http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Prabhu-Iyer\/e\/B008F8M0JS<\/a>. Reach him at twitter @iyerprabhu, facebook.com\/prabhuiyerpage<\/p>\nThe Interview \u2013 as recorded in November 2014<\/strong><\/p>\nSara:<\/strong> What first made you start writing poetry, Prabhu?<\/p>\nPrabhu:<\/strong> Firstly, I wish to thank you and PLT for featuring me in your widely regarded journal, I\u2019m very grateful for this indeed! Coming to this question, I have to answer in stages. It all began years ago as a child, when I read the English Romantics at school \u2013 Tennyson, Wordsworth, Keats. At home, education was highly regarded and both parents were particular that we learned the languages, particularly English, well \u2013 my mother\u2019s prized possessions included an old bounded Oxford English Dictionary and a Wren & Martin Grammar which her father had used. My father is a great admirer of Wordsworth and \u2018Daffodils\u2019 is his favourite poem, which even today as he fondly recollects, he narrated to an audience when he was still at school! The ecstatic works of classical Indian poets, were an early influence too, chief among who was our national poet, Kalidas, whose transformation from an illiterate shepherd to the most revered poet in Sanskrit language by the grace of the Goddess was often told and retold. Popular poetic hymns by mystical philosophers were recited in our family on all occasions.<\/p>\nIn this atmosphere, I took to poetry almost naturally, as a way of expressing myself. The idyllic surroundings I had the blessing of growing up in (Hyderabad was a small town in the 80\u2019s and my father\u2019s official accommodation provided an island of peace, nestled in fields, gardens and open spaces) deeply inspired me. Later in teens and early twenties, poetry was my way of capturing all the angsts of growing up \u2013 from first crushes to rebellion and all sorts of emotional fluff. In recent years poetry has also become the vehicle to manifest my inspirations, quest for beauty, and activism
\non various causes: sustainable development, condition of women, and freedom of thought and religion. Although English was and remains the main medium in which I write, when I started, I would also write in some Indian languages, including Telugu and Hindi.<\/p>\n
Sara:<\/strong> Who are your favourite poets of the past?<\/p>\nPrabhu:<\/strong> To start with, English Romantics influenced me the most \u2013 I really enjoyed reading poems by Kipling, Tennyson, Wordsworth. These poets seem from an era so different now, but their work is refreshing till today, even considering the sentimentalism they often displayed. Who is not fond of quoting Keats as \u2018a thing of beauty is a joy forever…\u2019, and although I majored in science, I cannot recollect something more vividly than studying \u2018La Belle Dame sans Merci\u2019 and \u2018Ode on a Grecian Urn\u2019 at high school. Perhaps my fascination for these figures is tied culturally, as the Indian poetic tradition itself is quite often lyrical, sentimental \u2013 even melodramatic \u2013 and mystical.<\/p>\nAmong the Indian mystical poets, I really admire the moving compositions of Meera, the medieval Rajput saint-princess. Through Whitman, Frost, and (Ogden) Nash, I discovered the American moderns, and later, Plath and Bukowski. Of late, I have been studying the work of the avant-garde poets, Ezra Pound, Rainer Maria Rilke, the poetical cubism of the French poet Pierre Reverdy and the mystical future-poetry of Sri Aurobindo. My all-time favourites though, are Pablo Neruda and Ranindranath Tagore \u2013 and whenever I am down I get to reading \u201820 love poems and a song of despair\u2019 or \u2018Geetanjali\u2019, books that I think will remain timeless for their stirring, evocative lyrical style.<\/p>\n
Sara:<\/strong> What contemporary or classic style do you tend to use the most, in your poetry?<\/p>\nPrabhu:<\/strong> I mainly write rhythm poetry, where any traditional elements such as rhyme or alliteration come about as natural features of the verse. More often than not I tend to follow a free rhythm structure, and this to my surprise, I\u2019m discovering, is again a feature of much of Indian vernacular poetry. Lyrical poetry is closest to my style, although, I\u2019d like to call this abstract impressionism, (after the impressionist movement whose leading figure was Monet), in the tradition of Tagore and Neruda. Here\u2019s an excerpt from the poem, \u2018Why shouldn\u2019t I\u2019, illustrating my writing in this form:<\/p>\n\n… Dawn mingles with your ruddy cheeks;
\nPeasant woman, I read the language of toil in the wrinkles on your brow.
