Renowned Israel poet Amir Or was recently in Delhi for a poetry biennale where he talked to Outlook Bibliofile about poetry, its challenges, his process of writing and some generous advice for aspiring poets.
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00:00 If you write a poem you know already, why write it? It's boring.
00:04 You should write a poem you don't know. Be surprised by the poem.
00:08 The poem is like a bigger self. It will give you an answer. It will give you an insight.
00:12 You just plunge into it.
00:14 Hello and welcome to Outlook Bibliophile.
00:23 Today we have with us Israeli poet and author Mr. Amir Roa.
00:28 Thank you Mr. Roa. It's a pleasure to have you here.
00:30 Tell us a bit about yourself. How you started off as a poet?
00:34 Well actually I started as a poet as far as I can remember myself.
00:39 I composed my first poems when I was four years old.
00:44 Before I knew how to write and read.
00:48 And these were persona poems.
00:51 Which means my toys. I gave them voice.
00:55 Like my teddy bear, my little rabbit, elephant.
00:58 Each of them had something to say. And it was all rhymed and metered.
01:02 And my mother used to write it down.
01:05 Which gave me the greatest gift a poet can get.
01:10 Because she conveyed to me this is something important in the world.
01:14 So you obviously come from Israel. Can you tell us a little bit about the poetry scene in Israel?
01:21 New poets are coming up. Anything about that?
01:25 Constantly. It's a very vibrant poetic scene.
01:29 With new, very good, talented young poets coming to the stage every year.
01:35 And I was very deeply involved in that because I started a poetry society and a poetry school.
01:42 You also edited a journal.
01:45 And a book series, etc. Promoting, fostering this new generation of poets year after year.
01:52 By now many of my students are well-known poets.
01:56 So it's a very good place for poetry.
01:59 With changing times, there are challenges to every art form.
02:04 And today when everything is so fast-paced, I guess the same goes for literature.
02:09 What would you say are the challenges that form of poetry is facing today?
02:14 Well, poetry is facing brainwashing.
02:19 In what we call the free world, people are very often deprived of their right, I think, to feel and think for themselves.
02:34 If you look at free countries, the regimes, just like in totalitarian countries, would like the citizens, the people, to be distracted in every possible way.
02:46 To watch soap operas on TV, to play computer games, go shopping, and vote every four years.
02:53 But not to feel and think for themselves.
02:56 So in that sense, poetry is a kind of rebellion. It's a kind of a threat.
03:02 And a true democracy would help the people to see the truth that poetry can convey.
03:10 The individual place where they can create reality for themselves.
03:16 But these people nowadays have to scratch for themselves with their mental nails, almost.
03:27 And popular forms of art are very often shallow, are very often a kind of entertainment.
03:36 And I have nothing against entertainment, but poetry is not about facts. Poetry is about truth.
03:43 Poetry comes to show you something about yourself and your fellow men in a deep way.
03:51 It triggers reflection.
03:53 Definitely.
03:56 Since you made these statements, have you sought to challenge these notions in your work?
04:03 Have you ever fiddled with political thoughts in your poetry? Through your poetry?
04:10 Of course. Because to me, the subject of poetry is life. In all its facets, in all its aspects.
04:19 And politics is a part of it. Not in the sense of which party to vote, but in the sense of how we should be humane,
04:30 how we should foster liberal ideas, freedom as much as possible. Yes.
04:36 And also protesting against evil deeds that are done by either individuals or states.
04:46 So in that context, would you like to say anything about the politics back home in Israel?
04:53 Obviously there is constant conflict, there is tension with the neighbors.
04:57 I would rather read to you a poem that has to do with politics instead.
05:01 The Barbarians, round two.
05:04 It was not in vain that we awaited the barbarians. It was not in vain that we gathered in the city square.
05:13 It was not in vain that our great ones put on their official robes and rehearsed their speeches for the event.
