Editorial

Nobody Can See a Poet

On 8 April 2023, Noon: New and Selected Poems, the latest book of poems by Jayanta Mahapatra was published in Bhubaneswar. Jayanta Mahapatra, a legend of our times, is enviously active even at 95. In the book-release function, he spoke at length about the love he has been receiving from his friends and readers over a long period of time, a love that has kept him alive as a poet.

I attended the release, purchased a copy of Noon, and after coming back to my hotel, while going through the book, found a poem, titled, “A Tale, to Begin With.” In it, Jayanta Mahapatra has written:

“Jayanta Mahapatra never did anything worthwhile;
Today’s youth is unaware of what he did
Those who knew him a little are dead and gone.
He was an awful person.
To tell the truth, no one had ever seen him.
Neither his friends, nor relatives, or his enemies.
But then, how would they know him?
He was on fire day and night.
Burning in the flame of his own Karma.
People noticed only the fire
And some smoke, hazy, unclear.”

This is interesting to note that, on the one hand, a poet at 95 is talking about the love that he has received from his friends and readers all through his life in his speech, and on the other, in one of his poems, claiming that very few people know him and those who know him know him a little and are dead and gone. More importantly, in the same poem, he even declares that nobody has seen Jayanta Mahapatra the poet.

Are these statements contradictory? They look contradictory, but, are not, actually. Jayanta Mahapatra who delivers a speech and Jayanta Mahapatra who writes a poem are not the same person. Similarly, loving a poet and knowing a poet are two different things. Indeed, very few people can know a poet. Those who are fortunate to know him/her can only know him/her a little. And it is impossible to see poet. A poet is an unseen entity. S/he sees everything, is a vates, but himself/herself remains unseen. Jayanta Mahapatra is right in pointing out that nobody can see the poet who is always on fire. People can only see this fire and, may be, some smoke (that too), hazy and unclear, but never the poet on fire. The burning of the poet remains unseen. It’s a burning that is not always painful but pleasurable also, at times. A poet who can distinguish between people loving him/her and people seeing him/her is a real vates, a seer, a Jayanta Mahapatra, who can see through things and make others see things but not him. Such invisibility keeps a poet upright in his/her commitment. Jayanta Mahapatra is indeed a great example of a poet of this sort, of a true poet. We dedicate this issue to him. We carry the speech delivered by Ashwani Kumar in the release of Noon: New and Selected Poems in this issue as our tribute to this legend.

Wish you all a pleasant read!

Angshuman Kar