I have begun to submit my chapbook manuscript to publication venues. This is new for me. Of course, I have done submissions before. But I have submitted individual poems. I have never submitted a whole manuscript, even if it's only a chapbook. As I have been submitting the chapbook, I have been thinking, how I really think of this manuscript as one long poem. One long poem that is made up of several shorter, stand-alone poems. Recently, I have been thinking about lengths a lot. What does a long poem allow us to do? What is the advantage of writing in series as against poems on different subjects? What does it mean to write shorter poems that would comprise the series as against one long poem?
As a poet, I tend to gravitate towards the "series." Rarely have I written one poem on anything and felt done. I wonder, if it's the wordy Bengali/Indian in me? Or, is it the scholar-academic in me? I shouldn't lie. There is often a crispness to shorter forms that I admire. As a reader, reading something in a shorter form is satisfying. It gives us the feeling of getting done, of accomplishing something. And that's not inherently bad. But, the question is, is that all? What if my back-story is as important as what is happening now? What if nothing about what I am writing can be understood without the "back story"? What if our past, present and futures are entangled in complicated knots? What if writing such knots require more space, than just an one-page poem?
And, along with it, comes the question: a place as complex as South Asia cannot really be fitted into one one-page poem. Heck, "South Asia", that's already too big. Let me cut it down: India/Bengal/Kolkata....instead of "Bengal" and "Kolkata", insert the name of your own region/locality/city here! How does one narrate the palimpsestic nature of life that is Indian life? Where the memories of pre-capitalism brush shoulders with a colonial modernity with an emerging neo-liberal present peppered with the erratic dreams of a socialist future?
Here, I would ask something. Just throw it out. Is the present American obsession with the short form a symptom of its neo-liberal present? The all-pervasive consumerism? The poem that can be done with in a matter of minutes, just like a hamburger or a can of soda. But, for me, if there is anything that keeps me bringing back to poetry (and literature-making in general), it is an attempt to find and carve out a space for myself beyond this market, beyond consumerism. In this, I am committed to the long form in all its multiplicity. The long poem comprised of many crisp, shorter ones. The long poem written and read with a drawl. The long poem that goes on and on, and demands our attention. And, yes, it's okay to write in series. At least for now.
As a poet, I tend to gravitate towards the "series." Rarely have I written one poem on anything and felt done. I wonder, if it's the wordy Bengali/Indian in me? Or, is it the scholar-academic in me? I shouldn't lie. There is often a crispness to shorter forms that I admire. As a reader, reading something in a shorter form is satisfying. It gives us the feeling of getting done, of accomplishing something. And that's not inherently bad. But, the question is, is that all? What if my back-story is as important as what is happening now? What if nothing about what I am writing can be understood without the "back story"? What if our past, present and futures are entangled in complicated knots? What if writing such knots require more space, than just an one-page poem?
And, along with it, comes the question: a place as complex as South Asia cannot really be fitted into one one-page poem. Heck, "South Asia", that's already too big. Let me cut it down: India/Bengal/Kolkata....instead of "Bengal" and "Kolkata", insert the name of your own region/locality/city here! How does one narrate the palimpsestic nature of life that is Indian life? Where the memories of pre-capitalism brush shoulders with a colonial modernity with an emerging neo-liberal present peppered with the erratic dreams of a socialist future?
Here, I would ask something. Just throw it out. Is the present American obsession with the short form a symptom of its neo-liberal present? The all-pervasive consumerism? The poem that can be done with in a matter of minutes, just like a hamburger or a can of soda. But, for me, if there is anything that keeps me bringing back to poetry (and literature-making in general), it is an attempt to find and carve out a space for myself beyond this market, beyond consumerism. In this, I am committed to the long form in all its multiplicity. The long poem comprised of many crisp, shorter ones. The long poem written and read with a drawl. The long poem that goes on and on, and demands our attention. And, yes, it's okay to write in series. At least for now.
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