Poem Review: Identity and Purpose
Identity is a question that we try to seek answers for, from both within and without. If you seek your identity without, then it is a sum of expectations of all people around you.
“Nothing of me is original. I am the combined effort of everyone I’ve ever known.”
― Chuck Palahniuk, Invisible Monsters
We see how nature seeks its identity in the two poems we bring out in this review. One is from ‘without’, expectations of others, carried on shoulders of its meandering flow from its origin to estuary. Poet Shwetahitesh explores the burden of expectations and definitions given by others and how those bear down on the soul-search of the river in her poem ‘The River’.
The second one is from ‘within’, an entity that knows its calling and therefore is sure and confident within.
“My friend, I am not what I seem. Seeming is but a garment I wear — a care-woven garment that protects me from thy questionings and thee from my negligence. The “I” in me, my friend, dwells in the house of silence, and therein it shall remain for ever more, unperceived, unapproachable.”
― Khalil Gibran, The Madman
The perception of eternity and stillness in the inner ‘I’ which is the identity that everybody try to seek in their lives is achieved when one peels the layers of facades — clothes, undergarments, skin, muscle and bones, and somewhere inside your heart and mind, or wherever the soul resides, a small bundle of thought that is embedded, is the place where we can see the identity.
How does one see this from Nature’s perspective? The answer is above us. Poet Elizabeth Urabe, in this second poem titled ‘I am’ brings this out beautifully in a triplet.
Poem 1: ‘ The River’
Why nobody asks a river
If she gets tired
Of crossing jungles and mountains
Of flowing through bridges and between the cities
( Why nobody asks a river)
If she really wants to accept
The sins
Which men offers to her
In lieu of a holy dip
As if they are entitled
Why nobody asks a river
If she also feels
It’s her duty to nurture
Nature and humankind
When they assume
She flows to offer
Herself to the sea
She could be on a journey
Of self discovery
So one day she could command
The mighty Ocean to sweep her off feet
Commentary on Poem 1:
Identity of something that exists is not noticed, but taken for granted. This poem, for me, is as much literal as it is metaphorical. I would go ahead and suggest that the river is analogous to a woman. I will summarize the analogy at the end of this commentary.
Poet Shwetahitesh has travelled the thin line of subtle optimism and rhetorical satire. It is also a poem pointing out the wanton and unscrupulous pollution of rivers, expecting the debris to go away into the deep ocean.
Water takes the shape of the bowl it holds. Similarly, the identity of a river is always linked to its purpose. Humans started settling down around rivers. Rivers brought water and alluvial soil, two key inputs for an agrarian life.
The societies and civilization like the Nile, Yellow & Pearl River, Indus and Euphrates, have borne civilizations that lasted centuries. These societies have worshipped these rivers as their mothers, life-givers, and deities. In the process of deification, the rivers’ existence is taken for granted, and eventually, and left as footnote in the daily lives of those who live off them.
Why nobody asks a river
If she gets tired
Of crossing jungles and mountains
Of flowing through bridges and between the cities
The first point to note is the tone of the question. It is the question to the reader, and not to the river itself. The river itself flows along, present at its origin and estuary at the same time, and everywhere in its path at all points in time. So where does she get tired?
It crosses numerous impediments both in the cities ( flowing through bridges and between the cities) and outside them ( crossing jungles and mountains), but is it hard work for her? Is the river drowning itself in fatigue? Does the river ever get tired?
River is river, because it flows. Like how sun rises and sets. Like how the earth goes round. The purpose of its life is ceaseless activity. What if, a river stops? Why cannot it stop?
The flowing river
never stops
and yet the water
never stays the same.― Kamo no Chōmei, Hojoki: Visions of a Torn World
The intrinsic energy of the river is kinetic. But the point is not about the river’s momentum or movement. The point is why nobody asks the river, even as a matter of courtesy. The answer could be that a river is supposed to flow and it is supposed to be tireless. This rationale is acceptable. Rivers ought to flow and be fresh. But why did it never occur to anybody to ask? Is the flower tired of blooming?
( Why nobody asks a river)
If she really wants to accept
The sins
Which men offer to her
In lieu of a holy dip
As if he is entitled
Men! Humans! How they take nature for granted!
Apart from being a giver, the river is expected to be an ‘absorber’ of the sin. If one takes a ‘holy dip’, the ‘sins’ are washed away. That is alright as long as the man does not take this ‘service’ by the river for granted — but he seems to do so — in the poet’s words ‘as if he is entitled’.
As much as the lines bring out the transactional nature of the relationship between humans and rivers, it brings out the attitude of humans towards those transactions. Lack of gratitude is the overwhelming outcome of such entitlement.
Why nobody asks a river
If she also feels
It’s her duty to nurture
Nature and humankind
Rivers do, like nature and trees, bless us with their benevolence. They play their part in nature and nurture humankind. We feel entitled because it’s available to us without cost from nature, and in this case, rivers. They say, anything free is not valued.
When they assumed
She flows to offer
Herself to the sea
Every journey comes to an end. For the river, the inevitable end is to merge with the sea or ocean. This end is portrayed by many poets philosophically. One such portrayal is by Khalil Gibran in his famous poem ‘The River Cannot Go Back’.
Let us examine the human point of view brought out by the poet, and juxtapose the deep lines of Gibran.
It is said that before entering the sea
a river trembles with fear.
The river goes through myriad emotions like awe, fear and surrender when it reaches its estuary. A river, to Gibran, is akin to a human carrying emotions and decisions in its heart. On the other hand, humans themselves, according to the poet, expostulate the humanization of rivers — mostly, assuming that rivers draining into the sea is just a natural phenomenon.
