M Mizanur Rahman :
In realism, a poet is a person of flesh and blood. While living in dreamland an emotive sensation of the poet creates elixir that touches life. In sorrow or happiness, in sadness or apathy, in melancholy or pathos, a poet brings out excellent words carrying rhymes or verse from heart and soul, the artistic texture of that verse creates pleasure in mind and soothes pain of one’s heart. Actually poetry has its natural ambience where poet’s imaginations accrue benefits.
Al Mahmud is one of the most distinguished poets of Bangladesh who has earned popularity among the poetry lovers of Bangladesh and West Bengal, India. This popularity is gained by the brilliance of imagery of the poet. His idyllic and phantasmagoric episodes in lyrics and beauty of imageries enamor the throbbing of one’s heart while reading his poetical works. His innate love of beauty provides romance therein and intellectual hubris culminates in euphoria.
In an interview to a local journal titled Charulia, Al Mahmud opined on the structure of poetry by saying that poetry in his view is the infinite dream of human entity expressed with the recreating language of rhymes, similes and metaphors. What we possess in dream but not in reality, is the thing that we call ‘poetry.’
It must have its realism but above realism imagination lays its superb language of subconscious mind. The poet has his bitter experience of life down to earth. His experience touches every aspect of internal and external phenomena of nature.
Al Mahmud believes in the unreal and unseen images of surrealism. The human being, according to him, is but a bit of poet in person, because s/he imagines. This power of imagination makes one poetic to some extent.
This human perception must have a certain degree which is superseded by the poet compared to the common masses of the people. Man cannot live without dream. This dream makes life creative and affluent. The art of poetry rather remains in all artistic works of life; this has been enthralling us from time immemorial. It is even found among aboriginal human minds from unknown time and anthropology. This has its trend like time’s ebb and tide.
Al Mahmud is a modern poet of Bangladesh. This creativity in poetry limits him in the age he lives. Every aspect of social, religious, economic and political spheres of life tends to weigh him over and above his poetic imaginations. These are all evident to his poems. Basically he is gifted with an acute intellectual spirit. He has his subtle term of allegory in composition:
“If you want to survive, wear a yellow uniform.
Wear green sari just as butterflies.
Remain like leaves of generations
Place shrubs on yourself to save your dazed children
Put shield of nature on your breast
So that killers take you for trees
Undulating flowers ceaseless beauty of flowers
Enemies wear green shirts
They have placed leaves on their helmets and guns
They have kept concealed their nails, teeth, and sex organs
They have turned into mindless poisonous cactus.”
(Camouflage: Translated by AZM Haider)
Al Mahmud’s poems may easily be characterised as soft-spoken lyrical ones in almost all rhymes and reasons. There might be some soul-stirring objects of poetry viz Kaler Kalas, Asukhey Eigan, Behya Sur etc. but they have hardly any social impact in reality. In his poem Bharat Borsho a sort of eroticism and masochism is displayed while in Bakhtiarer Ghora, and Nil Masjider Imam an episode of Jihad (religious war) and Iman (faith) circulates his colossal personality in the identity of the Muslim heroism against the despotic and tyrant pagans of the day.
Historic words have got access in his poetry very easily. He admitted in an interview with Charulia that he might have read Islam profusely but it was very hard on his part to put Islam in big poetry. ‘Still,’ he says, “I have endeavoured to form one of them in one of the poems Punorutthaner Futkar in the anthology of poem, Nodir Bhitore Nodi. He says, “It is Islamic.”
In the poetical works of Al Mahmud, metaphysical aspects are rare and negligible. Only a transition takes place in one of his poems, Aastacholey Nam Iikhechi (I have written my name on the sunset), the English rendering by AZ.M. Haider, a part of which is quoted below-
“When the body becomes lax, hairs gray
Hearing your injunctions the whole nature trembling
Dying afternoon stood startled
Receiving notice of love the sun turned red
The day wrapped in darkness, will descend in a moment
The night will become colorful to cover your shame
The smoke of love waters blood
Will flower hope blossom in this water?
Let water or poison whip up waves
Let heart’s lake quiver, stir and overflow love.
I have written my name in sunset
I don’t care anyone.”
