Two International Poets Dialoguing Across Borders
TRANSCEND MEMBERS, 18 Mar 2019
Gary Corseri and Preeti Tej Singh – TRANSCEND Media Service
“All real living is meeting” – Martin Buber (I And Thou)
INTRO: Greeting our friend Dolly, exchanging pleasantries, I asked her how her poet-friend, Preeti, was doing. Dolly said she seemed a little “down,” a little frustrated, because she wasn’t writing very much. 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’d had a couple of years before. The next day, Dolly forwarded this:
Hi Dolly,
I am attaching 2 Hindi poems with translations for Gary. You can forward them to him. –Preeti
COURTYARD
by Preeti Tej Singh alias Priyasi Lakhnawi
You twisted the wings
And broke them
Then challenged
Go fly if you can
Great heights
You used to fly
So proud of your
Flights you were
Today you can’t walk
Four steps
Without my crutches
Flapping away
Thrashing about
How grotesque you look
Winged creature
Oh hunter how you gloat
On caging me
You unfortunate wretch
You who never saw the sky
You who remained on earth
That’s why the sorrow?
You who couldn’t fly
That’s why the envy?
Now you challenge a mute
By saying
Go see if you can fly
Even beyond this courtyard
SKELETON
by Preeti Tej Singh alias Priyasi Lakhnawi
Like a piece of meat
You scrape every bit of
Nothing is lef
Why don’t you leave it now?
Can hunger be satiated?
From mere bones
That too when
With your every attack
Her soul screams
Maybe you cannot hear
Lust has blinded you perhaps
But surely
You must have seen
Her eyes
Scared, terrorised
Tied to a spike
Alas she could neither cross
The courtyard
Nor could she save herself
From the beast
Preeti Tej Singh alias Priyasi Lakhnawi
GC: I responded the next day—
Hello Preeti,
Thank you for sharing your poems with me.
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.
You may like the way I re-imagined this. And, then again, you may not. It’s your poem, of course, to do whatever you wish with it. I enjoyed working with it, and I hope we can share other work.
Here’s my thought:
Far Beyond….
(a co-translation by Preeti Tej Singh alias Priyasi Lakhnawi & Gary Corseri of an original Hindustani poem by Preeti Tej Singh)
1.
You twisted my wings
And broke them
Then challenged:
“Go fly!
Great heights
You used to fly–
So proud of your
Flights you were!
“Today, you can’t walk
Four steps
Without my crutches!
“Flapping away,
Thrashing about,
How grotesque you look–
Winged creature!”
2.
Oh, hunter, how you gloat
On caging me
You unfortunate wretch!
You, who never saw the sky!
You, who remained on earth–
That’s why the sorrow?
You, who couldn’t fly–
That’s why the envy?
Now you challenge a mute,
saying
Go see if you can fly!
But, I have flown
farther and higher
than you can ever imagine.
Far beyond this courtyard.
Far beyond the chains
of life
and death.
GC: What an age is this! Within a few hours I had this response from across the Atlantic Ocean and the Arabian Sea:
Dear Gary,
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. Perhaps, because of the cultural disconnect between our two worlds, what it was meant to convey did not come through. It 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. In 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.
GC: To keep the fires stoked, I responded briefly and quickly:
Hi Preeti,
Yours is the first email in my Inbox that I’m opening today.
Good to hear from you!
Thanks for the explanation of your poem.
I think I got the basic feelings right. I understood it as a male-female conflict of values. But, it can certainly work as a female-female conflict; or, simply as older values versus newer ones. I think everyone can relate. Perhaps the gender of the opponents can be clarified.
I’ll take another look at it later today and see if I have any more suggestions.
I like the idea of an argumentative poem and dialoguing thru the Arts (I almost always capitalize that word—out of respect for real Art!).
I wonder if we could think about posting–first, your original “Courtyard” poem, and then my “take” on it, inspired by your original poem. That might be a way to inspire readers to comment, to get involved, to give the poem more attention….
Blessings– Gary C.
GC: Shortly, I had Preeti’s response to my note above, and I interspersed my comments back to her in bolds:
Hi Gary,
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.
Sounds like a delightful adventure to be “caught up in”!
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.
I have periods like that…. But, so far, not fatal!
Your mails have really woken me up to some extent.
I am exuberant to hear it!
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.
I am glad we are in accord on these matters. In the days of the “Internet Triumphant,” I don’t know why more authors don’t interact this way. For us, it would be a dialogue of respected equals. But, it could also be a good way to interact between student(s) and teacher(s), n’cest pas?
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:
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(Note: Redacted for now….)
I’ll pass on these for now–
May check out later after our project has moved along….
Thank you so much for taking interest in my works which have been buried now for many years.
I am glad to be involved unburying your treasures! And getting you out of your (protective?) shell.
I will try to get our first dialogue-in-the-Arts to my editor friends this weekend. I’ll hope for publication in March. Of course, I’ll keep you informed every step of the way.
I’m pleased with it. It meets my high standards. I believe it will encourage and inspire other poets/writers/artists to dialogue, teach and learn.
I’m delighted that our exchanges have led to your re-discovery of some of your “lost poems.” In the last year, I have been “polishing” older work of mine to re-submit. Old wine in new bottles! It’s a good feeling, yes?
God/Goddess bless you– Gary
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Preeti Tej Singh has written 2 books of poetry: “I” (Sterling Publishers, Delhi), and “Simantini” (“Boundless,” from Minerva Press, India; republished by Writers Workshop, Kolkata). 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 “industry analyst by occupation and a writer by choice.” She has freelanced for some of India’s leading English dailies, and writes poetry and prose in English and Hindustani. She writes poetry “to purge” her soul.
Dr. Gary Corseri is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment. He has published/posted poems, articles, fiction and dramas at Transcend Media Service and hundreds of publications and websites worldwide. He has performed his work at the Carter Presidential Library and his dramas have been produced on PBS-Atlanta. He edited the “Manifestations” literary anthology. He has published 2 novels and 2 poetry collections, has taught in US public schools and prisons and in US and Japanese universities. Contact: Gary_Corseri@comcast.net.
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 18 Mar 2019.
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