BHUBANESWAR: For performance poet Megha Rao, poetry is all about getting close to your raw emotions.
Speaking at the session ‘Poetry and Prose: It’s in the Bones’ at 12th edition of Odisha Literary Festival-2024 here on Friday, Megha said poetry is overwhelming and makes her vulnerable. “It’s like a mirror. I always see myself in it, like I am hiding in it. When I read my poetry, I feel very vulnerable and sometimes it’s overwhelming.”
In prose, there is a space to experiment. “I could have my characters who evolve over a period of time, their personalities and principles change. After a point of time, I lose control over the characters. They become their own people and it becomes hard to project yourself onto them, which is not the case in poetry,” she said.
Megha said identity is complex as people are always evolving. Her work ‘You Can Call Me Army’ focused on the changing identity of women. “I still feel that. In public and private spaces, we show up as different people. Especially in the age of social media, you are always presenting a very specific version of yourself. In an environment like this, it is easy to hide some parts of yourself that you feel ashamed of. At the same time, you present parts of yourself that you really like.”
Talking about the ways to attract youngsters to poetry, Megha said there should be brevity and simplicity in poems, especially the spoken words. When a lot of readers hear the word poetry, they think about old, white men like Shakespeare and Wordsworth. They are wonderful and have their own target audience. “But there are readers who don’t want to hold a dictionary while reading poetry. I like how things are evolving now. People are getting attracted to poetry because it has been made simpler. Some people might say poetry has been diluted but I don’t feel that way. At the end of the day, poetry should be accessible if we want it to be read,” she opined.
Displaying her excitement over the changing times, Megha said people are assisting the spoken word now. “You have poets putting their works on Spotify. I think adapting to changing times is great.”
The performance artist from Kerala enchanted the audience as she narrated parts of her poem ‘Pauses’ on the occasion. ‘Pauses’ talks about the importance of slowing down in life and the joy of missing out (JOMO).
Megha’s recent poetry collection ‘Teething’ is now being taught in Kerala University.