Edition 01
moonlight moonlight
//poetry of space//
April 2020
Table of Contents Editor’s Note
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Introduction
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The poetry of space
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The architecture of words
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Mera shehar ek lambi behas
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Choti si khidki
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Ghaalib ka pata
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//ARTICLE
//INTRODUCTION
// AMRITA PRITAM
// JAFAR SAHNI
// GULZAAR
Editor’s Note
This zine was started as a personal project, with the hope of creating a safe, inclusive, creative and collaborative space to talk about a diverse range of topics such as feminism, poetry, art, architecture(and others). This zine is my attempt to step out into the world, and reach out to more people, in a way exposing my work and ideas to a larger audience. I hope to interest creative collaborators with this project, to open up future doorways of collaboration and interesting conversation.
About this edition As a student of architecture who also has an interest in reading, writing and talking about poetry, the idea to intersect poetry with architecture came from a poem I read on a sunny afternoon, during the COVID-19 lock-down. I hoped to see architecture in a more ‘romantic’ setting after this exercise, after all the dry and technical ways it is talked about in school. This edition was inspired by the poem ‘ mera shehar ‘ by Amrita Pritam. Amrita Pritam was an inspiring Hindi and Punjabi writer, documenting the time of partition with heartbreaking honesty. She was a woman ahead of her times, and was awarded many national and international awards for her writing.
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Poetry is a spontaneous confession of the internal self, to the external world. It is a bridge between the real and the unreal, it exists on the threshold of the actualization of emotion.
Poetry is not just a product of the written word, but of act of existence itself. Therefore, Poetry is everywhere. In this edition, we explore the poetry of space.
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Poetry of Space EDITION 01 //April 2020
Architecture and Poetry In its essence, architecture is breaking down the scale of space we occupy, to make it functional, and to bring it within the grasp of perception. While being comparable to poetry, one could argue that architecture itself is poetry; a poetry of space.
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A good poem helps to change the shape and significance of the universe, helps to extend everyone’s knowledge of himself and the world around him —Dylan Thomas
The extent of the outer, colossal space cannot be fathomed without this juxtaposition.
A relationship exists between the reader and user of the work of art presented in front of them, either in the form of space or in the form of words or ideas. The depth of this relationship defines the nature of the work. How deeply it affects us and connects with us, is a Great art arrests all senses and helps us direct measure of the quality of work experience the physical exterior of the presented. world. In the words of Paul Cezanne, “Art is to make visible how the world touches us.” As Jorge Luis Borges states, “ The taste of the apple […] lies in the contact of the fruit Poetry and architecture are both forms with the palate, not in the fruit itself; in a of art that reveal to us our primary similar way [ …] poetry lies in the meeting of human emotions, and bring us outside poem and reader, not in the lines of symbols the sphere of our existence. While the printed on the pages of a book. What is creation of art is a completely narcissistic essential is the aesthetic act, the thrill, the and self-immersed process, the act almost physical emotion that comes with of experiencing art occurs outside of each reading.” our-self. Ironically, stepping outside of ourselves is exactly what makes us conscious of our own existence. The act of experiencing art creates a demarcation between a sense of the exterior, a sense of the interior (the self) and the interrelation between the two. Hence, architecture creates an interface of reality, with which to interact with.
also transcend the formal elements of architecture Essential questions and appeal to the irrational of existence senses of the human mind. To really craft space, the architect must not limit herself to a Both architecture and himself/ visual composition alone. poetry give us a chance to sense our own existence, The architect provides by framing and putting direction, articulates our experiences into each step of the user, and perspective. They allow sets them off on a journey us to selectively focus in his jungle of space much on various facets of our like a poem sets us off on an existence; as when one internal journey of space. enters a building, one senses the self in relation What then is architecture? with their surroundings, Is it limited our and when one reads poetry external reality alone? they again are made aware Or does space exist, in of the scale of their being. an internal reality too? The internalized idea of the ‘self’ is explored Movement in space and time through both mediums, in can also be experienced close contact with our through words. Architecture immediate reaction to the is not only a physical that translates piece of art in front of us. entity the conceptual into the A sensory and emotional physical, but it may also upheaval occurs - which exist in other forms. questions the essence of existence. Both forms Space is also constructed of art are articulated in words, in poetry, in differently but ask great our imaginative realities. transcendental questions of us - they The ask us of our beliefs, quality of poetry makes feat achievable. question our world view, this force us to look inwards, Both art forms are not to retrospect, analyze and limited to their physical think with sensitivity. and literal meanings alone. Poetry is the membrane They are open to a myriad that separates a built of interpretations, which structure from becoming is how one can see them ‘architecture’. A build must creeping into each other.
THE ABSTRACT SPACE OF POETRY
Is space only physical? Does it exist only in the realm of the exterior reality that we can touch? There is another form of space that exists in the fictional bounds of our minds, in the realm of the in-between, unadulterated by all the physical rules of existence. Such a space may be constructed with the assistance of words. The
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experience of such an abstract space is bizarre and we are left without any context, any physical point in space to relate it to. Such images are thus overridden with emotion, and the undertones of the message the poetry or words would want to convey. One could argue they are one of the purest forms of space that could exist, a direct essence of the ideas and thoughts they were conceived with.
