THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: World poetry is enriched by the great works of poets like Rabindranath Tagore, Emily Dickinson, William Wordsworth, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath. How amazing it would have been if these maestros wrote poetry in the duet form? How different would be the reading experience? One poem, a single theme but two poets - that is what differentiates the concept of ‘duet poetry’ introduced by Gopakumar Radhakrishnan, a poet from Palakkad, from other poetic movements in the history of literature.
The duet form of poetry is a distinctive format through which emotions, expertise, and expressions are fused together under a common title with a common theme written by two authors. According to Gopakumar, there are many other art forms where a duet form of participation is well-established over years. Poetry in the duet-format is rarely or never presented in the duet form. There can be instances like co-authored, co-edited books to show but here also the art forms of the individual author stands well separate with its style and underlying theme.
He says that the duet poetry promotes poetry writing, team work and collaboration, and exchange of ideas across all conventional borders. It gives wonderful and amazing reading experiences to the readers and presents the idea of a merged thought process of two different personalities. This form of poetry can be applied to any language of the world. Apart from writing poetry, Gopakumar is deeply interested in publishing anthologies which feature both Indian and international poets.
“I was always keen to put something new in style with respect to the presentation of the books. I believe every book should be memorable and should be a gift to myself and all the poets involved. So when you ask, from where this concept of duet-poetry came from, I should say my basic thirst for newness has driven me again to the ocean of poetry and it’s far reaching possibility of duet-poems,” he says. “So in this regard, I put forward the idea of actualising an anthology of this kind around June 13, 2013 under the title Synthesis. This new idea was really welcomed by the modern English poets of India and abroad. And the first ever international duet-poetry anthology was released on the occasion of the fifth national poets meet at Bhubaneswar, Odisha on April 27, 2013,” he adds. The duet-poetry anthology Synthesis hosted 74 poets from India and abroad and their 37 duet poems in English as a pilot series. Gopakumar is planning to promote this concept to more heights with more anthologies of this kind.
The duet-poetry has been featured in Miracle World Records in 2013, with Gopakumar receiving the ‘Inventor of the Duet- Poetry’ award for the ‘brand new invention in poetry that involves two poets writing for a common theme in the same language’.
For Gopakumar, poetry is a wonderful way of gifting back to life and to the beings around. “Poetry is a silent personal prayer that binds me to this wonderful sea of feelings, its depths and waves and a light source that guides me from within,” he says.
Gopakumar has established the online portal poiesisonline.com to promote poetry and poets around the world. Every year the portal organises National Poets Meet and by this time five national poets meet across the nation has been held. Poets from various states of India and abroad converge for celebrating their poetry in these meets. Three meets has been organised in the city of Bangalore, one at New Delhi and the last one at Odisha, he adds. “We have published around 700 poets and their poetry. Our website stands out as a trustworthy platform for many poets to publish their works,” says Gopakumar.
As a publisher, Gopakumar has published around 10 international anthologies and six anthologies by many authors. His first personal anthology recently came out under the title Gypsy Notes. The Indian Poetry Society recognised his effort in the form of ‘Young Poet Award’ in 2012, for publishing many poets of India and promoting English poetry in India. He lives in the village of Kavilpad in Palakkad with his wife and three kids.
