His Genius and Uniqueness

His genius and uniqueness

The poetic genius of Abdul Rahman can not be described in one or two articles. It will be a Himalayan task, if I venture to illustrate his aesthetic appreciation and innovative poetic techniques through his poems.

However I wish to cite a couple of his poems just to point out his genius and greatness.

“The Lightning” is a natural happening everybody is familiar with even from the childhood. Thunder and Lightning frighten us in our childhood and after we grow old, we wish to avoid us from these, as any calamity may occur if we were direct witnesses to them.

The poet after a close observation describes lightning in a poem titled”The Lightning” as follows:

Fire crackers

In the festival at sky.

The fiery snakes

Emitted by

The anthills called clouds.

The enlightened blabber of

The Black lips.

The shorthand writing of

The oration of Thunder.

This poem is an example of the image-producing talent of Abdul rahman. In another poem titled “The Fallen Angels” he gives a multilayered and thought-provoking poem.

If boons

Would become

Curses

Then

Why should

There be

Penances?

Here the words,’boons’,'curses’ and Penances are highly symbolic and if only we are able to catch the meaning of the symbols then we can understand this poem.

In India, where arranged marriage system is prevalent, marriage may be a boon to women. In this largely populated country ‘Employment’ may be a boon to the educated youth. There may be so many things which may seem as boons by various sects of people. The efforts to attain them are the penances done by them. If after a consistent and meticulous effort, the boon they get, disappoint them then naturally they will think like this.

The boons and curses may vary according to the individual’s way and approach to life. But the question will definitely arise if the ‘boons’ become ‘curses’.

The poem tells a thousand things in this short form.