There is a reason for me pondering about the merger of river with the sea. It is the ‘death’ of the river, yet nobody talks about it that way. Humans think that the river would ‘offer’ itself to the sea. The tone here is that of ‘submission’, according to the poet.
Extending the previous callous attitude of the humans, this thought is an extension of patriarchy, which does not value other segments’ values and contributions.
She could be on a journey
Of self discovery
So one day she could command
The mighty Ocean to be swept off feet
The last stanza of the poem is an expression of revolt, a revolt to break the glass ceiling. A river is not for only others, but also for itself. Its life is its own ‘journey of self discovery’.
Above all, the river may rise from it is position of submissive benevolence, to a dominant position ending up ‘sweeping the mighty Ocean off its feet’.
The poem brings out how ‘submissive benevolence’ is evolved as a ‘purpose for identity’ by patriarchal minds. The minds that devalue and denigrate the great contributions of other humans and nature. The metaphorical view of today’s feminist battle vs patriarchy is most fitting too.
As we read the poem, we feel guilty of abusing and neglecting one of Nature’s great entities and devolving its identity into submissive benevolence. A poem that carries overarching lessons to the ‘men’ and the ‘humans’.
Poem 2: ‘ I am’
“I Am”, said the Sky
and all the clouds quivered with
tears of gratitude.
Commentary on Poem 2:
In the first poem, we saw how nature is designed to be altruistic, yet humans take things for granted. By extension, the construction of a ‘natural’ entity’s identity is based on human perceptions and attitude.
This poem, ‘I am’, disavows the views of humans, and focus on intrinsic views of identity for such natural entities. Here, as Poet Elizabeth Urabe exalts, identity is about confidence.
Confidence comes from self awareness. Now self awareness, when created with external motivation (without), is purely relative. But when one looks within, the confidence lights up an internal glow, a radiance that comes from the innermost recesses of our soul. That is absolute.
What more can there be a great example of an identity, that exudes confidence within? The Sky.
The sky is omnipresent. It is the vision of universe to the naked eye. It is the heavens. It is where the Gods reside. It is endless and eternal, exuding the endlessness of space and time of this universe.
“I Am”, said the Sky
The confidence soul which is aware of its inner radiance, is enlightened. Let me explain this further.
The inner belief that there is a purpose of existence, and a clarity that purpose is to bring out the best out of people — which are their own inner radiance and belief — make the words ‘I am’ not only factual resonance of existential state, but a beacon of hope for those who are yet to discover their purpose of existence, hence their identities.
One may ask that why should we quote from the scriptures. In many instances, the seeker of identity has fallen short due to incapacitation of body or persistence of will, or shortage of a lifetime. The radiance from the blessed soul, sometimes, if not always, helps to cross the bridge in a life time. Such an encounter for the seeker of his own identity and purpose and the experience thereof, could be dictated by the place and time.
and all the clouds quivered with
tears of gratitude.
The radiance of the absolute divine reflects its identity — the sky itself is a reflection of the vast expanse of the universe.
But what about its purpose?
The purpose is always external, and relative. If there is no seeker, there is nothing to be sought. For the sky to radiate its brilliance, the clouds are needed. Here, the clouds are the quintessential seekers.
The ‘quivering’ action is essentially is the experience of realization of the Gospel truth of the radiance of the absolute divine. ( Note the layering of adjectives and pronouns to translate the experience of quivering — that is the power of poetry.)
It is a feeling only a seeker can experience. It is like the ‘chill’ on one’s feet that can be only can experienced when one walks among the mounds of the Cherrapunji mountain. It is like a new author touching the first copy of her book.
The ‘tears of gratitude’, are the rains that the clouds bring upon the earth below. The bringing of rains is the act of benevolence supporting growth and bountiful abundance. The rains bring life and hope. The rains are the purpose of the clouds’ existence.
Now, let us put it all together. There is an absolute divine, whose inner radiance of self awareness exudes limitless confidence, and such confidence is consumed by the seeker. The seeker, in turn, is titillated, and attains the clarity of his / her own purpose, and performs an act of benevolence that helps a larger number of beneficiaries.
Identity and Purpose:
As we ruminate the two elements of our existence — identity and purpose, we also subsume the contrasting approaches by both the poets. The complexity of the questions make the search for answers difficult, unless one is a true seeker.
Whether its the callous attitude of the humans on the river, or it is the shining radiance of the sky that exalting the clouds their purpose, the questions around identity and purpose shall remain for eternity.
I humbly thank Poets Shwetahitesh and Elizabeth Urabe for the two great poems. I shall cherish this experience of seeking answers inside the poems for the two great questions of our existence. I will leave this review with a quote.
“Your duty is to be and not to be this or that. ‘I am that I am’ sums up the whole truth. The method is summed up in the words ‘Be still’. What does stillness mean? It means destroy yourself. Because any form or shape is the cause for trouble. Give up the notion that ‘I am so and so’. All that is required to realize the Self is to be still. What can be easier than that?”
― Ramana Maharshi
~Ashok Subramanian
Poet Shweta Hitesh Joshi ( Shwetahitesh ) appears in the upcoming book ‘Poetarrati Ponder 2020’ and collaborates with me as a creative advisor and editor. She is an accomplished poet and is publishing an anthology shortly.
Poet Elizabeth Urabe is a LinkedIn connect. I hope to review more of her poems, which are deep and connects with me at a spiritual level. As an artist, Elizabeth R. Urabe has always only had one goal: to translate the invisible energies of Absolute Truth into tangible form using abstract design, color and poetic imagery, so that an ever increasing number of people might have more direct access to the inner realms of human existence. Follow her works at http://www.erurabe.com/.
All copyrights of the poems above belong to Shweta Hitesh Joshi and Elizabeth Urabe respectively.
