Today I’m sharing with you the work of a poet I met through the evolving online poetry community that crystallises on social media platforms.
Srividya Sivakumar’s poetry is raw, and the pulse of real, deeply felt experiences beats under her words. I am thrilled to be sharing her reading of her poem ‘Hiraeth’, with her own comments about the poem as a part of this post. Her commentary allows the reader a glimpse into that mysterious wellspring of “creation” and “process”, and also a vision of art and its relationship with reality.
Poet’s commentary: “Homesickness” does not do justice to this Welsh word. It speaks of a yearning for a home that you cannot return to, a longing for something that was never yours.
I sometimes talk to people in serious partnerships who tell me they need space, that they are aloof by nature and their partner should understand it. Yes, but also, no.
Some 'space in your togetherness,' is a good thing but not when it makes the other person feel deeply lonely.
I wrote a poem about contrasts, in a domestic scene, of a leaving man and a waiting woman. Of how roles are quickly, almost intuitively adapted to. The landscape where all this plays out is mundane, quotidian. The emotions give it the richest jewel tones.
Poet, columnist and speaker, Dr. Srividya Sivakumar has been a teacher-trainer for twenty-one years, and has published two collections of poetry. Her second book, the critically-acclaimed The Heart is an Attic, was published by Hawakal Publishers, Kolkata in March 2018. The book debuted as the #1 New Release in Indian Literature on Amazon.com and is now in its second edition.
Her work has found place in various journals and anthologies. Srividya's poem, Bamboo,' was nominated for the Best of the Net Anthology in 2018.