schools and prisons and in US and Japanese universities. <\/em>Contact: Gary_Corseri@comcast.net<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cAll real living is meeting\u201d \u2013 Martin Buber (I And Thou)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":84067,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-129328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-transcend-members"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129328\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}