Interview with poet K.K. Srivastava
By
Patrick Sammut
K K Srivastava, born in Gorakhpur
in India, in 1960, is a Civil Servant by profession. He is Principal
Accountant General (Audit) Madhya Pradesh and currently posted at
1.
The best
poetry is written when the poet is not sober. Poetry as delirium. Your
reactions to such statements?
A:- A difficult question. My poems get shaped in a manner
that gives an inkling into the working of my mind- a mind that juxtaposes two
different sides of my experiences-the first the revealed one and the second the
concealed one. There are overlappings between the
two. Delirium represents these overlappings and from
these flow the material for poems. Sobriety adds depth to poems; it makes them
lasting and adds magnificence which in turn stakes a claim to permanence.
2. How does Srivastava reconcile his
job in Accounts and Audit with being creative and poetry? Which of these two
activities make you feel a useful human being mostly?
A:- Both are apart. Both are different. Pleasure from one is
no substitute for pleasure for the other.
I am fortunate: I am at ease with both the pleasures.
3. Is it true that the poet finds himself, who he is, when in
extreme solitude?
A:- I agree. Solitude reveals hidden aspects of a writer.
There, he is one with himself. It is there that he observes himself more
closely giving a hard, dispassionate look at his perceptions, drives, rootlessness, alienation and a host of so many other
things. There introspective process sets in bringing to the fore what fear
coming out in situations other than extreme solitude.
4. One has to “lose his sanity” in order to discover more about
his self. Can madness be considered as a kind of healing?
A:
Madness is another extreme of genius. You know the relationship between
creativity and eccentricities. Sanity, sometimes, hides more of insanity and
reveals less of sanity. I agree with you to come to grips with self, one has to
depart from his sanity. Real creativity and literature flow amid insanity.
5.
Can one say that Srivastava
tries to give order to chaos through his verse?
A: My
verse is an effort to seek equilibrium through a chain of disequilibrium. Chaos,
of course, is there (as I see in retrospect) in my writings but there is an
order out there. I open it for the readers to visualise, conceptualize and
establish that order.
1. Can one say that in certain instances Srivastava
applies the principles of logic and economics to his poetry while in the
process of creating it?
A:
Yes. I do. Economics, logic and philosophy have old, well-defined linkages.
Adam Smith’ magnum opus Wealth of nations is the first book that indicates
rationality in human behaviour. Much of the writings by Prof A. K Sen, the Noble Prize winner economist have delved into the
relationship between consumer behaviour, social welfare choices, human
psychology and logic. My reading of economic literature has rendered it
possible for me to factor in these inputs in some of my poems as my poems
concern with what some reviewers have called,” unpoetic
topics.” A Citadel of Arguments is one such poem.
2. In A Citadel of
Arguments you write “Myself, me and I, the three
inner voices”. What is the exact distinction between these three?
A: Hulme, Baudelaire and Eliot are the poets who used the
technique of de’doublement which basically divides
the self into parts but these are of the same. I have tried to introduce in
some of my poems, longer ones in particular, this concept. “I” is confronted
with it’s own persona and they talk to each other. In
this particular poem, self assumes more than one form to give a logical flow to
my thought process.
3. In A Citadel of
Arguments Srivastava writes, “Go deeper there,
where everything is awake and healthy.” Does this mean that reality is asleep
and unhealthy?
A:
From my student days, Freud and Jung have attracted me. All case studies by
Freud are in my bookshelves. Freud rightly mentions two-third of our mind, like
iceberg, is hidden, with our reach extending to only the first one third. It is
this two-third that dominates us, that dictates to us what are our outer
manifestations. Reality is definitely asleep but it is healthy. Most of my
poems revolve around my acquaintance with Freudian/Jungian literature that has
equipped me with mechanism to understand human beings/behaviour to a great
extent.
4. How do you react to one saying that yours is also a poetry with a strong political content in the wider sense?
A: I
am sorry; my poems have no political content.
5. According to Srivastava what is
the relation between the poet and God; the politician and God; the economist
and God; the intellectual and God? What may be the difference between being a
poet, a politician, an economist and an intellectual?
A:
Many intellectuals and politicians have been poets. Poetry can go well with
everything. Poetry does not clash with any other discipline or category of people.
That is the reason it is universal. God exists. I believe in God.
6. To what extent writers such as Shakespeare, Dante, Rabelais,
Cervantes and others have influenced your writings?
A:
None as named by you. But I have read Eliot, Muktibodh,
Kafka, Nietzsche, Spinoza, Bergson and a few psychologists. I have dealt with,
at length, their influences in twenty two pages long preface to my second book
An Armless Hand Writes.
