'HAD I NOT BEEN A POET.I'D HAVE BEEN A MESS

JEET Thayil is not done with his ghosts but he has hung some of the pain out to dry.
You dare place your hand and fingernail on it; it is only in a poem or two in I'll Have It Here (HarperCollins), that you can hear the poet howl. Thayil's latest collection of poems, which comes after the death of his wife Shakti Bhatt in 2007, is also a collection of ageing and recovery of the self, layered with time's stamp on the world.
It comes after novels such as Narcopolis, (2012), which won the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature, and a 2008 poetry collection, These Errors Are Correct after the latter, he had said he would not write poetry again.
That poetry has returned fiercely, which is evident in this collection with the Thayilesque signatures intact. The poet is present and absent in the same poem. There are poems that build up like the hit of a drug high. There are poems that whisk you away into some culde-sac and then get you back in a room to look at the self, the nation, and the world. There is, for instance, a poem in which Gandhi is imagined as a house lizard, a poem on 'self-portrait as found in stockmarket headlines', a poem on what it means to make, among other things, poetry in today's India.... Excerpts from a conversation with Jeet on the kind of ride this collection has been.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der December 05, 2024-Ausgabe von The New Indian Express.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 9.500 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der December 05, 2024-Ausgabe von The New Indian Express.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 9.500 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
European, Iranian FMs to hold nuke talks
THE Foreign ministers from Britain, France and Germany, together with the EU's top diplomat, will hold nuclear talks with their Iranian counterpart in Geneva Friday, officials and diplomats said.

HI & TN Govt Sign MoU for Jr WC, Pak Likely
HOCKEY fans in Tamil Nadu are in for a treat as Hockey India (HI) and the Tamil Nadu Government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for hosting the FIH Hockey Men's Junior World Cup 2025 to be held in the state.
Small, mid-cap bleed over Israel-Iran conflict; investors lose ₹4 lakh crore
Fed keeps rates steady in line with mkt expectation
GCC Staff Held for Issuing Fake Govt Job Orders
A Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) staff was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly cheating a man of ₹17.5 lakh by promising government jobs and issuing fake appointment orders.
In Gaza, 72 civilians killed by Israeli fire
GAZA'S civil defence agency said Israeli fire killed at least 72 people on Thursday, including 15 who had gathered near an aid distribution site.

Govt Mulls New Industrial Estate; Stalin Highlights MSME Growth
The state government is actively considering a proposal from the Ambattur Industrial Estate Manufacturers Association (AIEMA) seeking the allocation of 1,000 acres of land to establish a new industrial estate within a 50 km radius of Chennai.

Future of Work: Human-Agent Teams Built to Scale
Organisations and Gen Z are now talking about ‘working smarter and sharper’ and not just working harder.
Exotic monkeys, tortoises seized at airport, 1 held
The Customs officials of Chennai international airport foiled a bid to smuggle two exotic monkeys and seven tortoises by a passenger who came from Thailand on Wednesday night.
SC Transfers ADGP Case to CB-CID, Sets Aside HC Order
The Supreme Court on Thursday transferred the investigation against ADGP (Additional Director General of Police) H M Jayaram to the CB-CID after the Tamil Nadu government said it wants his suspension to continue till a probe is completed in the kidnapping case allegedly linked to him.

65-Yr-Old Trampled to Death by Jumbo, Locals Go on Protest Rally
A 65-year-old man was trampled to death by a wild elephant at Machikolli in Devarsholai Panchayat near Gudalur on Wednesday night.