Poetry Of The Time

Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio

From The Nobel Lecture

“ To act: that is what the writer would like to be able to do, above all. To act, rather than to bear witness. To write, imagine, and dream in such a way that his words and inventions and dreams will have an impact upon reality, will change people's minds and hearts, will prepare the way for a better world. And yet, at that very moment, a voice is whispering to him that it will not be possible, that words are words that are taken away on the winds of society, and dreams are mere illusions. What right has he to wish he were better? Is it really up to the writer to try to find solutions? Is he not in the position of the gamekeeper in the play Knock ou Le Triomphe de la médecine, who would like to prevent an earthquake? How can the writer act, when all he knows is how to remember? ”

Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio
Nobel prize winner in literature (2008)

Poetry Of The Time

When Murderers Become Rescuers !

Murderers Become Intellectuals !

Here you read two poems by Yogendra Krishna that can incidentally be associated with the day-to-day phenomenon of huge financial fraud and unscrupulous exploitation of public fund by the white-collared corporate world, best exemplified in the recent collapse of software giant Satyam in India and the equally white-collared rituals of rescue operations in the name of financial bail-outs.... And with the collapse of universal value system very vital to the existence of human society... ultimately leading to an agonizingly dehumanized world of mutual distrust and deceit.

Background ( for the poems see below )

No Salary in Satyam for 2 months!!

Hyderabad : 9 January 2009 :
Satyam Computer on Friday announced holding back employees salaries for two months, even as rumours were rife that the company might lay off close to 15,000 workers in the coming days.
The offices of Satyam Computer were rife on Friday with the talks about forthcoming pink-slips at the company, which needs over Rs 500 crore every month just to meet its staff costs and has admitted that its cash position was not encouraging.

Employees said they have received an e-mail saying the company would hold back salaries for two months and asked staffers to bear with it.
However, the company spokesperson declined knowledge of any such e-mail and the issue would be looked into.

Even as the company spokesperson denied any layoff plans as of now, the rumours put the estimated job cuts at close to 15,000 by the end of this month.
Employees at the company said on condition of anonymity that they were hearing about imminent lay-off of people who were sitting on the bench or were close to completing their assigned projects. Besides, those being retained would be asked to take substantial salary cuts, they added.

At the same time, global HT consultancy firm Hay Group's Practice Leader Mark Thompson said that employees would suffer the most from the fraud.

Global HR consultancy firm HayGroup's Practice Leader Mark Thompson said: "Based on past experience ... as with Enron, Worldcom and the Mirror Group, it is likely to be the employees who will suffer most from the fraud perpetrated by their bosses."

In early 2000, the collapse of energy trader Enron had left thousands of people out of work, another 8,500 had lost their jobs at accounting firm Arthur Andersen; and Tyco eliminated 15,000 employees in February.

Source: Expressindia, 9.01.2009

When Murderers Become Rescuers


Yogendra Krishna


When murderers become rescuers
They do not kill you like this

They would keep your dreams
From falling further apart
The last shred
Of your shattered dreams
Like a miracle on their part

That you could stand witness
To the superhuman grace
And divine powers of the murderers

They would keep maneuvering
Even a lot more of
Such marvels and thrills
Till you finally draw
The last of your
Wretched lingering breath

That you could adore
And hold them high
In reverence and awe
Like primeval deities of lore

That just before
You breathe your last
Only the dying statement of yours
Could finally save them
From all the discomforting taints
Of vices and brutality on their part.

Translated from Hindi by the poet Yogendra Krishna

( Hatyare Jab Masiha Hote Hain , 2008)

When Murderers Become Intellectuals

Yogendra Krishna


When murderers become intellectuals

They They do not slay you like this

They would spare your life
Very connivingly
Snatch away from you
Your time
Your voice
Your words
In which you live

They would spot
Small rendezvous
Of your tiny pleasures
Of your desires and dejections
Would keep surveillance
Over the atmosphere you breathe

Concoct stories
And smear them
With the very colour
Contour and essence
Of your time
Your voice
Your words

They would kill you thus
With the very spirit
Of your being


Translated from Hindi by Yogendra Krishna
(Hatyare Jab Buddhijivi Hote Hain, 2008)
http://www.kavitakosh.org/