7. Yes, I have read that. Coming to another aspect, mockery,
especially in relation to the upper middle class, is a primary element in your
poetry. From where does this originate?
A:
Snobbery, intellectual lethargy, muddle-headedness, duality of personality
really upset me. I shun parties and gatherings where people in possession of these
traits roam around and rule the roost. I know a gentleman who was fond of
throwing very late night parties, particularly on weekends, serving imported
scotch there, playing a perfect host but then on making forays into that
gentleman’s activities, I found him indulging in immoral activities. Behind his
benign smile was a dark past and present. His emptiness was fitly matched by
emptiness of his surroundings as he perceived these..
Saturday Dinner Party in my first book is primarily inspired by my observations
of functioning of some of hypocrites and flatterers in late night parties
thrown by this gentleman. Then sexually deprived persons, given the position of
power, influence reality through their distorted fantasies and draw sadistic
pleasure that substitutes for the pleasure denied to them due to such
deprivations. So you are right; upper
middle class is a subject for me and will continue to be that.
8.
That of Srivastava is not only poetry through words with a meaning,
but also through words with particular sounds, at times also cacophonic. What
do you say about this?
A: Some reviewers like
Patricia Prime and Bernard Jackson have found musical sounds in my poems. If
music has to come in any poem, it will come on it’s
own and not ask for any extra efforts on the part of a writer. These things
happen, just happen. I have never made any extra efforts to create music or any
specific sound in any of my poems.
9.
Reality, in
its best and worst, as fascination for poet Srivastava.
Your reactions to such a statement?
A: Reality is inbuilt into
any writer’s regimen. You cannot wish it aside. It will compel itself onto you.
So is the case with me. Reality as captured through my observations is a
fascination for me and I use these observations in my poems.
10.
The mind as
an unlimited space to explore and also as a world which is continuously
creating images, reflections and more. Your reactions?
A: I brood, keep brooding.
My mind is a restless creature. It is never one with itself. I introspect for
long hours to decipher issues, problems, concepts and behaviour. Through my
poems I reflect on events and human behaviour around me. There are times I
spend two/three sleepless nights. My mind, then, is my biggest enemy.
11.
Is Srivastava’s poetry a way how to react against “foredoomed
truths, in prevaricating falsehood” (Disembogued
Stirrings)?
A: I am glad you have
spoken about this poem. Disembogued Stirrings, An Unidentified Person, An
Unfinished Journey are three of the poems which some reviewers found complex
and the approach
complicated. A poet from
12.
Paradox is a
very strong element in Srivastava’s verse. Why is
this?
A: Paradox is a great riddle for me. You walk a
road hoping to meet someone and you meet someone else. You expect some good
news and get a bad one. Unexpected happenings create paradox. Jerky movements
in life create paradoxical situations and I as a writer am aware of these when
I write. An Unidentified Person and Of Frederick Nietzsche’s Superfluous People
are two of the poems where I have consciously or unconsciously dealt with
paradoxes or paradoxical situations. In parties I normally notice a lot of such
paradoxes. And ultimately, you will agree, paradoxes also create
literature.
13.
Poetry as a
play on and with words. But also daily reality relies on words many times
uttered without the necessary thinking process needed especially in a world
where pluralism in the media dominates. What does Srivastava
think about this?
A: Poetry fuses ideas with
words. It is ultimate manifestation of unison for any writer. Poetry is one of
the highest forms of literature. It soothes poets and readers.
14.
Srivastava describes
history as anarchy. Why is this? Is there an alternative to such anarchy?
A: Many writers find
anarchy in historical movements. For me too, there are historical absurdities
leading to anarchy. World peace and world community are things poets aspire for
through their poetic creations. I am with such poets.
15.
At times
your poetry is hermetic, cryptic; on other occasions it is crystal clear,
sharp, direct. Who is the ideal reader of Srivastava’s verse?
A: Readership normally
does not bother me much. Nor marketability of my books.
I am a writer, if I am permitted to say so, and not a businessman. Serious
poetry I write and am happy that there are serious persons like you across the
globe who read such poetry. A writer must never think of his target group.
Literature paves the way for itself. It seeks out it’s
way-sometimes smooth, sometimes rough and fluctuating. I believe in letting my
books go the way time desires them to go.
