Dosa, flipped. Idea, stuck. Out came the notes application on the phone.
Waiting for a friend. Hit with an idea. Extra space was made in the mental notes bar.
At a library, turning pages. A lightbulb moment. An idea popped up. A notepad and a pen were placed next to the book being read.
This is how, for the last three or four years, abstract ideas, words, sentences and poems found themselves jotted down in physical and digital pages by poet Srividya Sivakumar. This led to her new collection, The Soundtrack of My Life - Side B, published by Red River. The book contains some already published, and some new works reaching readers for the first time. “That’s why poetry is kind of a whimsical muse for me. She comes and goes. Some days she doesn’t see me at all,” says Srividya.
For her readers, this printed work is a lot more nuanced than her previous work. “The previous book, The Heart is an Attic, focused a lot on love poetry. This one has language, love, country, and more. It has a wider range of poetry,” she explains. But as a poet, when she reads them now, Srividya feels her voice remains rooted. “When I go back to some of the stronger poems, I realise my thoughts are still the same. I identify with them just as much today.”
Launched in the city on Saturday, the book contains deeply personal poems, some nostalgic, and some are like open letters of love and desire. “The ones I’ve written for my mum and dad, the poems on language, and on climate change, are autobiographical. But love poetry, it is pretty much a romantic literature student’s imagination,” she mentions.
The poet’s approach to reading and writing is steeped in respect for what came before us. “We need to read great literature to know what works for us and what doesn’t. At no point should we say that the old literature or classics don’t mean anything to us. There’s a reason Shakespeare is still revered, centuries later,” she observes, adding that with the change in times, the way we speak and write in a language is evolving, and with that, the genres of literature also change.
Even in her new collection, the first poem, Why Would I Want Daffodils When I Can Have Sunflowers?, focuses on the “evolution of language.” She says, “Sometimes we are so involved with English that if people don’t read English or speak in it, we are dismissive of them; not realising that the language is just a language. As long as it’s used well with respect, any language is fine.”
With this poem, Srividya wants to remind herself that she is an English poet; the words used may be different, but what other poets and, she, is trying to say is the same in every language, everywhere.
Srividya believes that poetry is always around us. Today, it is also at the frontline of movements and revolution. “It is in the social campaigns, demonstrations and protests around the world. Placards and slogans are all meant to evoke a feeling. What is a poem, after all? Words with meaning. Poetry is at the forefront of revolution and thought,” she says, adding that poets are acknowledging the crimes, crises, and conflicts and are talking about them in their own way.
The world is looking for free verse and blank verse, and poets are delivering strong, hard-hitting, and factual messages. “Even in these formats, there’s a certain rhythm and flow of the words. Because the sentences are laid out or structured in such a way,” she says. Any creative person, in this contemporary world, is standing on the shoulders of giants — the writers and thinkers who came before us. “Instead of imitating them, which doesn’t make sense, we study what works for us and what doesn’t. We are here because of a legacy,” she notes.
With this poem collection, Srividya has taken the legacy forward by writing about love, language, moments that shook the nation, and the reflective reality.
This book targets those who wish to read, and Srividya hopes that her work finds readers who may have felt poetry was not for them — this book is an entry to the world of verses, rhythms, and meanings. “Some poets write for other poets. Some poets write for people. I like to think I write for people. Some poems are a breeze, some make you reflect, and some make you uncomfortable. And that’s fine. Because writing for myself is freeing, and if it moves someone else along the way, that’s poetry doing what it does best,” she concludes.