Imaginative verses unfurl at Chennai poets meet

Chennai: ‘Beauty is there to admire

To draw your mind in absorption

Fill it with ideas pure

And salute the wonder of creation’

His voice was not audible and clear, but centenarian N. Jagannathan recited his two page poem with child like enthusiasm. The senior most member of Chennai Poets’ Circle, Jagannathan is still active in both literary and musical activities. He was one among 40-50 poets who gathered at WUC centre in Chetput on Sunday morning to share and celebrate the poems at an annual seminar on English poetry in India.

Annie George sees poetry is catharsis. Her daughter’s friend was filled with immense grief when her mother passed away. “Even I suffered a lot thinking about the teenage girl and it was poem that gave me a sense of relief. Unlike fiction, poetry has an element of truth,” says Annie George, who came from Kerala to attend the seminar. Poets like Elizabeth Kurian and Padmaja Iyengar from Hyderabad participated in the seminar to meet their friends and to listen and read out poems.

Efflorescence 2013, an anthology of poems penned by Chennai Poets’ Circle members, was released on the occasion. About 34 poets, including Jagannathan, have given shape to their thoughts in verse.

Started as the branch of Poetic Foundation 15 years ago by Yogesh Nair, it got the present name Chennai Poets’ Circle a decade ago.

President of CPS, Dr M. Thirumeni, said around 35 members meet every month to read out their poems. “Mohan Kumar, retired chief secretary of Kerala, was our member. We have patrons like Jap­anese poet Ikeda, Dr Sethu Kumanan, founder-chairman of Soka Ikeda Colle­­ge of Arts and Sciences for Women, and Sivakami Velliangiri. At such annual events, we have critics commenting on poems. Even the public can participate and recite their poems at such events,” says Dr Thirumeni.

The vision of CPC is to use the English language as an instrument for expressing Indian values, culture and its spirituality to the world. “It’s also to encourage creativity; the age of our members starts from 15 years,” he said.