MY BIOGRAPHY OF EARLY POETRY

And all began when one day I wanted a reward,

For all my endless writings had yet not fetched an award,
So taking the bunch of papers, straight up the road I went
With a hope for fruitfulness, to the awarding committee president.

Skimming through the white sheets of ink-filled paper
He looked right into my eyes and revealed the drawer

Taking out a stamp that said “Rejected”, he said
As though with steaming surge of anger and hatred.

“Your poems are not simple and straight,
Flowery literature interlaced with high intellect”
Might be apt for a distinguished scholar like me
But certainly not for the common man, you see.”

So the next morning, I hurried with an all new bunch
That was simple and lucid and required no crunch
Any common man could read and comprehend
With no slightest sign of poetic device; nor any “emotion-blend”.

Then, for the second time, he scanned the sheets and conveyed
That he was still not happy with the way I had arrayed 
My thoughts to plain and natural expression
“You need not be so straight to get an ovation.”
So the next day, I wrote a few poems on some leading issues,
Casteism and Secularism, and humanism did I choose
This I thought was certainly not what I wanted to do
Oh I said “For the sake of an award”, neither for me nor for you.


“Ah, your poems are excellent, now you get
A foreword and appreciation written by an eminent poet
Then launch your works at a gala public gathering
With people of different views and different social standing.

But there’s one more thing you have to do, I’m afraid!
“The official scanning of the poems”, he said.
So, to ensure your works are well received by the public
You must get it reviewed by a well-known critic.”

So I did as told, and at the end of all sweat that I had spent
A yellow and blue letter to me was sent
Declaring that they were only to glad
To finally confer me the “Best Poet “award.