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Collected Poems
At his best [Thayil’s work] is splendidly structured, both skilful and forceful…’ —Dom Moraes
From his debut with Gemini in 1992 to his last volume These Errors Are Correct in 2008, Jeet Thayil has been a provocative and indelible presence in Indian poetry. Collected Poems represents more than three decades of work, starting with poems written in the early 1980s. It includes, for the first time, privately circulated, uncollected poems.
‘I revel in Jeet Thayil’s poetry. He seems to be one of the most contemporary writers I know, and contemporary precisely because he has such command of the poetic and historical past, and because his invented language has such depth, archeological richness, and reality.’—Vijay Seshadri, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.
‘Most of Thayil’s poems chart paths to redemption, not necessarily his own; they could be the ways his various personae go. The result is a mapping that excites, exhilarates and disturbs.’—Adil Jussawalla
‘Thayil writes controlled verse, well-crafted, never obscure…’—Keki Daruwalla
‘Thayil’s poetry leaves the reader with a sense of danger, of language teetering wildly on the edge of some precipice, between centuries, between continents, between fleetingly improvised realms, suspended somewhere between history and invention, reality and nowhereness.’—Arundhathi Subramaniam
‘Thayil’s verse is eloquent, flowing, metrical, visceral. He walks on the wild side. His voice is that of the present generation.’—Arshia Sattar
‘Thayil’s poems refract his vibrant, unique and far-flung life experience through the prism of a tremendous lyric intellect.’—Philip Nikolayev
From his debut with Gemini in 1992 to his last volume These Errors Are Correct in 2008, Jeet Thayil has been a provocative and indelible presence in Indian poetry. Collected Poems represents more than three decades of work, starting with poems written in the early 1980s. It includes, for the first time, privately circulated, uncollected poems.
‘I revel in Jeet Thayil’s poetry. He seems to be one of the most contemporary writers I know, and contemporary precisely because he has such command of the poetic and historical past, and because his invented language has such depth, archeological richness, and reality.’—Vijay Seshadri, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.
‘Most of Thayil’s poems chart paths to redemption, not necessarily his own; they could be the ways his various personae go. The result is a mapping that excites, exhilarates and disturbs.’—Adil Jussawalla
‘Thayil writes controlled verse, well-crafted, never obscure…’—Keki Daruwalla
‘Thayil’s poetry leaves the reader with a sense of danger, of language teetering wildly on the edge of some precipice, between centuries, between continents, between fleetingly improvised realms, suspended somewhere between history and invention, reality and nowhereness.’—Arundhathi Subramaniam
‘Thayil’s verse is eloquent, flowing, metrical, visceral. He walks on the wild side. His voice is that of the present generation.’—Arshia Sattar
‘Thayil’s poems refract his vibrant, unique and far-flung life experience through the prism of a tremendous lyric intellect.’—Philip Nikolayev
- GenresPoetry
312 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 1, 2015
7 people are currently reading
93 people want to read
About the author
Jeet Thayil
33 books293 followersJeet Thayil (born 1959 in Kerala) is an Indian poet, novelist, librettist and musician. He is best known as a poet and is the author of four collections: These Errors Are Correct (Tranquebar, 2008), English (2004, Penguin India, Rattapallax Press, New York, 2004), Apocalypso (Ark, 1997) and Gemini (Viking Penguin, 1992). His first novel, Narcopolis, (Faber & Faber, 2012), was shortlisted for the 2012 Man Booker Prize and the Hindu Literary Prize 2013.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 1, 2016
A close observation of the contemporary publishing scenario in India reveals two distinct categories of books. One: Books that rise to heights of popularity instantly but gradually lose ground with the passage of time. Consider the books by the once “most favourite author of young India”, Chetan Bhagat. Then a phenomena, Bhagat’s books now fail to attract readers despite exorbitant discounts, with Amazon India selling the paperback edition of his latest Making India Awesome at just Rs 88 - Bhagat’s reader-base has fast eroded. Apparently his first book, Five Point Someone (2004) was then priced at Rs 95 and became a bestseller without any discounts. Bhagat’s works fall in this category - those that suffer gradual decay with the passage of time.
The second category encompasses books that fail to grab attention and suffer visible neglect in the farthest shelves of bookstores before coming to limelight after the author’s writing is acknowledged by some renowned committees. From the works of Arundhati Roy to Jhumpa Lahiri and from Cyrus Mistry to Anjum Hasan, the titles falling in this category have risen from their corpses to gain limelight at a date much later than its publication, after several years in some cases.
