Pathivukal
Whatever you see, you only see what you want to see. Whatever you hear, you only hear what you want to hear.'
This glorification with no compare and contrast study or critical evaluation of their poetry understandably brings in adverse criticism and also an impartial critical evaluation of their poetry is very rarely coming forth and even if it does it is nipped in the bud with such cliches as fundementalism , fascism etc.
Magazines vie with one another to have the interviews of these women writing poetry in their pages, but, the upcoming, promising poets of the opposite sex and their struggles in the literary field and in the social and psychological arena of survival are not given due attemtion or coverage. And, these select few women who write poetryfor whom the response is overwhelming to the point of keeping them on a pedastal(today when even actresses come out with specs and sans make-up and don'thesitate to disclose their date-of-birth Mr.Annakannan of Amudhasurabi in his interview of Ms.Malathy Maithri had exclaimed that the poet's first collection of poems has the year of her birth in block letters in the very first page which is very revolutionary!) , , and their poetry above criticism, the brickbats are but very few, that too from expected circles.
I am not saying that they are not writing good poetry but I object to their being glorified as the ultimate poets and the pioneers of women poetry.
Will a woman President convert America from being malignant to being benign?
I am forwarding here the full text of Mr.Brammarajan's critical evaluation of Kutti Revathy's second collection "Mulaigal".
What I see as the politics of it is that when it comes to ms.malathy maithri why Kalachuvadu is not coming forth with such critical evaluation?
There was another critical evaluation of the said poem-collection of Ms.Kutti Revathi by mr.Rani-thilak , another upcoming poet. But, sadly by the time an interview of his appears he would well be in his forties or even fifties.
When Anuradha Ramanan came into the field she was just 26, left with her two girl children coming from amiddle class family and with just an s.s.l.c or so to her credit she had her share of struggles. And when she was writing akind of memoirs there was heavythreat from a politically strong woman social -worker.
I'm giving this piece of information to drive home the point that writers like Anuradha Ramanan cannot be waved away just like that as pro-men. It is just that they don't believe in the kind of feminism which thrive on decrying the whole lot of men as oppressors and fundamentalists.
And, Ms.Sivasankari's very first short-story 'Avargal Paesattum" dealt with the horrible way a woman with no issues is treated in social functions and ceremonies.
What about Vaasanthi, Usha Subramanian, Thilagavathi, Sivagami, Bama, to name a few?
Though I have great respect for her (Ambai) writings still I can't but say that a good number of her writings do sound like aesthetically articulated slogans. All the same, in her detailed interview in "Panikkudam" authoured by Ms.Kutti Revathi Ms.Ambai has this to say:-
And, I'm forwarding Ms.Bama's and Ms.Sivagami's observations on women writing poetry of the body and its sexuality.( courtesy; 'Pudhiya Puthagam Paesudhu' and Theera Nadhi, respectively).
Vathsala, Vaigaichelvi Renganayaki, Ilampirai, Kanimozhi , Ira.Meenakshi, Thirisadai, Vennila, Mu.Sathya , Sathara Malathy (In fact Sathara is the name of the place where she lives but then for many the name Malathy stands for Malathy Maithri), Thamizhachi, Azhagu Nila and many more. And, many of them are there in the field for long.
But, in one of the recent issues of Pennae Nee, Ms.Kutti Revathi says 'first I was alone facing the assaults and brickbats -now there are Salma, Uma Maheswari and others---- (the pages enclosed). But, Salma and Uma Maheswari have come into the field long before Ms. Revathi and how happy I felt when I came to know from her Ms.Salma's interview in Anandha Vikatan that she was the same Rajathi penning such poignant poems in "Nigazh' and Suttum Vizhich chudar' and who just disappeared from the scene one fine day, for it lent strength to my conviction that the creative urge in a person can never be suppressed or strangulated.
When they find fault with the male poets for not including their names in the pages of history that they pen in terms of the growth and evolution of neo-Tamil poetry they should atleast have the courtesy to mention the names of their contemporaries and predecessors , belonging to their sex.
But, they make it a point to mouth such names as Sylvia Plath, Kamala Das, Emily Dickenson, Akhmatova (and their list is pathetically short) and not a name from the Tamil land, for, then their claim that feminist writing in Poetry has begun with their advent.
I want to refute the observation of some people like Poet Rajamarthandan that women began to pen poetry here, with the poems of the Srilankan women poets(Tamil) giving the required impetus. We have our own inner compusions and urge to turn us into poets, please.
Ms.Thilagabama's condemnation of the poems in the recent issue of Kalachuvadu is uncalled for. She is decrying almost all the sensitive poets of TamilNadu right from Kalapriya to Shankararamasubramanian. And, hers is indeed the tone of a moralist.
Her views that have appeared in Pennae Nee did not confine themselves to the poems alone .( the page enclosed). And, what does she mean by that oft-repeated 'Ull mana Vakkaram'? Day in and day out we come across so many actual 'vakkarams' around us.
Sukumaran's poem which she has decried is in fact a poignant piece dealing with a man's anguish in having to copulate with an unwilling spouse.
Sugirtharani's poems have powerful similes and images such as -----
'pasiya kattraazhai kooraai------
virigindrana en viralgal
'koor theetiyakalaal
narukkappatta thoppull kodi poel
thuruthik kondirukkiradhu
nam udhadugalukkidaiyil muththam'
And, the very first line of her very first poem
" Mayirgal siraikkaadha en nirvaanam, to my readerly text is in fact a rebellious voice of protest against the gigantic hoardings and advertisements which glare at you from high above even in busy junctions and at traffic signals, showing young women with their arms lifted uu so showing their their thoroughly shaven, shining armpits with jingles underneath to the effect that men want silk-skinned females.
azhikkappaadha kaadugalaip poela
gambeeram veesugiradhu'
The poems of Ms.Sugirtharani is not to be taken as her own personal experience.
Writer Jeyaprakasam has observed in one of her recent interviews that any irrelevant description is vulgar and obscene. Ofcourse, he was referring to Mr.J.P.Chanakya's short-story Aangal Padithurai.
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