By Adity Choudhury
June 29 witnessed an evening of poetry reading organised by The Pyrta Collective, a Shillong-based initiative. Seven city-based poets – Amanda Basaiawmoit, Clarissa Giri, Saweini Laloo, Daiarisa Rumnong, Vancouver Shullai, Martin L Blah, and Lalnunsanga Ralte – read their poems.
Started by Janice Pariat and Samuel Sawian, the aim of the collective is to encapsulate all forms of art in the city. A glance through their Instagram page says it all,
Pyrta Collective is a space of storytelling. From the spoken traditions in these hills to film and photography, from writing and visual art to music and theatre. We are here to bring artists and art lovers together, in Meghalaya, the larger northeast, and beyond, to organise events – workshops, poetry readings, book readings, art residencies, and storytelling sessions. We are here to support all these and more.
Pariat said, “When we think of a collective, it is a gathering of people, sharing spaces and conversations. Our city is known for its music. We wanted to expand that and say poetry can be fun and performative as well.”
Sawian shared how the process towards their vision commenced in December last year, with a writer’s workshop.
“We asked people to bring their writing, and we sifted through all of them. This turned into a workshop. With time, it has become a cute little book club, The Small-Town Book Club, where we meet every month,” he said.
On the act of listening as an act of initiation towards a reading culture, both Pariat and Sawian spoke of oral spaces and how storytelling has been part of family gatherings, translating organically into poetry, meant to be heard in all its rhythm.
That the rich oral tradition informs the poets was further seen through their poems, read aloud in English, Khasi, and Pnar. The distinctive personalities of each poet can be traced through their poetry, cinema-like.
But where do I find words in my foreign tongue?
Words that flow deep like a river
And if I find them, how do I conjure images
To rise from words and become apt metaphors…”
~ Amanda Basaiawmoit, How to Write a Poem
Basaiawmoit is an educator by profession and a poet. “I’ve now learnt to use my smartphone smartly,” the poet said, making the audience chuckle. She read four poems and started with, How to Write a Poem.
Giri’s research on anthropology and elements of Khasi culture informs her writings. She is “drawn towards the darker side of poetry and romanticising the unromantic”, Giri read several poems.
For me personally, her poem titled, Watchers resonated, catching me in its stark beat.
There were watchers that lived behind bathroom mirrors;
Blank stares that followed from every damp corner.
They’d whisper small fears, every chance they could get,
Through the eyes of a fly or from under the bed…
As the evening progressed, the room got filled with eager ears. Through cheers, laughter and The Pyrta Collective cheering the poets on, the ambience was characterised by wit. The poets let us, the listeners, enter their world – how memories and experiences transformed into words.
Vancouver Shullai’s interest in liminal spaces is seen in his poem, Forgiveness.
I forgive myself
In bathrooms, parking lots, empty corridors
Where time is temporary, and
Real spaces await me…
While I won’t be able to quote lines from every poem, a quick chat with the poets later gave me insights into their worldviews.
Saweini Laloo shared how she read at the event for the first time. “It’s like reading from my journal,” her bright eyes listening to words. We spoke of listening, a lifelong journey towards learning.
I asked Basaiawmoit about poetry reading spaces in Shillong. To this, she said how a small group of some Shillong-based poets would have informal reading sessions. Kynpham S Nongkynrih, Robin Ngangom, Tarun Bhartiya, and the late Sambha Lamar were among them. Lamar’s “The Calm Festival” was a public space that left a lasting impression on the poet.
For Lalnunsanga Ralte, his mother’s stories fuelled his writing. Unlike his fellow poets, he said that reading as a habit is coming back to the city. “What we need to remember is that the shift to technology was rapid, perhaps, one of the many reasons the youth felt lost. From what I’ve observed, they read and write a lot. I see this habit returning in a big way.”
Martin L Blah and Daiarisa Rumnong spoke about the importance of oral stories and how poetry is inspired by what has been passed down through generations – listening shaped their respective reading and writing experiences. The art of listening is inbuilt from childhood, as part of their family values.
“Listening is a skill. Children, for instance, learn to be expressive, social and humorous,” Rumnong said.
Looking back, I will remember this day as one of camaraderie, of feeling one with the universe at that moment. As Pariat said, “We live in mostly heart-breaking times. But evenings like this one bring us together.”
(The writer is features coordinator with The Meghalayan)