Sunday 18 March 2012

Poetry Session on Mar 16, 2012


The session was unique in that men outnumbered women 3:1 at the start. The poetry of of the Mithila poet, Vidyapati, figured, and also the poetry of the earliest Indian English poet, Derozio.

 Priya

We had a guest from America, Thomas Duddy, who has spent the past ten years coming annually to reside in Fort Kochi for extended periods. He is a retired professor of English literature who has taught in many colleges, and knew poets such as Allen Ginsberg and Denise Levertov.

 KumKum and Thomas Duddy

The recitation ranged from the sophisticated cynicism of Andrew Marvell, to the abstract symbolism of Lawrence Durrell, who is better known as a novelist. 

   Sunil, Arundhati, and Sivaram

One poet was repeated for the third time: Angelou – testament to her popularity. Here are the readers at the end of the session in the Library of the Cochin Yacht Club. The late joining of Arundhati Nayar reduced the majority of men from 3:1 to 2:1 ! We are still waiting for Verghese Samuel to join the poetry sessions.

  Thommo, Priya, Tom, KumKum Sivaram, Arundhati, Mathew, Sunil, and Joe

Click below to read a full account of the session ...