Have you ever seen poetry in making, today we have the man himself. He is one of the celebrated poets of India, creating vibes of poetry and making thumps and causing oomph everywhere. Yaseen Anwer gets candid with our team.
Neha R Krishna(NK): According to you what exactly chisels a layman into “The Poet”. A magic axe? Or, are they born to become a poet?
Yaseen Anwer(YA): Magic is always there, deep somewhere, lying dormant in you; you just need to manifest the idea of self knowledge, self approval. Nobody is a born poet, but time itself carves out an artist from you.
NK: If we ask you to define yourself in just three words.
YA: Poetry in Making.
NK: So many prestigious events, awards, accolades, you are one of the known names when it comes to poetry. How would you like to express your feelings on this?
YA: ‘Lucky’ as in précis. I always feel that I am blessed with all the love and affections being bestowed upon me. You know you are loved, and that knowledge is overwhelming. I feel honored to be very honest. When the credence of your vision enlightens the dream of many passionate hearts, when your sincere efforts are universally accepted with open arms, it encourages you. And this makes me feel special. Very special.
NK: You inspire so many people out there, from whom you draw your inspirations, what makes you “Yaseen Anwer”?
YA: It’s not just me who inspire people, it’s me and my ardor towards my visionary notion, what aspire people to draw inspirations from. My belief and dedicated labor work pretty well to nourish and nurture my inspirations and me.
NK: Let us know about the different aspects of page poetry and spoken word poetry.
YA: It is a huge subject to dwell on. One major aspect I would like to share is that in page poetry, the reader can replace writer’s emotions with theirs as and when they are reading, same poem can be reflected upon differently. And in spoken word poetry, the poet weaves his words with emotions and as a result, only true emotions surfaces, leaving every other thing underwater.
NK: What genre of poetry captivates your heart? What is your favorite poem?
YA: Favorite is not my word of liking, no, absolutely not. By this you limit the ocean of poetic expressions, which again is impossible. There are many legendary and modern poets I love. Tagore, Gulzar, Emily just to name some.
NK: As we were discussing about your favorite poem. Our readers would love to read a couple of your verses. Do share with us the secret that lies behind the making of your poem.
YA:
“Nothing of a poet, I had in me
Neither did I foresee, ever to be.
Dipped my pain in ink, one day;
Draped as poetry, I gave it away!”
“देखना हो अगर मेरे चाहत की गहराई को,
नाप के देखना तुम कभी अपनी तन्हाई को”
Oh! There are no secrets behind any poem. And then, secrets wouldn’t remain so if shared. In-nit!
NK: Your journey of life is very poetic in itself. Share with us your experiences, your memories with Poets’ Corner, your first poetry venture.
YA: My confrontation with poetry was at the tender age of fourteen, and from there the journey with poetry began to evolve. Coming from a background where literature was not my first subject, it was a difficult job to bring in the throng to believe in the idea of “Poetry in Making”. Have toiled day and night to make my dream breathe into this real world. Then, things were not that easy, simple things like access to internet or WIFI or mobile internet, which is now easily attainable. Later, I engineered a pillar to my notion and started with Poets Corner in June 2011, and then in a couple of months or two, my friend Late Nikhil Sharma, my soul sister Madhumita Ghosh and Payal Pasha, my colleague Neha R. Krishna and many other beautiful souls joined in the league. Together we have worked on many projects. It is always a learning experience when you work with different, but likeminded people. By the end of next year, Dolly Singh, Aparna Pathak, Supriya Kaur Dhaliwal and many others were welcomed to the family and various projects were executed. Later, many other dedicated souls joined the Poets Corner family. It always was like a fruit laden tree. As a founder, to lead the enthusiastic and passionate team of poets, with the help of my dedicated colleagues, was a blessed journey, for me it was always an enlightening experience, and my heart hoards lots of sweet and sore memories.
NK: If Poet Corner was your brain child, why did you then abandon your child, and resigned from the group?
YA: I am very sorry not to answer this question because discussing personal issues on this public forum is not a very responsible behavior.
NK: Introduce “Kaafiya” to us, your novel poetry venture.
YA: Kaafiya is my novel thought — an idea, a vision. Kaafiya is but one of those many shades of sky, a sweet morning breeze, a blink of an eye, a heartbeat, a smile, a fragrance, a word — a diffusing difference — a blossoming change. Kaafiya is like a new day, simple but exclusive, fresh yet peculiar. Kaafiya is the upcoming multifaceted Poetry festival, which aspires to be India’s biggest. It would be one of its kind with an innovative approach culminating into experiences new for everyone involved.
NK: What expectation one should have from Kaafiya: The Poetry Festival?
YA: Kaafiya: The Poetry Festival is not just a celebration of poetry, but a whole new season of poetry. We were, so far occupied with our online poetry drills, Poetry-Thon on Twitter every Tuesday night (9 -10 PM), and KaafiyaMilaao on Facebook page every Friday (7 – 9 PM). These are prompt poetry sessions, started in the month of August, and to be continued in the coming months too. And from this month (September) we have touched the ground base with our offline poetry sessions which will help us to bridge all the poets to the Poetry Festival. There are going to be Poetry Talks, Spoken Word Poetry, Poetry Workshops, Poetry Heritage Walks, Poetry Story Telling, Poetry & Dance, Poetry & Music, Mushaira, Panel Discussions, and further additions as and when time may suggest.
NK: Lastly, Would you like to share, what’s in your heart, with us?
YA: I would love to have all the poets to be on board with us, and to savor the flavor of poetry we are to serve in this poetry festival. Do follow Kaafiya on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Come around to share your love via your lovely poems with Kaafiya. See you THERE soon!
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KaafiyaPoetry?fref=ts
Twitter: https://twitter.com/KaafiyaPoetry
Instagram: @kaafiyapoetry
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQvooOLjVXnk-VCnYsSrIow
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