A recent title from Aleph Book Company, however, led to second thoughts as a seemingly third category found utterance. The book of our subject is Collected Poems by Kerala-born author, Jeet Thayil. From his debut with Gemini in 1992 to his last volume These Errors Are Correct in 2008, Jeet Thayil has been a provocative and indelible presence in Indian poetry. Collected Poems represents more than three decades of work, starting with poems written in the early 1980s and also includes, for the first time, privately circulated, uncollected poems. The last part, “privately circulated, uncollected poems” sets it apart from the aforementioned two categories. Thayil is an humble writer and never enjoyed the kind of “instant popularity” that those from the first category did. As fate would have it, despite being a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award (2012) for his poetry collection These Errors are Correct and the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature in 2013 for the novel Narcopolis, his works have not risen from their corpses to gain limelight even after his writings were widely acknowledged. But his works not even suffered from the visible neglect (that those of the second category did). Contradictory, isn’t it? In Thayil’s own words (from the preface of Collected Poems), “Time, once a friend, is now the enemy.” He mentions that These Errors Are Correct (2008), written in dedication to his late wife, is the last full length of poems that he intends to publish. “For various reasons, I am unable to equate the poems in that book and it seems to me that if you cannot equal or improve on your last book, it is better not to publish at all. A fitting pest-control to the junk being published in the recent years, indeed! He goes on to add, “Chaos is my friend and closest neighbour. This is my life and these are my collected poems. There is nothing collected about any of it.”
And here is the third category - a poetry collection comprising new poems and poems that were written many years ago but never published. Thayil’s poetry books are already out of print while the libretti were privately printed, which means to the author that “they were never in print in the first place”. Some of these poems remain unchanged, while some are discarded and rewritten.
In his poems, as in his prose, Thayil has introduced new areas of feelings and emotions to Indian literature, and has often concerned himself with the pleasures and pains of drugs and alcohol, sex and death - emblematic of Keats and Baudelaire. He is said to have more in common with figures such as William S Burroughs and Roberto Bolano than writers traditionally connected with the firmament of Indian literature.
In Collected Poems, Thayil handles his poems with caution, with some kind of a restraint, it seems. Unwilling to detach himself from his protagonists or subjects - Thayil pens only the tip of the iceberg, leaving the rest for the reader to read between the lines. He introduces us to a “Town of ghosts” and as if to testify the loyalty of a reader to his writer, mentions “Only a whisper remains and this too will fade, forget me.” He talks of “worldwide web”, where he finds it “Good to hear from” Salil, whose triple Haiku, like medicine, lifted the poet enough “to respond in kind”. But then that’s not it - “A ghazal in response to a haiku in response to a sonnet / Jeet, what are you spoiling for, a fight on the worldwide web?”
Filled with passion, a reader finds him going to and fro between his pages - as if every poem is a prescription from the same state of mind and like the unseen passages inside a spider’s web, one poem in the collection holds the key to understanding another. Most poems are not inter-related but understanding Thayil is like peeling an onion, the more layers you peel, the closer you get to the underlying verses.
First published in Beyond Books, The Statesman.
http://www.inkstreet.in/2016/02/chaos...
The second category encompasses books that fail to grab attention and suffer visible neglect in the farthest shelves of bookstores before coming to limelight after the author’s writing is acknowledged by some renowned committees. From the works of Arundhati Roy to Jhumpa Lahiri and from Cyrus Mistry to Anjum Hasan, the titles falling in this category have risen from their corpses to gain limelight at a date much later than its publication, after several years in some cases.
A recent title from Aleph Book Company, however, led to second thoughts as a seemingly third category found utterance. The book of our subject is Collected Poems by Kerala-born author, Jeet Thayil. From his debut with Gemini in 1992 to his last volume These Errors Are Correct in 2008, Jeet Thayil has been a provocative and indelible presence in Indian poetry. Collected Poems represents more than three decades of work, starting with poems written in the early 1980s and also includes, for the first time, privately circulated, uncollected poems. The last part, “privately circulated, uncollected poems” sets it apart from the aforementioned two categories. Thayil is an humble writer and never enjoyed the kind of “instant popularity” that those from the first category did. As fate would have it, despite being a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award (2012) for his poetry collection These Errors are Correct and the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature in 2013 for the novel Narcopolis, his works have not risen from their corpses to gain limelight even after his writings were widely acknowledged. But his works not even suffered from the visible neglect (that those of the second category did). Contradictory, isn’t it? In Thayil’s own words (from the preface of Collected Poems), “Time, once a friend, is now the enemy.” He mentions that These Errors Are Correct (2008), written in dedication to his late wife, is the last full length of poems that he intends to publish. “For various reasons, I am unable to equate the poems in that book and it seems to me that if you cannot equal or improve on your last book, it is better not to publish at all. A fitting pest-control to the junk being published in the recent years, indeed! He goes on to add, “Chaos is my friend and closest neighbour. This is my life and these are my collected poems. There is nothing collected about any of it.”
