Thanks Mohona,

I am trying to stay away from the blogosphere to focus on finishing my PhD Thesis, hence a belated reply to your much appreciated comment.

All poets start with sentimentality, and all poets start by imitating their favorite lyricists and poets. The journey from the novice who fills his lines with cliches to someone whose every line is a work of art requires devotion to language and to craft. Discerning what is good and what is not, is a beginning of that artistic ambition and grief, that leads him on a path of discipline and determined effort, and that is not everyone's cup of tea.

Kudos to you, Vivek, for speaking your mind. I could not agree more. 

There are bloggers and then there are poets. But of course you cannot force people to look into the mirrors they have chosen to shatter before they embarked on their so-called journeys of "poetic discovery". 

My lament is greater - these days every blogger claims to be a poet. And yet there is no one discerning enough around to claim to know one from the other. And the few critics that are left (like you),  get the short end of it from the "poets" who "claim" to want feedback, only as long as the feedback is sugar coated and has an "I-pat-your-back-you-pat-mine" undertone to it.

In normal circumstances, these would not even have seen the light of day as a printed word in a book / any book for that matter. But as Rakhee mentioned, it's all about website eyeballs and member indulgence.

I am glad that someone here had the integrity to speak his mind. I would have loved to see more women be a fair critic of their sisterhood's artistic expressions, without getting their vision all muddled up on account of the gender bias that goes by the name of "women's voices".

I feel you should also watch a movie called "Dead Poet's Society", before writing reviews like this one!

Amritha n: Once a piece of writing leaves from personal notebook, and if you want anyone to read it and maybe appreciate it, all rules of communication, grammar and composition apply. I have said this before that the world is more musical because of bathroom singers, and I guess I am one myself. But I don't expect all bathroom singers to take the stage and become performers. But if they wish to do so, they must be ready for putting in the hours of "riyaaz" (practice). A shoddy performance, even if excuses exist, is still a shoddy performance, and the spectator who criticizes it may not do it due to jealously, envy (sour grapes), but because he feels cheated when he must clap for something, that the performer himself thinks is average at best.

Rrakhee: Fortunately, I have read most of the poets I listed, and trust me, it is a rewarding experience. When every sentence is laden with aethestic beauty, every word is chosen becuase it provides both the right music, and contexual meaning, the poem itself transcends the page, and becomes a part of your intellectual and emotional experience.

As I already said before, I can see why sulekha has chosen to pick and publish people, and in my own way, I have always supported sulekha's efforts. Like a loving parent or teacher, who chides his kids or student, for their faults, I sit here and comment on things. I suppose I love poetry and literature too deeply. I expect to read the writers who act and perform like a cricket team, where I will ever wish to see a competitive unit, a proper demonstration of every skill, and attention to every aspect of the game. Maybe I will sit and watch "gully" (street) cricket at times, clap at it, participate in it, pat a decent performance. Yet I think it wise and important to keep everything in perspective!

Vivek,

It was a bold review- perhaps that is why the comments are less.. I don’t think, any review is irrelevant unless it is meant to be a personal attack. In this case, I see you have a point and the list of poets is impressive. I see two points here, one is the quality of writing and the other one is publishing business.

why the whole ranting and raving? I myself am featured in the book and yes i do consider the poem i wrote average. At the same time i was overjoyed that it was published. I have no false pretenses of being a poet, leave alone a good one, but my voice and message were heard.It was not just a book of poems but voices of women here. This should be a cause for celebration not sour grapes.

At the same time there were some beautiful instances of poetry in that book, however much you consider yourself an expert in these matters, that book was not an utter waste. Sulekha is not the Booker committee or the rhysling comittee but a platform for bloggers, let me repeat, not just writers, not just poets, not literature students aspiring for greatness but bloggers.

I do not quite agree with the common stance that success and greatness is relative, and depends upon how you choose your standards. There is perhaps no one who won't know difference between Tagore poem and the one written by a five year old rhymster. There is a difference between Tendulkar and Dravid, Lara and Chandrapaul, Kumble and Sunil Joshi eventhough in these cases, we are still comparing relative greatness and success. But if you say that Ganguly is no better than the best batsman in the streets of Baraelli, I will be obliged to think that your knowledge of cricket and standards of comparison are flawed. The reason why Tolstoy and Dostovesky are considered great writers has something to do with how well they write, how profound and universal their stories are, how well crafted characters are part of well orchestered narrative, and how they engage the minds and hearts of readers across space and time. Don't you think so?

nice substance
and fully agreed
but greatness and success are relative terms
its a comparitive degree.........what say sir,

A-G-R-E-E-D

I suppose people agree with what I said here, or maybe they consider me as someone whose opinions are irrelevant or irreverant. In either case, my idea was to foster a useful list for anyone who is willing to use it for their own progress.

I personally think that sulekha has transitioned into a popularity contest, and therein lies its success and failing. The idea of publishing authors from sulekha is brilliant; but if they want the published books to be taken seriously, the content must be chosen by editors and writers who know grain from chaff. Many of the poems linked to the blog would not qualify for publication in the most ordinary of magazines and journals. If sulekha seriously believes in "sulekh" and wants to nourish "good writing", they must have people on the board who take literature and creativity seriously.

Art is hard work. Talent is as easy to find as is a toothpick. But someone who can fashion a masterpiece is rarer. Value the talent, value the effort, but it takes a real discovery on the part of someone to be revered as Einstein, Newton, Heisenberg, Poincare. It takes some real talent and work from someone to become Van Gogh, Mozart, WS Maugham, Rushdie, Ghalib. It requires "tapasya" or penance, and a devotion that is there irrespective of what rewards are offered or not.

But neither these ideas or the practice comes without long drawn effort; and even then not every cup will hold the "amrita" or "nectar". Yet sing on, o bards, for every poem has some audience and some purpose, like every food item has. Delicacy is not for everyday, and also  not for everyone to offer or have.