Author (Poet) Talks – AV Anjali Menon

I think it is “My Five Dead Friends”. It happened to me at a very intense moment and I wrote it quite spontaneously. I never edited the poem, I wanted to keep it raw and real. It’s about coming of age, how we are brought up to believing in things for its arbitrary value and how the exposure to philosophy, music and literature changes your perceptions. There are so many things that we unlearn as we grow up. By “five friends”, I meant five senses. We initially take things at its face value, but as we evolve, we realise that things are not the way we see, hear, taste, smell, or feel. We keep adding layers and connotations to our linear understanding of the world.

Adding Poetry to Your Daily Life #GuestPost

It amazes me how poetry transcends form and shape. When we say poetic, we don’t necessarily refer to written poems. By Wordsworth’s definition of poetry, “spontaneous overflow of powerful emotions”, poetry could be anything: your clothing, your house, your perfume, or anything materialistic or spiritual, worldly or imaginary can be poetic. All we need to have is an eye for beauty and the heart to appreciate it.