Late-night MSN convos.

It's around 1am. Just had a couple of conversations:

1. With Simran, about the Psychiatry game. And the secrets it revealed. Somehow I get the feeling you know more than you're letting on, Sim. Haha!

2. With my sister, about a Youtube link she sent me (That I didn't get to watch because there were too many convos.).

3. With Raghav and Bala, and then with Raghav alone, about poetry. Raghav believes that the lyrics to any song should be considered poetry, because there shouldn't be any rules when it comes to creative expression. He isn't referring to good poetry, but just poetry. I disagreed, but couldn't really explain myself without coming across as an arts snob (which I'm not). And that isn't good. I've never been good at explaining things that occur to me intuitively. Especially when I'm not trying to prove you wrong, but just giving an opinion. Somehow, Raghav, our argument seems to be about prose and poetry. A diary entry can be prose, not poetry. And prose is a literary piece too, so I'm not saying poetry is better. They're just different.

4. With Yagnya, about Harry Potter (the sixth movie)- it's pros and cons. Also about her play that I won't miss (not like she'll let me miss it anyway, haha.). Can't wait to meet you man.

5. With Abhishek, about a couple of things, and a couple of compliments (Thanks man, you totally made my day! Also because of your pro English =D ), and ending with dreams.

Number three. I guess the discussion I had with Raghav brings across another beauty of poetry - it can be universal and yet it's so personal. =]

I went on Google to see what people have to say about the definition of poetry, but all those definitions seem outdated to me. But I came across a website where people tried to define what a good poem is.

(Note: Raghav, I'm not trying in any way to prove my point here, I know you're not talking about GOOD poetry. This is unrelated to our discussion, just the usual stuff I like to quote at the end of a post.)

"What is a poem?

Hard work.

Emotion surprised.

Throwing a colored shadow.

A word that doubles back on itself, not once but twice.

The exact crunch of carrots.

Precise joys.

A prayer that sounds like a curse until it is said again.

Crows punctuating a field of snow.

Hard work."

To me, that brings across the importance of word-choice in a poem.

"Good poems can tell us what we already know in our bones but had never seen or heard or even put into words before. For a poem to be good it needs the element of surprise. That comes to the reader both in content, line break, sound, and voice. You read the opening line, are carried (or jolted) to the last line, and then wonder, how did I get here? There you are standing in this new place but feeling that, yes, you too, belong here.

A good poem is like a simply wrapped package that appears unremarkable at first glance. Until you read it. Then stars glow where there was never light before. Something sparkles. It might be you. It might be the dark. It might be the woman two rows ahead of you on the bus.

Good poetry gives us ourselves as if we've never had who we were before. It also gives us each other, shortens the gap between one and another. And good poems give us the world as if for the first time.

A fine poem needs mystery too; it doesn't say everything. If you were to compare a poem to a simple math equation, say 1 + 1 = 2, then a poem is butterfly + jagged scar = his warm breath on your neck. It's another way of knowing that makes perfect sense, but not logical, linear, rational sense. It's the way the heart knows, and the soul, the logic of dreams. It's how we know when we love or when we are afraid.

Poetry works on us not only through content but through sound. And for a poem to be well written it must remember that element as well. It needs to sound right. There's not just one right sound, but many, and each poem has its own that needs to be incorporated in order to be a thing of strength and beauty."

I hope I can remember that when I make my own attempts.

Oh and I just read a message from a senior, which was equally heartwarming and worry-inducing. Only you can pull off something like that, I'm so glad you're around Shiva. =]