JAY JOSHI
We might see it competing with different styles of prose and other writing, but poetry is still alive, healthy, and selling. In fact the rise of social media websites has given a fresh impetus to the growing popularity of petry, and fields such as film industry and advertising industry are some of the areas where poets can indeed have a good career, avers Rochelle D’ Silva, a full-time poet who will be conducting a workshop on spoken-word poetry at the Village Studio Goa on April 6.
“Poetry has become more personal now. It has assumed a form of dialogue and has become less abstract. It’s representing the times that we live in. And with spoken word poetry, it’s conversational. So it is more accessible as well. It’s easier for us to sit in the audience and just listen to people speaking rather than buying a book” says D’Silva while elaborating on the upcoming workshop which will focus on writing as well as performance aspect of spoken word poetry.
That said, many questions are raised about how to best publish and sell poetry. That task may look difficult, but is not exactly impossible, says the professional poet. “The problem is that there are very few publishing houses, and lots of poets lining up to get their poetry collections published. It could take even upto a year to get your book published We cannot say that poems don’t sell. More publishing houses must come forward to publish poetry collections, and they should be willing to invest a bit more in marketing poetry.”
Internet and social networks too have helped spread the popularity of poetry states the young performer. “Social media has definitely taken poetry to a lot of places, especially with Instagram. Instagram poetry is big at the moment, whether we agree it is good, or bad, the fact is that it is making poetry a lot more accessible.”
However, one of the problems that plagues the Internet today is plagiarism. Anyone can cut and paste your work and market it as their own. How do poets protect themselves from this? “To be honest, it all depends on the integrity on the other person,” says D’Silva. “When you put your ideas out there, you can only trust the integrity of the person reading it. There’s not much you can do about it at the moment. The best thing to do is don’t put all of your work online,” suggests the poet, hinting that the Internet might act as a sort of showcase for your work, but when it comes to publishing, there are totally different criteria.
“It doesn’t really matter whether your work is online or not. The publishing houses are not looking at your instagram followers. They’re looking at your manuscript, your standing in the community, whether your work has been published in magazines, whether you have a good body of work, if there is a theme running through your book-they’re considering a bigger picture”, she informs
D’Silva believes that it is indeed possible to make a career purely out of writing poetry, but has some reservations when it comes to writing jungles or film songs. “Writing jingles is bigger in Hindi right now than English, but personally, I am not a fan of jingles.” says the workshop instructor. “A number of Hindi writers do aspire to be Bollywood song writers or jingle writers. Many people believe that it gives you the push and recognition, but personally, I do not think that’s the best route to take.”
Coming back to the nitty-gritty of a career in writing poetry, D’Silva says what’s most important for aspiring authors is to read a lot across different genres of literature. “Secondly, it is best to seek feedback in spaces such as workshops and not just from friends and family, because they may not be completely honest or be able to critique your work in the best way. Also, if you are serious about poetry, you should look at it as a career and not a hobby. How much money you make depends on your own calibre,” she states, asserting that one needs a strong dedication in order to stick to the career choice one makes despite occasional setbacks.
