Knocking Vistas And Other Poems: A Search for Sense in Senselessness

by Dr Dharm Pal Singh ,Ex- Associate Professor of English, Ganpat Sahai Postgraduate College ,

Sultanpur (U.P.)

The present day world is dipped in the ocean of anxiety, neurosis, mental unrest, faithlessness, and cruelty. Man is now a self-alienated human being. He has no sensible relationship with the external or the internal world. His condition has been deteriorating ever since utilitarianism set in his life, as pointed out by the great poets like William Wordsworth, Matthew Arnold, T.S.Eliot, and a host of others. The utilitarian approach has tightened its grip on man so much so that he has forgotten the meaning of the line written by S.T.Coleridge in 'Dejection: An Ode' :

"O Lady, we receive but what we give."

T. S. Eliot, the great modern poet, lightened a new path for the poets of the twentieth century, when he wrote: " The essential advantage for a poet is not to have a beautiful world with which to deal; it is to be able to see beneath both beauty and ugliness, to see the boredom, and the horror, and the glory."

Poets are gifted with foresight to look into the dense layers of life and suggest the means to make life hale and hearty. Ram Krishna Singh has been a practising poet for a long time now, and the present edition is the latest one loaded with the age-old deep experience of life. He is a master of haiku, basically a Japanese form which uses only a few words to convey the well-thought message. His poems ignite the readers to take a leap into the unlimited space of life. The title Knocking Vistas and Other Poems ?demands its readers to be highly sensitive to the intricacies of life captured in minimum possible words by the poet. Once the reader happens to identify the ugliness, he'll be able to transform it into something glorious.

There are thirty-eight titles in this collection. Some poems are very small and some are long but all are independent and complete in themselves. The poet selects a word and puts it masterfully beside the other word to strike a new meaning. This is claimed by the poet himself in his poem 'Mystery':

" I grope the mystery that couldn't be living:"

In the same poem, he proceeds to strike a new meaning by putting words in strange company:

"autumn with songs of unbloomed spring

restive stillness mocking on the curtains

naked beings lying with blinder on the eyes

the lost moon in curse of tears never shed"?? (p.10)

?

It is to be noted that the poet has never used comma or full-stop anywhere in the book. By deliberately neglecting the use of punctuation, he wants his readers to swim in the limitless ocean of imagination. Space for the readers is necessary in enjoying the poems.

Politics dominates the life of contemporary society but, unfortunately, not in a positive way. The political leaders have no regard for moral values. In 'New Slavery', the poet criticizes the contemporary politics :

"fabricating newer lies and hypocrites

of saffron politics secular faith and people's power

spilling blood to heal history of wrongs

?

create new cultural fantasy

new racism ??new slavery

homegrown narcissistic lords and ladies" ???(p.13)

?

The poet does not hide his dislike for the right wing politics. He targets it for using religion as its tool to influence the people in a wrong way. At the same time, he criticizes those who are using caste to polarize votes. His bitterness is expressed in ‘Dubious Gospels’:

"Power politics

in the name of faith and god-

racist invectives "? (p.19)

?

The poet does not stop here but tells the result of this kind of politics in the concluding stanza:

"pave long-term darkness

singing anthems of progress-

dubious gospels"? ??(p.19)

?

The political scenario of the world also comes in his observation because now the whole world is interconnected. The devastation being caused worldwide finds expression in ‘Politics of Deception’: ?

"Roaring guns and flying bombs

pronounce total death on earth

.??? .???? .

a dream scroll mythologized

to spotlight a Trump ?Modi

?

Putin ?Xi ?Netanyahu

tap national consciousness

?

for divine descent to make

life happen once again"?? ??(p.18)

?

‘Melting Elements’ is an experimental long poem containing five-line and three-line stanzas. In fact, the stanzas are artificially linked to form a free-form tanka-haiku-tanka sequence.? The mechanical practices of religious figures have been satirized. The following stanza/haiku lays bare the reality of worship:

"half of my mind on God

and the other half on sex

eternal hunger"? (p.52)

?

Likewise, the following five-liner describes intoxicated worship of goddess Kali:

"Kali Puja

ruddy garland round the neck

kneel to quench the thirst

with rum and goat meat invoke

the goddess for midnight sex"? ?(p.52)

?

The drum-beating in the temples forces the poet to express his distaste in the following lines taken from ‘Knocking Vistas’:

"from Shiva's temple

high decibal puja noise

wrath of the goddess

she prays for long power cut

for her short meditation"? ?(p.60)

?

The common practice of stealing flowers for worship has been taken notice of in the following five-liner taken from ‘Knocking Vistas’:

"an old woman

steals hibiscus from our gate

grinning nav-ratri

puja at home and hurries

back before my wife confronts"? ?(p.69)

?

However, as indicated, ?the poet has written five-liners in imitation of tanka and three-liners in the imitation of haiku, but he does not adhere to the Japanese form of 5/7/5/7/7 syllables and 5/7/5 syllables. He does not like to confine his expression in any fixed form. But the pictures that he presents in his poems are perfect and forceful in attracting the eyes of the readers. The following three-liners are complete in their sketch:

"Taliban march

no Covid could stop-

unanswered call"???? (p.73)

?

" at the entrance

five-headed Hanuman:

chanting mantra"? (p.78)

?

" violence of voice

shrinking rationality-

turbulent light"?? (p.78)

?

" dark fears-

loping in the street

mantra on lips"? (p.85)

?

"a sweaty couple

sip iced coffee in beer mugs-

highway dhaba"? (p.83)

?

Apart from these sour spiced micro poems, we find some sweetest lines loaded with sensuous images. For example:

"lighting-

roaring colours in the sky

red ?white ?dark

merge into one

fire ?water ?earth"?? (p.70)

?

" clad in white

peaks behind peaks

Everest within"? ??(p.58)

?

"her decollete blouse

and see-through saree-

curve’s vanity"???? ?(p.48)

?

" red with shame

the sky at sunrise

one more kiss" ??????(p.50)

?

The excellence of a poet can be measured by use of phrases swelling with meaning. The following phrases attract the eyes of the reader at the first glance:

"wave's crust, drifty silence, frozen smile, soughing caress, smelly thoughts, hairy darkness, smoked fish, musky sillage, rainbow desire, drizzling din, wrinkled hair, smelly clothesline."

To conclude, it can be said that this collection will be enjoyed by every sensitive reader of poetry. It is also notable that the book carries an 'Afterword' written by Kevin Marshall Chopson, Poet Laureate of Gallatin, Tennessee. I am tempted to quote his appreciating words written for R.K. Singh:

"Among poets of all time, I rank him among a longer list of my personal favorites, which includes Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Coleridge, Dickinson, Rilke, Pound, Plath, Mary Oliver, and, of course, Basho."