My Voice

Alexander Pushkin, the greatest poet of Russia, has written a poem for the poets, which can be massage to all, who write poetry to achieve some kind of awards or praise.

 

Thou shalt not, poet, prize the people’s love.
The noise of their applause will quickly die:
Then shalt thou hear the judgment of the fool
And chilling laughter from the multitude.
But stand thou firm, untroubled and austere;
Thou art a king and kings must live alone.
Thine own free spirit calls to thee: pass on,
Make perfect the blossom of thy dreams,
Nor ask for praises of achievement won.
Praise lives within: ‘tis thou that art the judge,
And thine the strictest judgment of them all.
Art thou content? Then leave the herd to howl;
Leave them to spit upon thine altar fires
And on the dancing incense of thy shrine.

In contemporary literary world, it has become more important to talk about achievement than writing. In Indian philosophy, word is called power. The saint poet Kabir said- “The word is power”, Shabda shakti. Means one has to use word with care and affection.

Moreover, writing is not considered as an achievement, as great Odia -Indian poet Ramakant Rath has said-“A poet should be brave enough to accept failures bravely, without this courage no one can be a poet”. He mentioned this while talking about poetry. He explored his view saying – “Rejection is part of life, we face rejection everywhere, from everyone, from God as well as one’s beloved. But rejection in poetry is most common, so a poet should always be ready to accept this rejection.”

 

Kritya tries to bring different voices in poetry.

 

The October issue is online. Hope readers will enjoy the poetry.

 

With regards

 

Rati Saxena