A critical comment on INELUCTABLE STILLNESS: By Patrck Sammut
Why
Ineluctable Stillness? Does the title of this collection of poems refer to the
place from where the poet Srivastava observes the
world’s spectacle and writes his poetry? A place where everything is still
except what is happing in the mind? Or does it refer to daily routine which is
always the same and thus unmoving in all its superficial movement? These are
the questions which came to my mind after reading the present collection of
Indian poet K.K. Srivastava. He is the one who
manages to jump out of humankind’s never-ending race and watch the others from
outside. In this privileged position (but also a painful situation) he
reflects, uncovers what is always around us but unseen by us mortals, and
finally reaches rest (or stillness?) through the creation of words. He writes
while in trance or semi-trance, thus being capable to see our reality from “the
other side” or from above. In such a situation Srivastava
poet and human being manages to experience dimensions which are inhabited by
other beings, some divine, others sensual or devilish. In these moments Srivastava transcends all physical dimensions and becomes a
voice which is nowhere and everywhere at the same time. It is a voice which
reflects continuously, faces different threats, emotions, experiences and
enigmas. All this happens during the voyage of self-discovery while Srivastava reacts to both external and internal stimuli.
At times his
poetry takes the form of a thousand year old tale which may have its origins
before the creation of mankind. During his search the poet encounters numerous
presences which may belong to our known world or to unknown worlds such as that
of dreams, thus delving in dreamlike spaces or dimensions. While captured or
navigating in his dreams Srivastava manages to pass
numerous doorways which take him to a multitude of levels which go deeper and
deeper in his subconscious, thus giving shape and meaning to distortions. Thus
imagery is many times surreal to reach special effects.
Moments of
tension, tyranny, terror, chaos and frightening sounds alternate with others of
calm, silence, and benevolence. The latter are moments when Srivastava
is one with infinity. In A Citadel of Arguments the poet writes about arguments
and stretches the theme till he reaches the grotesque and the farcical. Here Srivastava writes in detail about today’s renewal of
“obsolete ignorance”, “inverted intellectual dimensions”, “illusory wisdom” and
“the triumph of folly over arguments”. The numerous repetitions in Saturday
Dinner Party convey the monotony and artificiality (“It is a party, attended by
men,/ With womanly qualities./ And women,/ With
inhumanly qualities.”) of such upper middle class occasions. The poet observes
from a distance and analyses with clinical detail every move, feeling, vice or
virtue, and behaviour of humankind with cutting edge irony. Srivastava
is the observer who describes in front of the world-stage where human beings
(the social classes which live in comfort) are actors acting artificially.
Other human beings (such as the old sick beggar and his bitch in Renewed Bonds)
in their physical misery act only human but are more natural and happy than the
rest.
Srivastava’s poetry is
loaded with symbols with the help of which the poet tries to find meanings
regarding the real world (also “the meaning within” as in A Citadel of
Arguments), for sure not a simple one but one very complex and paradoxical. The
reader asks which is the simpler of these two: the real world or that of dreams
- the latter made of mythical, even ethereal presences – where all presences
and images have a meaning? This enigma creates a lot
of pain in the poet. Srivastava’s verse sheds light
on the “utter folly of ultimate unrealities of human existence” (An
Unidentified Person), and this is possible also through continuous dialogue
between the poet’s unconscious and subconscious. During his voyage Srivastava poses innumerable questions, even though answers
are not available. Two important questions posed by Srivastava
are, “could I get in dream what I lost in reality?” and “Could you get in
reality what you have not seen in a dream?” (Discontented
Dreams). Words and their manipulation are infinite. Does this create more chaos or introduces order to our world of
unanswered questions?
Srivastava’s poetry
utilises also prose rhythms. From the perspective of linguistic registers Srivastava draws from politics and economics. A big part of
his rhythm in poetry is made up of assonances, alliterations, play on words
such as paradoxes, oxymoron, chiasms, and various repetitions, all placed in
its proper place. He uses direct discourse, while long lists of adjectives
strengthen the descriptive dimension. Some backgrounds are reminiscences of
Dante’s Inferno or Paradiso.
Through
language – which in Srivastava’s hand is fluent,
flowing and flexible, but also beautiful, sensuous, provoking – he makes the
reader feel what he cannot feel thanks to routine and the weight or distraction
of daily and monotonous chores. Words are like soft clay in the hands of the
poet, ready to take any form, sound or meaning he wishes. Adjectives, nouns and
verbs are three pillars on which Srivastava make his
poetry stand. Description and the surreal, solid reality and action (within and
without, positive and negative) are behind all this.
PATRICK
SAMMUT lives in Malta, is Vice-President of Maltese
Poetry Society and a prolific writer.