\n Why should I love you? I ask of myself.
\nThis is the constant soliloquy of the monsoon rain in empty valleys.
\nWhat do you brood over on sultry noons?
\nBut then, why shouldn’t I? Winter’s witheration is everybody’s lot. …<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This is the particular style that readers have appreciated me most for. I\u2019m also keenly interested in the poetical meanings and interpretations of other art movements such as cubism, surrealism, and magical realism \u2013 exploring them as suited to different purposes. I find Surrealist techniques to be a wonderful way of introducing a sense of mystery, marvel and disjointedness into poetic settings: here is an example excerpted from my poem, \u2018The edges of awareness\u2019, where I\u2019ve used Montage:<\/p>\n
\nHow do I know. Splattered across. Misty spiral halos. Dark dark dark. I drew a handful. I saw stars. Gone –
\nancient light. Who is the witness? Canvas of life painted.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Cubism provides a template to throw intense light on a subject, bringing in various shades of meanings and ideas, helping to deconstruct and allow the reader to re-synthesize something deeply meaningful and symbolic, as for instance, in my take on the death of Indian cities:<\/p>\n
\nThe urchin banging at the windscreen on rainy nights,
\nThe old house down the road making way for another high-rise,
\nThe cobbler at the corner store smiling away toothless
\nThe now-glorified mausoleum of the rebel from past –
\nThe aquarium where water dried up and all the fish died;
\nI am the city that you don’t see dying, obsessed with ‘progress’.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Being the major art and literary movement of our generation, represented by such powerful voices as Rushdie and Marquez, and carrying a powerful resonance for post-colonial native cultures, Magical Realism of course has a major attraction. I find this to be one of the most difficult genres to write in, but a good grasp allows a superlative use of allegory and fantasy to create really intense experiences for the reader. An example excerpted from the ongoing series, \u2018Mr K\u2019s Life\u2019:<\/p>\n
\n…In the morning, he worships the Eye in his shrine. Upholding traditions, one must get ahead in life. Half-believing, within \u2018Bounds of reason’ tepid; The Eye sits observing him: sometimes, staring from the sky above, and some times, through
\nthe eyes of the beggars lining the temple street. Ir\u0101v\u0101\u1e47 laughs as Mr. K walks past the totem pole.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I also like to experiment on the lines of the avant-garde poets, especially, Ezra Pound\u2019s ingenious use of irregular spacing (for ex: see Pound\u2019s \u2018In a station of the metro\u2019) to convey an unsettling view (excerpted from my recent poem, \u2018Escape, refuge\u2019):<\/p>\n
\n On a shore flooded in the tide. Now on a flitting log:
\n Rain, trying to fill up the ridges white, that, I, along with
\n crabs, snails and tiny starfish, are ambling to escape from.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Sara:<\/strong> I saw that you have a new book on amazon; “Ten Years of Moons and Mists”<\/strong>. Is there a special theme running through this book?<\/p>\nPrabhu:<\/strong> Thanks for asking, this was an anthology of poems I collected and published (with illustrations by my wife Tamaswati Ghosh (who is also an avid photographer and artist) during a break in the summer of 2012. It was a culmination of a decade\u2019s journey, and as such was very important for me, as it allowed me to collate, summarize and set aside the work from that period and then move on to newer ideas, themes and projects.<\/p>\nThe over-fifty poems in this book chronicle the journey of my growth and self-discovery through my twenties, and are organized into three sections, \u2018Love\u2019, \u2018Despair\u2019 and \u2018Light\u2019. In a way the title foreshadows this, the moon standing for both love and light, and mist for the many challenging times when these are blocked from our vision. Each section starts with a piece which I thought would capture the essence of the mood best, after which poems are presented in the chronological order in which they were first written. This I hoped would allow readers to relate to and locate the changes
\ntaking place through my journey over the decade. This book records some of my first love poems, disappointments at difficult moments, ruminations and visions.<\/p>\n
Sara:<\/strong> There are many love poems in your book that particularly appeal to me, such as “At the Altar of Love<\/strong>“; also “Accept in Return”<\/strong> and “Unusual Gift”<\/strong>. How much has love influenced your poetry over the years?<\/p>\nPrabhu:<\/strong> I would say, very strongly indeed. There was, in my poetic journey, a time when I wanted to make my poems more grounded in everyday experience and widen their breadth and appeal. Ultimately I discovered – and perhaps most poets do too – that I had to mine my own experience and distil something of that into my verse \u2013 this is what Neruda and Tagore did. As the great American realist artist Edward Hopper observed, \u2018Great art is the outward expression of an inner life in the artist, and this inner life will result in his personal vision of the world\u2019 [see \u2018Statement\u2019, 1953, Reality journal]. Unless an emotion experienced is real, and makes an impact on the inner life of the poet, it cannot be captured and conveyed perfectly enough. And love is an emotion we all experience \u2013 that\u2019s how I began to consciously write love poems; but then I also discovered, there are many shades of love, and not just a monotone of mush. I wanted to capture this and took notes as I went along.<\/p>\nAnd thus the poems in the collection came about: there are here, some of my favourite romantic poems \u2013 quoting, for example, from “At long last”<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n…It rained as we sat down under the shelter of tall, loving, wise trees,
\nThe drizzle still managing to get us from the sides:
\nWe shrunk our clothes for warmth, but
\nYou still held your hand out for me to see what fate had in store for you.
