R K SINGH'S TOO SMALL

The TOO SMALL poem that follows is the second shortie to preempt the UK's National Poetry Day on this blog. The first, a few posts below is D H Lawrence's GREEN.

I remember as a child being enchanted by the illusions printed in children's comics. The most common illusion was a variant of the following:

Which line is longer 'A' or 'B' -

A) <----> B) >----<

The illusion I was asked to accept was that line 'B' looked longer than line 'A'. I no longer suffer from this particular illusion I must hasten to add.

The reason for all this conjuration is that R K Singh, an exotic poet several times featured on the Poet-in-Residence blog, can also be an illusory poet when the mood takes him. I note from the content and time stamp on his e-mail that his TOO SMALL poem was possibly composed shortly after the night of the full moon. Maybe on that particular night it was dreamed up. Who can say? Not even R K Singh himself would know.

R K Singh is like many an accomplished poet not averse to using the rope tricks of language to make his points. One might at times, for he can appear obtuse and frustrating to those not familiar with his works, be tempted to call him an Edvard Munch° of contemporary Indian poetry. Or one might not.

TOO SMALL

Humility
with pride and arrogance
stalls expression:
self-illusions aren't
aesthetic adjustments
nor is poet
larger than himself
when he says
he's too small.

______________
R K Singh 2009
Why not visit R K Singh's website? Go there via the PiR A-Z LINKS >>>

°Edvard Munch's iconic painting is of course 'Scream!'; a painting which notably features a lonely figure with a horror-struck gibbous moon face.