05:20 It was not in vain that we smashed our temples and erected new ones to their gods.
05:26 As proper, we burned our books that have nothing in them for people like that.
05:32 As the prophecy foretold, the barbarians came and took the keys to the city from the king's hand.
05:41 When they came, they wore the garments of the land and their customs were the customs of the state.
05:47 And when they commanded us in our own tongue, we no longer knew when the barbarians had come to us.
05:54 What would your advice be to budding poets, people who want to write, people who want to be associated with the form of poetry,
06:00 but for some reasons maybe are not taking that final leap? What would be your advice to them?
06:07 First of all, write. Even if you can improve your poetry, don't be hesitant to write it.
06:13 You can always improve by reading, by learning the models of very good poets.
06:22 But the first thing is to let yourself speak. Don't shut your own mouth because you're afraid that you don't write well, good enough,
06:31 or because you don't allow yourself to speak the painful thing or the deeper thing of your life.
06:37 Could you tell us some one aspect?
06:39 You don't have to know what you are doing, really. Because, you know, if you write a poem you know already, why write it? It's boring.
06:48 You should write a poem you don't know. Be surprised by the poem.
06:52 The poem is like a bigger self. It will give you an answer. It will give you an insight. You just plunge into it.
06:59 Could you tell us something, one aspect probably, that you think that something that can only be conveyed through the medium of poetry?
07:06 Some emotion, anything which may not be possibly conveyed as strongly through other mediums, perhaps a novel or an essay.
07:16 Something that is conveyed best through poetry.
07:21 Well, I think poetry is a demanding form of art. But in a good way.
07:30 Because, you know, if I write a novel, there's a story. And you are inside the story, carried by the events.
07:38 In a poem you have to do a different kind of work. You have to create a dialogue.
07:42 And the dialogue is created by you bringing in your life.
07:48 If I write about a leaf falling in the autumn and is thrown on the ground just like I am,
07:57 then one will think about the time she was divorced, somebody else about the time he was fired, somebody else about the time he was in meditation.
08:07 Who knows? The more you bring yourself in, the more the poem can give you.
08:13 A poem is a trigger, a poem is a calling. It's not a story.
08:18 You are here in Delhi. Did you explore the city? Did you have a chance to go around?
08:22 What do you think about the poetry scene here? You interacted with many people here, I'm sure.
08:26 I heard a lot of very good poetry from Indian poets here that took part in the festival, in the Biennale.
08:34 Then I was surprised how very good poetry is written here.
08:40 As to Delhi itself, I didn't have time to explore it yet.
08:45 I saw the Lodi Gardens just nearby and I hope to see a little bit more.
08:49 But I've been in Delhi before.
08:52 A very interesting city with a very rich history.
08:57 But you can say that about India at large, such an interesting country with such rich cultures, I would say, not only culture, but history.
09:10 What are you working on in the future?
09:21 I'm working on a new novel about the life of Moses.
09:26 That's what I'm doing at the moment.
09:30 Normally I go somewhere to work in peace without any distractions.
09:36 So that's what I'm going to do next in Belgium.
09:39 What's your process of writing?
09:43 Many people, it depends on person to person.
09:46 Some go in total isolation, some have their specific place where they go and they sort of get the trigger to write.
09:52 How does poetry come to you? How do you write?
09:56 It can come in everyday life.
09:59 But I wake up in the morning and let my pen go.
10:04 I don't necessarily write poems, whatever comes.
10:07 If I have a bigger theme that I want to work on, I go somewhere in total isolation.
10:14 I do that because I want no distraction at all.
10:20 So I feel and think around this theme 24 hours.
10:27 If I don't know what comes next, I sleep for 10 minutes and get the answer in my sleep.
10:33 So 24 hours including sleeping hours are working on the new poetry.
10:40 Thank you very much for talking to us. It was a pleasure.
10:43 Thank you very much, sir.
10:45 [Music]