\nUnknown to me, she had slipped past into my heart and whispered from there,
\nAnd I wanted to say, \u2018fate says you are mine\u2019. \u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
As are some feisty pieces, quoting for example, from \u2018I know you are angry\u2019:<\/p>\n
\n…There is mellow love.
\nThere is also a searing love, fierce like red clouds
\nIn the black winter evening sky…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Some dark, wistful ruminations, for example, from the poem \u2018Does it matter?\u2019:<\/p>\n
\nYou die every day, like this: you choose a life of slow
\ndeath: through long nights, you burn away
\nlike the slowly fading lamp
\nmourning some sombre memory,
\ndoes it matter to know, you love me?\u2026<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Then, there\u2019s mystical love too, for example from \u2018the Lamp of hope\u2019:<\/p>\n
\n…I have adorned the insides of this my small hut,
\nWith flowers of best fragrance: this day, like on
\nSo many past ones, I plucked ’em finest, from
\nLove\u2019s labour, in the garden of life; longing for Kanha:
\nWhen will he come drive this unreal light away? \u2026<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
And of course, plenty of lyrical poetry, for example, from \u2018She has no name\u2019:<\/p>\n
\n…I became one with fallen leaves and rustled in wind
\n on lonely summer afternoons when death visits life
\nI became the mynah and sang back to the cuckoo
\n with crickets and allied insects for chorus
\non tired evenings, mad in their unquenchable quest
\n I became birds that dart to the setting sun\u2026<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Sara:<\/strong> I enjoyed reading your poem “St Paul’s Cathedral”. You write of it with great warmth. Did you spend a lot of time exploring national monuments while you were living in London?<\/p>\nPrabhu:<\/strong> Yes, in general, I admired the way Britain has tried to preserve her heritage. Every listed monument or site is well-kept, visitor-friendly and welcoming, and resources and information are shared in dedicated online pages. I visited sites in London many times over: British Museum (and also the Science and Natural History museums), Trafalgar Square, V&A, Royal Albert Hall, the Tower of London and London Bridge and the other bridges over Thames. Often there is some bit of Indian history connected to many of these places and that was also of much interest to me \u2013 for example, among the Royal Jewels displayed at the Tower of London is the Koh-i-noor, a diamond that was originally mined in Hyderabad. I would always cast a brooding glance at the column dedicated to Admiral Nelson at Trafalgar Square when passing by on a bus or walking, as this is connected to Waterloo and Napoleon Bonaparte (who is looked at somewhat favourably in some Indian historical traditions).<\/p>\nWhenever I had friends or family visiting \u2013 and someone or the other was always visiting London for the first time \u2013 I would insist on taking the open-top bus tour together with the brief journey by motorboat at Embankment. Madame Tussaud\u2019s and the London Eye were particular favourites, along with Buckingham and Princess Diana\u2019s palaces. In addition to these, I loved the Hyde Park and the Serpentine Lake, as they were just a small walk from Imperial (where I studied), and which I frequented almost daily for quiet musings.<\/p>\n
England and London have influenced my poetry deeply, and the London Eye, Hyde Park and Gunnersbury Park (at Ealing) and Thames at the Embankment are themes that I often revisit in a symbolic sense in my verse. Here are some examples: From \u2018Where the Lee bends\u2019, inspired by memories of a walk by the Thames:<\/p>\n
\n…landing now by the memory lane:
\nby the Thames, holding a palmful by the bank,
\nsaying, this river is named after you:
\nshe has a dimpled smile;…<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
From \u2018Hidden doors\u2019 written after viewing \u2018Hortus Conclusus\u2019 by Peter Zumthor at the Serpentine Gallery in Hyde Park, London<\/p>\n
\nBehind the apparent hues of violet and pink
\n And many shades of green:
\nMagical doors to distant places in happier times;
\nI jumped in and leapt out as a child\u2026<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
