Formation (Erasure Poetry)

December 20, 2022

748

Formation

(Acknowledgement: This poem written in the genre of ‘Erasure Poetry’ has used the book ‘Indian Pottery’ (2004) by S.K. Mirmira as the Matrix Text.)

Earth went on cooling
Cooled and solidified into solid substance called “rock”
Huge pits accumulated with water
Sea and ocean

Massive, molten
Granite, Basalt, Quartz
Primitive sediments
Sandstone, lime-stone, chalk
Slow crumpling
Coal, shale

The sun heats the rocks, at night they cool
Heavy rain
Heavy current of the wind
Glaciers, rivers, sea, lakes, roots of the trees
Disintegrating
Grinding
Forming the world
Coarser, amorphous
Red burning
Structureless
Deformed
The result of many thousands of years
Composed of small plates
In a state of suspension in a liquid
When it is dried
The outside tends to shrink
The inside breaks down
Develop needle-like crystals.

All care must be taken to see that
Sufficient liquid is formed to fill all pores
That the glassy bond increases
And the glass formed
Flows into pores.

From the
Very beginning of things
There was a keeper
There was
Something to keep,
Precious things:
Pots
A bead
Necklace
A man
A woman
Vessels
Tools
A wheel
Water tub
Water jars.

Footprints imprinted in wet soil
The early man observed
Barks of trees
Hides of animals
In the beginning
Fire burnt
And gained strength.
People of early civilization
True to nature and
Purest of all.

III
Middle East, Mediterranean countries
Asia Minor
Have come to India.
Nile valley, Egypt
Hammurabi’s tomb
A thin light blue glaze
Assyria and Babylon
Artistic Ecbatara in Media
Decorated in seven colours
Khorsabad
Ancient men, animals and trees.

Palaces and relics
Have come to light
Gods or spirits
Could see
The speciality of this country.
Imperial courts, Buddhist temples
Of great significance
Relics in perfect forms
Left from those days
A number of trials were conducted to find out
A secret
Like tea ceremony
And flower arrangement

First shaped and then permanently hardened
By heat.

India, a very ancient land
Of Mohenjo-Daro
And Harappa
Of
Rigveda the oldest of all Vedas
2000 to 3000 B.C

But
Lost in wilderness
India was invaded
And ruled.
Delicate
Exquisite
A charming
Silver white colour against a glistening black background.

In occupied India
They thought
Bones were used in clay
While
There is no evidence to show
Indian scientists
Were required for boilers in the factories
As in the railways.

The Origin
Evolved, intelligent
India
Wonderful India
By nature love to play in muddy water
Ancient creator of Universe had made use of clay
Into which he breathed life
India at the beginning.

Independence
In leaps and bounds
Kept pace with
Age-old experience
India
Old
New
Rich
Humble
Great
Grateful

India
In the raw body
In the fluid state
Is
Somewhat similar to stone.

India
Adjusts the firing
When the sun sets
Can see the colour
Of the heat
Just visible red
Dark red
Cherry red
Bright red
Silver white

The flames are
Clear and free.