31 May 2009

Posted by Zahid Hussain | File under :

Poetry is potent.

The rhythmic gush of a poet's mellifluous syllables stir the embers of our frail hearts. In human history, poetry's invisible beat has spurred us into action and we have discovered the far and distant shores of enduring self-revelation.

But why? Why does poetry have this grip we cannot see, but holds us helplessly in its narrative? Whether with iambic pentameter or free verse, words, sometimes arcane, sometimes modern, fall into the depths of us and each time they hit they crack against something hard.

Why? Why does poetry shake us in this way?

The reason lies in the beginning, before we were born.

It was when we were nestled in the black of our mother's womb and the slow systole diastole of her heart comforted us in warmth. And that was all we had before we could speak: that muffled rhythmic thud of sound.

And sound. And sound. And sound.

That's why we can't help, but be ensnared in loops of sounds made words and each time we hear the beat of poetry our soul swells as it remembers the first thud that comforted us in the dark and we know, we just know, that we're finally coming home.

ZHZ.

26 May 2009

Posted by Zahid Hussain | File under : ,

I have often found that two things separate would-be writers from taking wing into the sky of words that they dream of.

They read little.
They write little.

Yet they expect an instant masterpiece to appear out of the nib of their favourite fountain pen.

I encounter such writers so often that I have fallen into the habit of asking them "who" they read and then I ask them "what" they are writing.

And the usual answer?

Hmmm.
Well.
Cough.
Ahem.

And then the million dollar phrase: "but X said that my writing was really good".

Enough.

This is all you have to do - and yes, you have to keep doing it.

1. Read.
2. Write.

Who said life wasn't simple? :-)

ZHZ

11 May 2009

Posted by Zahid Hussain | File under :

How do you describe an object, an animal or person and using the alchemy of word transform it into something utterly real in the mind of another?

Use the precise word.
Use the apt word.
Use the senses: visual, auditory, kinaesthetic, olfactory...
Use verbs of motion - even for something static...

And take your time. Look, really look. Wait, really wait. Observe and catch your observations on cool white paper cut with clean black lines of Indian ink...

And your words will rise form the page, organic and pulsating with the clenching tension of life. And then you'll sit back in your chair and gasp at your creation and wonder how you did it, how you spun letters onto a flat sheet of A4 and made the words...live.

ZHZ