Poetry of R K Singh: Innate Beauty and
Essence
P C K Prem
Former Civil Servant and Member
Himachal Public Service Commission
Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India
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.”
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 of Phoenix. 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.
****