Youngsters in Ahmedabad reclaim poetry

Insta poems are becoming popular these days with youngsters. Such is the popularity of few poems, that they get more than a lakh hits. Social media is now full of such short verses written by youngsters. These poems are short, direct, crisp and they strike a chord with the young and restless at heart. And in this age of quick online consumption, poetry has changed its form too.It’s no longer about winding words and multi-layered metaphors, today’s poetry is about raw, naked feelings that are lot more direct and a little less lyrical. Free verse poetry has taken over traditional poetry forms these days as youngsters are experimenting with different forms of poetry — both on social media and poetry night outs.
The rise in the popularity of slam poetry amongst young Amdavadis is also due to easy availability of such poems online. The virtual world is now acting as a facilitator as it gives a platform to people from all over the world to watch poetry performances and read insta poems, easily.
Ahmedabad Times caught up with a few young artists, as well as listeners, to understand why this art form is catching up so fast.
Popularizing poetry
Youngsters in the city have brought poetry to the foreground with multiple open mic nights and poetry pages on social media. Darishta Jain, a young professional and a city based poet says, “Spoken word poetry is a kind of poetry that involves performances. It is a mix of theatre and poem. People connect instantly because they experience the intensity. Poetry is just a click away on social media these days. It is easily accessible and people can give their opinion about the poems. That is essentially what people want - being heard. Knowing what they say is worth something.”
Bhavi Patel, a poet and an MBBS student from Vadodara, said, “The poet community prides itself on being accepting and inclusive. We create safe spaces. Spoken word is one place where the poet is as important as the audience”. Bhavi says that poetry as an art form is flexible; it has no rules. This is the primary reason why youngsters relate to it so much, she said.
Abha Mehra is another poet from Ahmedabad. This young student-cum-entrepreneur explains why poetry as an art form suited her the most when it came to expressing feelings, “What started as poetry recital to beat my stage fright, transgressed into trying performance poetry gradually. Poetry has enabled us to say things we wouldn’t have disclosed before”. Abha adds that poetry has helped talk about her issues with body shaming and other personal problems too. “When you're writing poetry, you dissociate yourself from that experience or feeling or emotion, and the perspective changes. Poetry can give you closure,” adds Abha.
The creative freedom allowed by this form attracts a lot of artists. To top that is the fact that young audiences have taken up with this art form too. The poems shared by youngsters are engaging and greatly relatable. Bhagyashree Kulkarni, a young student from HL college, says, “I enjoy poetry a lot. I have always been a fan of poets like Sylvia Plath and T S Eliot. It is refreshing to read and watch poems put up by youngsters, like me. The poems are simple and extremely relatable. It is very easy to connect with the words of poem written by young poets these days and that is why they have found such a large audience”. Himanshu Goel, an Insta poet and a student in Ahmedabad, explains how social media contributes in popularizing poetry, “Social media allows a great deal of freedom to poets online. Also, instant feedback through direct messages, likes and comments motivates the artist a great deal and helps us in honing our art”.
Communicating through poetry
Expression is a vital need for everyone. While some express through music, dance and other similar art forms, there are others who find solace in words. Poetry has become a well-known medium of expression for many youngsters in the state. Bhavi Patel, an MBBS student from Vadodara, shares, “I started writing poetry out of loneliness. Out of all the desperate measures, I chose poetry to combat loneliness. There was no stopping after that. Every day I came home and wrote about my day, about every tiny, insignificant detail. Writing has become my way of forgetting, my way of letting go”.
Similarly, Darishta shares why she chose poetry as her medium for expression, “I chose poetry because I have always been more comfortable writing down my thoughts before speaking them. As someone who paints, dances and performs poetry, I believe in finding the best way to narrate a story. And poetry is where I find the least loss of translation of my thoughts for me”.
For readers and writers alike, poetry is cathartic, a way to share one’s feelings, thoughts and opinions. Poetry allows people, especially youngsters, a voice and a platform to communicate. Darishta continues to say, “Being someone who comes from a place of trauma, poetry helps deal in a cathartic way for me. Sometimes I write to explain my own thoughts to me”. Similarly, Sneh Sonaiya, a student of MSU, says, “When we strongly feel about something, the need to share it becomes a compulsion. Some stories demand to be revealed. For instance, I once shared a poem about my experience about getting molested as a child. After I shared this, a lot of people came up to me and shared similar cases. I’m glad that something good came out of my reliving a painful memory”. Aditi Chordiya, a student of PDPU, said, “I got exposed to poetry, particularly spoken word, through fellow mates and the reason why I'm still holding onto it is, it sets me free of the humane emotions I drag along at the end of the day. There is no scope of adulteration or creating an attire of fancy through poetry, it's just genuine and simple, just flows, wherever.”