Poetry With Prakriti returns for its 11th edition and brings together poets from all over India

The Prakriti Foundation held a six-day poetry festival Poetry with Prakriti from January 5 to 10. Bringing back the 11th edition, the event had lined up a series of festivities across Chennai at venues ranging from colleges and art galleries to pubs. “Coming from the Banjara tribal community, the Prakriti Foundation gave me a platform to express myself through my work. It made poetry more accessible to everyone and allowed the audience to explore the worlds of different poets across the country,” said Ramesh Karthik Nayak, a Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraska recipient, who was also part of this well-curated festival.

The festivities began with a session on January 5 titled What Women Carry at Amdavadi Gujarati Snack House, Nungambakkam, where K Srilata, Shobana Kumar and Nithya Mariam John read their poetry. They explored themes such as women’s experiences, identities and landscapes through their poetry. Subequent days saw events at pubs, and cafes. Take, for instance, the surprise line-up at Pasha by The Park, Nungambakkam. The poems at the pub spanned college romance, a father’s quiet longing, and the restlessness of a buzzing phone, eliciting hoots and cheers. “We saw poetry as something that should reach every audience, from a disco to a school. We wanted something that would make people ask questions, create an impact, leave a legacy behind,” said Ranvir Shah, founder, Prakriti Foundation.

The poetry at the festival also attempted to relay raw emotion, particularly love. In other instances, the festival provided space to explore topics like caste, sensuality, and womanhood too. This was particularly evident in the panel consisting Kutty Revathi, Shripad Sinnakar and Aleena on January 8 at Punch comedy club. Besides this, poets like Akhil Katyal, Dibyajyoti Sarma, Gayatri Majumdar and Amal Matthew explored their processes as poets. The event ended with a reading that wove together Carnatic ragas, jazz, and spoken word. The poetry session featured three poets — Sivakami Velliangiri, Geetha Ravichandran and Shikhandin reading poems from their book, Footnotes in G Sharp. As each poet read their poems, singers Shreya Ramnath and Prashanth Gaspar added their spin.

As the event came to an end, it showed us that poetry is not just for everyone because of the emotions it carries; it is because of the impact it can make with just a few verses.