From “At long last”<\/strong>, inspired by a memorable incident at the Gunnersbury park:<\/p>\n\n…The shades of white which the birds that accompanied us
\nAs we walked past that pond by the temple to the Deity of Love
\nOn that serene mid-October Sunday morning sported;
\nIt rained as we sat down under the shelter of tall, loving, wise trees…\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\nFrom \u2018Takeoff\u2019, a surrealist poem based on many visits to the London Eye:<\/p>\n
\n…Giant eye of the fair: the same phantasm
\nemerging, enlarging, dimming, receding;
\nHall of dreams in a castle of darkness:
\nwaves of events playing out again and
\nin smoke and shadows amid resounding…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I visited the National Arts Gallery at Trafalgar Square often and enjoyed learning about the history of art and art movements. Tate Modern at Southbank was another venue that I liked to visit, and there I learned much about modern art movements, and also at the Serpentine Gallery in Hyde Park. A visit to Tate Modern prompted me to create my first art-poem exploring the theme of concept-art (quoting from \u2018Modern Art\u2019):\n\nHalf-a-commode….
\nsalvaged from
\nconstruction-site debris, in an enclosure;\nCorrugated tin…
\ninverted containers,
\nshop-floor seats, hollow from the inside;\u2026<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Outside of London, Windsor was one of my favourite places to visit, and along with it being the seat of the Royal Family, the Castle was also of great interest to me as there are, on display there, some relics of Indian kings, including those of Tipu Sultan of Serigapatnam. I\u2019d visited other places of historical interest such as Dover Castle associated with the D-Day landings and medieval Cathedrals and Castles at many English towns and cities such as Cambridge, York, Derby, etc. Visits to the Roman complex at Bath, the Stonehenge and viewing a copy of the Magna Carta at the Salisbury Cathedral were memorable experiences too.\nSara:<\/strong> In the section of the book called “Despair”, your poems are more wistfully reflective than self-pitying; which I like. In “Late Summer Evening”, for example, you write of the landscape around you, as well as your own emotions. Were some of these sadder poems difficult to write, in terms of emotions you felt at the time?<\/p>\nPrabhu: <\/strong>Indeed, some of them were very difficult to write. Often, poems were just lines recording the raw emotions of the time, picked and pruned into verse much later. Others arose by way of reflection on events of the past \u2013 maybe I\u2019m given to morose self-reflection somewhat like the evening sky in London! \u2013 but it was important for me to record the moments. I used to keep a journal for many years recording happenings of the day, every day.<\/p>\nSara:<\/strong> Do you feel that poetry can sometimes be therapeutic, in exorcising the demons of sorrow and despair? Or can it sometimes intensify negative feelings as you read it back to yourself?\nPrabhu:<\/strong> Absolutely! To me the poems were a record of an inner journey. In some meditative practices we are encouraged to reflect on the events of the day every night and think of how to improve ourselves. To me, this poetic reflection has similar purposes and effects.<\/p>\nAlmost always, putting down the feelings in word at the experiential moment helps to assuage and soothe the heart. And revisiting them later has a cathartic effect. In fact re- examining old maudlin verse also helps gain an objective view of emotions, for example when you record something like this: (from my poem, \u2018On the shores of my inner life\u2019)<\/p>\n
\nOn the shores of my inner life I kneel
\nUnable to stand anymore, unable to stand
\nWaves of remorse, boisterous seams,
\nHit harder each time\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
…and as you look back years later, you wonder how you were this much of a wreck back then! This too is a form of healing \u2013 realizing the transitory nature of emotions. As they say, we have to be able to see that both pleasure and pain are emotions, and in the ontological sense, they are on equal footing, as experiences imposed on the experiencer. Pain affects us deeply, because we don\u2019t want to experience this emotion \u2013 we are naturally conditioned to avoid this – but it is indeed a natural process to experience it in life as are other emotions. Coming to terms with, re-examining, expressing and reviewing such emotions is certainly therapeutic.<\/p>\n