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PERCEPTION Our consciousness constructs an imaginative space, piece by piece, as we go along reading a poem describing space. It is much like taking a guided walk through a building, with words as your datum. But what sets poetry apart from any other textual description? The power of transcendence. It is the same thing that sets an enclosure apart from great architecture, i.e. the membrane of art.
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The Architecture of words // Illustration of emotive images, through architectural themes in poetry
Illustration: Gandhi Bhavan Chandigarh
Architectural imagery in poetry In her poem titled ‘mera sheher ek lambi behas’ (on page 17), Amrita Pritam skillfully transcends the image of a physical space into raw, unadulterated emotion. She uses descriptions of the architecture around her to frame a picture of her mind, emotions and ideas, while also putting forth a perception of the environment around her. The line ‘ mera shehar ek lambi behes hai’ (my town is like a long argument) implies a persistent sense of tension in the town. It is an argument that never ends and an argument that no one can understand, in a way her town is always at war with itself. Another vivid image i.e. the description of a house, explains to us the sense of constriction she feels. (Harr makaan muthi sa
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minchan hua hai, deewaren kichkichati si ; each house is scrunched up like a fist, and the walls are arguing with each other. Again, one feels a sense of destructive, ongoing tension, much like a tug of war between the residents of the town, with the rope being stretched to its limit. Such vivid images help us to construct a world around us, in which we feel exactly what Amrita might have felt, while sitting in the dreary town of her poem, constructing it word by word on a piece of paper. Many such poems depict space as such an object of their fantasy. They quantify and objectify space as a product of their mind. Like Jafar Sahni’s poem ‘Ek Choti Khidki’ (on page 19) perfectly demonstrates.
mera shehar ek lambi behas ki tarah hai
har makaan muthi-sa michan hua, diwarein kichkichati si
mera shehar ek lambi behas // My town is like a long drawn argument // Hindi poem
मेरा शहर एक लम्बी बहस की तरह है सड़कें - बेतुकी दलीलों सी और गलियां इस तरह जैसे एक बात को कोई इधर घसीटता कोई उधर हर मकान एक मुट्ठी-सा भिंचा हुआ दीवारें-किचकिचाती सी और नालियां, ज्यों मुंह से झाग बहता है यह बहस जाने सूरज से शुरू हुई थी जो उसे देख कर यह और गरमाती और हर द्वार के मुंह से फिर साईकिलों और स्कूटरों के पहिये गालियों की तरह निकलते और घंटियां-हार्न एक दूसरे पर झपटते जो भी बच्चा इस शहर में जनमता पूछता िक िकस बात पर यह बहस हो रही? िफर उसका प्रश्न ही एक बहस बनता बहस से निकलता, बहस में मिलता… शंख घंटों के साँस सूखते रात आती, िफर टपकती और चली जाती पर नींद में भी बहस ख़तम न होती मेरा शहर एक लम्बी बहस की तरह है Amrita Pritam
Choti si Khidki //A small window //Nazm
Mukhtasar kamre ki ek choti si maghmum khidki Kabhi dekhti hai jo bahar duniya Udassi boht badh jaati hai uski Magar saamne ke hare lawn ke phuul Champa chameli gulab aur bela ki poshak Pahne hue muskurate hue Rang-o-khushbu ke lahje main usko Sunate hain masoom lamhon ka qissa Hatheli pe phir inhi Masoom lamhon ki Tahrir karti hai dilkash hansi Ek chahkar koyal ki Aur jab mohabbat ki ungli nazakat se thame Khiraman Khiraman Anokha sa ik phuul iss lawn par ‘Mir ‘ ke sher ki pankhudi chunane lagta hai Tab waqt ke qahqahon ka Bahut khushnuma silsila Thahar jaata hai Iss mukhtasar kamre ki choti si khidki main
Jafar Sahni
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Ghalib ka pata // Ghalib’s address // Urdu Nazm
Ballimaran ke mohalle ki vo pechida dalilon si galiyan Samne taal ki nukkad pe bateron ke qaside Gudgudati hui paan ki pikon main vo daad vo vaah va Chand darwazon pe latke hue bosida se kuchh taat ke parde Ek bakri ke mimyane ki awaaz Aur dhundhlai hui shaam ke be-noor andhere saaye Aise diwaron se munh jod ke chalte hai yahan Chudi-walan kal katre ki baadibi jaise Apni bhijhti hui aankhon se darwaze tatole Isi be-noor andheri si Gali - Qasim se Ek tartib chraghon ki shuruat hoti hai Ek Quran-e-Sukhan ka safha khulta hai Asadullah-Khan ‘Ghalib’ ka pata milta hai
Gulzaar
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Blooms everything, Outside the window
Cover Art by: Uttara Rajawat
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