Haiku My Friend (ePub)

During the last two decades, Indian English poetry has shown signs of some vigorous growth, with several established and new poets publishing volumes of considerable merit. This does not mean that Indian English poetry has overcome all its shortcomings. For one thing, it does not appear that Indian English poets have directed their creative energy towards the exploration of poetic form and technique with any degree of singlemindedness, with, of course, notable exceptions such as Vikram Seth. It is against this background that Sanjiv Bhatla's collection of Haikus acquires significance. A poet willing to explore the possibilities of a single poetic form - a unique and challenging form - with rigour, is itself a heartening phenomenon. What makes Bhatla's effort more noteworthy that he has not chosen to follow the beaten path in his handling of the Haiku? The Haiku, since its emergence in the 16th century Japan, has traditionally been associated with Nature as its central subject. This has largely been true even of the Anglo-American use of the Haiku and Haiku-like forms since the time if the Imagists. Brilliant and highly original Haiku-inspired creations such as Ezra Pound's famous two-liners "e;In a Station of the Metro,"e; or Wallace Stevens' "e;Thirteen ways of Looking at Blackbird"e;, essentially conform to the prototype.