Sara:<\/strong> Have you ever made, or thought of making poetry videos, perhaps reciting in the background of a film of a landscape, or speaking to web cam at home?<\/p>\nPrabhu:<\/strong> Actually so far, I have not explored performance poetry. I\u2019m still camera-shy and worry about proper punctuation, intonation and recitation. Having said that, I have, in recent years, seen poetry performances by you and other poets on the PLT network; and that is inspiring. The poet may be the person best placed to read out her work as she is aware of the emotional journey the words have taken. Pauses and punctuations acquire more meaning when recited directly by the creator of a work.<\/p>\nSara:<\/strong> Finally Prabhu, what are your ambitions for the future, in terms of writing?<\/p>\nPrabhu:<\/strong> Thanks for asking this, I guess answering this question will also help me in sifting and organizing my plans and goals for myself. In the immediate sense I would like to further hone my skills in poetical and literary techniques that can convey a more enjoyable, dramatic and tangible experience to the reader. Feeling, imagination, inspiration and ekphrasis are perhaps very important parts of this process. For instance, I would like to create more works such as this ekphrastic piece I wrote just recently (from \u2018Ekphrasis on a Monet\u2019) using a poetic interpretation of the Surrealist Montage method:<\/p>\n\n boatman Purple haze
\n contemplative pouring
\n the sky as lone
\n rides the horizon.
\n islanding
\n into the lake,\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Going forward, I want to complete some of my pending writing projects \u2013 I\u2019ve been working on my first fictional novella and also collecting poems for further volumes of poetry. I dream of melding poetic and prose styles of description within the framework of magical realism. \u2018Moons and Mists\u2019 also, perhaps, require a revision and a second edition is due and I hope to release it on other platforms such as Lulu \u2013 a print edition would be wonderful too!<\/p>\n
In the longer term, I wish to emerge as an authentic voice of the people in the way that Tagore and Neruda were, and be able to create poetry that people can relate to and is meaningful to their lives. In a sense this is also very challenging today, as the world has become very different \u2013 life runs at breakneck pace, and there is hardly any time to parse and digest ideas, memes and concepts. I identify myself as a poet first more than as a story teller, but I am often told, even by friends, \u2018I\u2019m not into that (poetry)\u2019. Also, today the world is in strife, with violence and extremism on the rise, but we don\u2019t have answers. Ideologies and creeds have failed and people are searching for meaning.<\/p>\n
I want to take stirring, dramatic and lyrical poetry with meaning to the people, but wonder how I could do this in an era of instant consumption and vanishing attention spans! Maybe all poets of this generation face this challenge and perhaps we have to use creative routes to achieve this. Visual and performance poetry, lyrics for songs and popular music (some of the best loved songs are also great poems) could be an important channel. Perhaps, gaining a name in prose writing can help in appealing to people\u2019s interest in the author\u2019s other writings such as poetry. Perhaps, minimalist poetry in styles such as the Japanese Haiku and Tanka have a better chance of gaining access to the distracted mind and planting a seed for further discovery. Let me end this conversation with a Haiku I wrote recently:<\/p>\n
\nIn autumn\u2019s decay,
\n beauty, constant companion,
\n and in springs of hope.
\n<\/center><\/p><\/blockquote>\nSara:<\/strong> Thanks very much for the interview, Prabhu.<\/p>\nPrabhu:<\/strong> Thanks, indeed, for speaking to me and giving me this wonderful opportunity to share my thoughts and work! I\u2019m very grateful to you and PLT, and I express my appreciation for the invaluable service you are doing to the cause of poets and poetry through your journal!<\/p>\n
![\"Prabhu](\"http:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/profile_images\/520660953109499904\/tG4DyPNd.png\")
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