Al Mahmud is a living poet. He is still contributing to our literature with exceptional vigour. We wish him long life. n
In realism, a poet is a person of flesh and blood. While living in dreamland an emotive sensation of the poet creates elixir that touches life. In sorrow or happiness, in sadness or apathy, in melancholy or pathos, a poet brings out excellent words carrying rhymes or verse from heart and soul, the artistic texture of that verse creates pleasure in mind and soothes pain of one’s heart. Actually poetry has its natural ambience where poet’s imaginations accrue benefits.
Al Mahmud is one of the most distinguished poets of Bangladesh who has earned popularity among the poetry lovers of Bangladesh and West Bengal, India. This popularity is gained by the brilliance of imagery of the poet. His idyllic and phantasmagoric episodes in lyrics and beauty of imageries enamor the throbbing of one’s heart while reading his poetical works. His innate love of beauty provides romance therein and intellectual hubris culminates in euphoria.
In an interview to a local journal titled Charulia, Al Mahmud opined on the structure of poetry by saying that poetry in his view is the infinite dream of human entity expressed with the recreating language of rhymes, similes and metaphors. What we possess in dream but not in reality, is the thing that we call ‘poetry.’
It must have its realism but above realism imagination lays its superb language of subconscious mind. The poet has his bitter experience of life down to earth. His experience touches every aspect of internal and external phenomena of nature.
Al Mahmud believes in the unreal and unseen images of surrealism. The human being, according to him, is but a bit of poet in person, because s/he imagines. This power of imagination makes one poetic to some extent.
This human perception must have a certain degree which is superseded by the poet compared to the common masses of the people. Man cannot live without dream. This dream makes life creative and affluent. The art of poetry rather remains in all artistic works of life; this has been enthralling us from time immemorial. It is even found among aboriginal human minds from unknown time and anthropology. This has its trend like time’s ebb and tide.
Al Mahmud is a modern poet of Bangladesh. This creativity in poetry limits him in the age he lives. Every aspect of social, religious, economic and political spheres of life tends to weigh him over and above his poetic imaginations. These are all evident to his poems. Basically he is gifted with an acute intellectual spirit. He has his subtle term of allegory in composition:
“If you want to survive, wear a yellow uniform.
Wear green sari just as butterflies.
Remain like leaves of generations
Place shrubs on yourself to save your dazed children
Put shield of nature on your breast
So that killers take you for trees
Undulating flowers ceaseless beauty of flowers
Enemies wear green shirts
They have placed leaves on their helmets and guns
They have kept concealed their nails, teeth, and sex organs
They have turned into mindless poisonous cactus.”
(Camouflage: Translated by AZM Haider)
Al Mahmud’s poems may easily be characterised as soft-spoken lyrical ones in almost all rhymes and reasons. There might be some soul-stirring objects of poetry viz Kaler Kalas, Asukhey Eigan, Behya Sur etc. but they have hardly any social impact in reality. In his poem Bharat Borsho a sort of eroticism and masochism is displayed while in Bakhtiarer Ghora, and Nil Masjider Imam an episode of Jihad (religious war) and Iman (faith) circulates his colossal personality in the identity of the Muslim heroism against the despotic and tyrant pagans of the day.
Historic words have got access in his poetry very easily. He admitted in an interview with Charulia that he might have read Islam profusely but it was very hard on his part to put Islam in big poetry. ‘Still,’ he says, “I have endeavoured to form one of them in one of the poems Punorutthaner Futkar in the anthology of poem, Nodir Bhitore Nodi. He says, “It is Islamic.”
In the poetical works of Al Mahmud, metaphysical aspects are rare and negligible. Only a transition takes place in one of his poems, Aastacholey Nam Iikhechi (I have written my name on the sunset), the English rendering by AZ.M. Haider, a part of which is quoted below-
“When the body becomes lax, hairs gray
Hearing your injunctions the whole nature trembling
Dying afternoon stood startled
Receiving notice of love the sun turned red
The day wrapped in darkness, will descend in a moment
The night will become colorful to cover your shame
The smoke of love waters blood
Will flower hope blossom in this water?
Let water or poison whip up waves
Let heart’s lake quiver, stir and overflow love.
I have written my name in sunset
I don’t care anyone.”
Al Mahmud is a living poet. He is still contributing to our literature with exceptional vigour. We wish him long life. n
(M Mizanur Rahman is poet, essayist,
translator and columnist)
