Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Cryptic Creativity


I do often stare at my little pieces of knitted words which seem to me as some sort of stutters and stammers emerged from my crisscrossed thought-wires and wonder...Is it something which directly got sprouted from my mind as "leaves on trees"? Or at where did the thought coalesce with the artistry? Where do all these perceived elements stash themselves, later to be spurted at some moment's urging? At times the effusion is so eloquent and at other times I do tap my fingers with a sweaty uneasiness as if the words have some ugly attitude, like we ourselves are "whiplashed between an arrogant over estimation of ourselves and a servile underestimation of ourselves”. (Time to question the creativity).The legendary creative minds wrote of their enchanting and enigmatic process which brim our wonderment. Wordsworth said of it in a poem itself;
 For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasures fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

Coleridge's Kubla Khan occurred while he was in an opium dream...the hangover of the drug lighted his "territory" imagination, transcending the creative confines. But I like to share something incredible and fascinating which I have read recently of the creative inspiration of the American poet Ruth Stone. Ruth Stone lived in rural Virginia and while she use to work at her fields she may sometimes feel a poem from a far off distance, and the poem would be like running towards her like a "thunderous train of air"(as it is described) and she would "run like hell", as fast as she can- she would be chased by the poem - she would run and run to get into her house- grope for a paper and pen- so that she can seize the poem and put it to the page as it would passes through her! And sometimes (the most fascinating part) she would delay in getting the paper and alas, the poem would air through her and at that very moment she would quickly grab a pen and grab the poem too by its "tail' not allowing it to be missed and would pull it back wards and transcribe it onto the page and since it's from "tail to head", the last word will be the first! What an amazing and ineffable feeling that would be!...Imagine you to be hunted by a poem which comes like a "thunderous train of air" and finally getting possessed by it and there it is!-stanza one, two, three -and imagine it to be backwards like she said in the otherwise case! And there was a third possibility too which she had said...sometimes she may totally miss the poem and she would watch it going away from her after the possession, leaving it for another poet! Generous and consoling thought! So if an idea gets stuck in your guts, stuffed and rotted, with all its unwillingness to turn up, then don't get upset...console yourself that someone somewhere may spell that idea more beautifully than you may do. And you yourself may read it later somewhere by someone and may savour it and get lured by it than you may "if it were your own"!



17 comments:

  1. Amazing my dear Nasnin!
    I have felt this too many times ( I m too lethargic ) and I have seen you writing my thoughts and was delighted at the tapestries of your presentation which I could never have had..
    Infact i just read a blog now - suma's neeharam - and thought the same.. the words I spelt out yesterday is in a final form, a better form probably.
    The imageries you evoked is just too romantic and I am in love with 'the poetry chase':)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh My.. Nasnin.. that is so nice! and true too.. many times I have felt it.. and seeing some one pen it down beautifully, at times makes me jealous.. like nw! ;) (many a times i wanted to write about this feeling of loosing.. didnt get the correct words.. u have said really nice..)
    But having some one out there in the world just like you.. and your mind is thrilling!

    ReplyDelete
  3. lots of "many a times" in there just forget it.. :)
    Just nw read what Pygma said.. similar words penned down earlier..!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Beautiful post Nasnin... I can relate to it and loved the 'poetry chase' part... Thoughts do wander like anything and we will have to just grab them when they come to us!!

    I don't write poems but whenever I have a spark of a thought for my blog, I will just stop for a moment and type it on my mobile immediately so that it remains with me and can explore & expand it in leisure :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. This so happens with everyone...At times, I feel I had the similar thought after reading someone's work. Nicely written...

    ReplyDelete
  6. @Pygma : I have always sensed that you have that deep understanding with creativity and you kind of nail the very crux of the things which I wanted to be noticed...and sometimes you bring up the intricacies which I haven't noticed...thanks a lot dear...take care and love you:-)

    @KP: That's it dear...me too sometimes feel so jealous when someone pens the exact idea we had in mind...and when we can identify ourselves with the creations it's a strange and immense feeling that can evoke goosebumps...it gives us happiness at the same time a sense of being lost...thanks sweet:-)

    @Anand: Yeah me too loved that "poetry chase" story...it's when I have read about it that I happened to ponder upon this creative sparks and inspirations and ended up putting it down...thanks a lot Anand:-)

    @Saru: Everyone experiences this feeling of loosing and later finding it in someone's work...it's a sweet shock...thanks dear:-)

    ReplyDelete
  7. That is quite an insight...

    Of all the poets I have read, and all the views about the art of poetry, I always believed that Frost summed it up best when he said -

    “A poem begins with a lump in the throat, a home-sickness or a love-sickness. It is a reaching-out toward expression; an effort to find fulfillment. A complete poem is one where the emotion has found its thought and the thought has found the words."

    ReplyDelete
  8. amazingly written this...i wonder if you could write such master pieces all in your wake self..then i wonder what will you write when intoxicated :P... :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Yes... While I am not a writer like Wordsworth or Colridge, it is very much like what the American poet says.. There are times when I am writing something and I cant get beyond the first two lines and then there are times when I can write pages..Late nights I find are the best times to hold thoughts in place.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thanks you so much friends for sharing your thoughts and the valuable feed backs:-)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Almost all the time that is how my works get out. i sit with my family watching a movie or i am out there talking to my boyfriend or in any of those 101 situations out there and then slowly and steady some words/thoughts run thought my mind like a never ending slid show. And then i couldn't stop the train of words until i put then out.... And then even when i feel like writing nothing comes out...

    You said do nicely. loved this post <3 :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. By the way thanks for dropping by and leaving a comment :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. You have such a *wonderful* blog here, Nasnin, and you write so beautifully! I really enjoyed this particular post and especially the part about Ruth Stone :) I can relate to that as many others here stated. Sometimes I kick myself because I don't take the time to write down a verse that pops into my mind, especially one that rhymes so well, ugh! he he!

    Thanks so much for visiting my blog and leaving such a nice comment :) It is a pleasure to meet you here :) *hugs*

    ReplyDelete
  14. P.S. ~ LOVE the clock on your blog ~ so cute!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. Thanks a lot dear for that wonderful appreciation and am extremely happy to meet you....thanks a ton:-)

    And yeah me too love that cut clock...you can get it on your blog by the "home home clock" below!

    ReplyDelete