What is a Poem?

"Poetry is the art of all arts 
Poetry is the spontaneous 
Poetry is the criticism of life 
Poetry is the nurse of abuse so, 
Poetry is not a luxury

Poetry is the language of imagination and passion 
Poetry is simply the first and last of all knowledge."

If you're wondering who wrote this poem, ask Google. No. Literally, ask Google. These were some of the "phrases" that appeared when I typed in "Poetry is" on a Google search box. I merely pieced some of them together to give it some flow. I may have tweaked it in some places to create some drama. But frankly, this "poem" is something taken out of algorithms generated by the internet due to previous searches. You may be outraged then, by my audacity to call something so mechanically produced a piece of art. I wouldn't say you were wrong to do so. To each his own. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, and there is freedom of speech in this country - or that's the hope, so why can't I call this a poem?

I wouldn't be too surprised if I am the only one asking this question. I'm sure there is already some debate on the internet if Google Instant generated Google Poetics can be considered the new form of poetry. Well, I'm not going to start a similar discussion here, but I am intrigued by the prospects of such a notion. I recently read a quote by a French poet named Jean Cocteau. He wrote, "The poet is a liar who always speaks the truth". If I may apply the idea behind this quote to the automated mutant above I dare call a poem, even though a living being did not write the words, the meaning is still heartfelt. Riddle me this. If I had not mentioned that this poem was an internet experiment and had attributed it to an unknown poet, why even myself, I'm sure there would have been speculation and appreciation for it.

So I've come to understand that the value of a poem is with its audience. There is truth to its meaning when the reader relates to it. There are examples of poems being quite straightforward and devoid of any connotations. Robert Frost's poems like Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening, Mowing and The Cow In Apple Time, all portray deeper meanings about labour, making choices, be it good or bad, etc. Still, at face value, they are merely compositions reflecting a poet's perception of his natural settings and nothing more. Frost was one among the many poets whose works became legendary only many years after his death. In fact, people began to read between the lines of his poems - paralleling the works to the period of life during which he was writing them - only after they came to know of his struggles and the wisdom he obtained therefore. Sometimes it's hard not to wonder if he even wanted to manifest such profound insights to his words. For all we know, the man could simply have been commenting on the stupidity of a cow for eating too many apples, without macro-reflecting it into a life lesson!

Yet, I'm convinced that a poem is nothing if not human. A poem reflects a string of thoughts and emotions. It is a play on words. Someone once said nothing is accidental in a poem. Even the Google Poetics inspired piece I showcased above had some amounts of creative touches from my side. It was I who decided the order of the phrases, I who placed the commas and the conjunctions. Maybe it would have taken a tasteful shape even without my influence, maybe not. But my tweaks added value to the poem, in a way it made it mine and gave it the meaning I wanted to display. Therefore, to create poetry, there must be some love for the language, and admiration of the aesthetic qualities of words. I believe that the rhyming schemes, the number of syllables per line, repetitions and other poetic devices are of utmost importance to a poet.

In that sense, a poem can be devoid of its nature without its maker. Of course, a poem is nothing if not a sophisticated medium for conveying one's most cherished beliefs and secrets. A poem can be written as a cry for help, to profess love to someone or something, to take a stance or to stir radical ideas in people who read it. When I was a child, I thought a poem should always have a rhyming scheme and must most definitely be funny or joyous. Such an understanding stemmed from all the time spent listening to Karadi Rhymes. It was also because my childhood was always filled with happy memories. But as I grew up and began to experience events which created all kinds of memories of sadness, anger, pain, love, and so on, I realised the universality of poetic form. The poet who bestowed this consciousness unto me was a well-known nationalist poet of Tamil Nadu, Mahakavi Bharathi. I have, on several occasions, read and sung - more often the latter - his poems in public. Singing his verses has always made my blood boil with a mixture of anger and passion. His poetry made me recognise the beauty in creative expression and also appreciate the inspired manner of delivering political inclinations in composition form.

Most importantly, it taught me the ingenuity of acknowledging emotions; the need not to bottle them up but to feel them, endure them and rise above them. You see, I had always been a person who neglected negative thoughts/energy. But reading his poetry showed the benefits one gained from unravelling one's feelings and penning them down. And so I have recently taken up the task of writing poetry. I had dabbled with it previously but never with sincerity. Now I hope to grow from this endeavour.