by P.R.Viswanathan
[box] The joy of experiencing the beauty of the well-written word is priceless. P.R.Viswanathan describes the experience poetically, most apt for a piece celebrating the July 2010 theme, ‘The Written Word’.[/box] [box type=”info”]MONTH: July 2010
THEME: THE WRITTEN WORD
CONCEPT: A literary magazine cannot feel complete without an issue solely dedicated to the joys of the written word. The July edition focused on the joys of writing and reading.
FEATURED WRITER OF JULY 2010: Paritosh Uttam, Author of ‘Dreams in Prussian Blue’ and ‘Urban Shots’.
Magical! That one word would summarise the experience of publishing this edition. It truly was magical! Nothing excites a writer more than reading or writing about ‘writing’. This issue was one class apart and one that we loved putting together—also one that our contributors loved being a part of! We designed almost the entire issue in black and white, to give a beautiful theme such as this its right and most-suited elegance. A must-read issue for the lover of the written word! [/box]
Rhyme and meter faultless; style and syntax flawless
Yet dull, insipid, tasteless; far too often do we read
That certain genre of ‘cool’ writing
Perfect in form but devoid of content
Writing is not contrivance; not words strung together
By lifeless pen on paper; or flat keys on computer.
Then one sees another kind and knows at once
Volcanic thought and molten feeling have
United, gurgled and churned deep within
For days, for months, for years and then,
The floodgates opened: unable to contain
Words have poured out like lava
Unfettered, rich, forceful.
Or that rough winds have raged about
The very heavens have seemed to clash
Thunderclaps chasing lightning bolts
And then the rain of words has poured
Forceful as a torrent – to sit up in awe
Or gentle as a drizzle to gladden lovers’ hearts.
And the trees below – lashed or gently washed
Struck, provoked, enlightened and soothed in turn
Soak in the juices to the end and for some time to come
Their leaves glisten in the sparkling sun.
P.R.Viswanathan is a born and bred Mumbaikar, a career banker and now a consultant in microfinance. After retiring and setting up as a consultant working from home, he has indulged his passion – writing. The subjects that interest him are parochial politics, microfinance, terrorism and deficit financing and above all India.
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Very nicely strung together to convey something deeply felt. Each of your pieces I have read on Spark has had a certain gravity about it.
However, is it so bad to string together something for its own sake? Can there be no beauty without meaning?
Aren’t contrivances a reflection of the raw subliminal? Ask a person who is brimming with emotions to write, and he will gush forth. Ask a person who has momentarily nothing-in-particular on his mind to write, and he will probably end-up exploring the deepest, the most unknown of niches of his psyche.