And here is the third category - a poetry collection comprising new poems and poems that were written many years ago but never published. Thayil’s poetry books are already out of print while the libretti were privately printed, which means to the author that “they were never in print in the first place”. Some of these poems remain unchanged, while some are discarded and rewritten.
In his poems, as in his prose, Thayil has introduced new areas of feelings and emotions to Indian literature, and has often concerned himself with the pleasures and pains of drugs and alcohol, sex and death - emblematic of Keats and Baudelaire. He is said to have more in common with figures such as William S Burroughs and Roberto Bolano than writers traditionally connected with the firmament of Indian literature.
In Collected Poems, Thayil handles his poems with caution, with some kind of a restraint, it seems. Unwilling to detach himself from his protagonists or subjects - Thayil pens only the tip of the iceberg, leaving the rest for the reader to read between the lines. He introduces us to a “Town of ghosts” and as if to testify the loyalty of a reader to his writer, mentions “Only a whisper remains and this too will fade, forget me.” He talks of “worldwide web”, where he finds it “Good to hear from” Salil, whose triple Haiku, like medicine, lifted the poet enough “to respond in kind”. But then that’s not it - “A ghazal in response to a haiku in response to a sonnet / Jeet, what are you spoiling for, a fight on the worldwide web?”
Filled with passion, a reader finds him going to and fro between his pages - as if every poem is a prescription from the same state of mind and like the unseen passages inside a spider’s web, one poem in the collection holds the key to understanding another. Most poems are not inter-related but understanding Thayil is like peeling an onion, the more layers you peel, the closer you get to the underlying verses.
First published in Beyond Books, The Statesman.
http://www.inkstreet.in/2016/02/chaos...
September 1, 2020
Thayil's poems are generally good and readable but certainly not (all) understandable. You may have to be an expert in reading poems in order to understand what the poet wants to convey.
April 3, 2022
Some of the 2008-2015 poems are good. I read English when it was released and really liked it but in comparison to his latter poems, English and the collections before it are just alright.
Read
December 26, 2024I'm not sure if poetry is my cup of tea. When I got it, it was great but i didn't get most of it!! More of a me-problem than a book problem, tbh.
April 20, 2019
"I'm back where my life and I parted ways.
I'm talking to the coffeemaker, to the face
towels folded by the sink, to the air
conditioner that conspires with my enemies. Even now,
in the midst of my extremity my eyes are dry,
and if I jump repeatedly against the window
I can tell myself I'm being lifted by a great joy -
until the glass smites my face and I cry out
your old name. The room is empty, lonely
as a still life, but the water stains speak
with your voice, Honor me, honor everything."
.
.
RATING: 4.75/5
I had purchased Jeet Thayil's Collected Poems last year just after finishing Agha Shahid Ali's The Veiled Suite, which I always recommend to anyone who reads poetry even a little bit. I had of course heard of him because of Narcopolis, which had been on my wishlist for quite a while, but I was unaware about his substantial body of poetry. As I progressed through the book, moving across the sections chronologically, I found myself an ardent fan of his verses more and more. A couple of my favourite poems are attached as images. I was not able to find Suicide's Sonnet online, which is a total gem. These Errors Are Correct and English were my favourite sections out of them all. Thayil navigates between the rigidity of structured poetry (which becomes extraordinarily malleable in his hands) and bounties of free verse expertly.
.
.
Each poem is expertly crafted with not a word out of place. After Agha Shahid, he is the only author whose English ghazals I have found really masterful. He explores his long history with drug addiction, especially cocaine, in detail in multiple poems without resorting to shallow black and white sketches. It is a great example of the heights contemporary Indian Poetry in English can reach in the hands of an expert wordsmith. Thayil is also a master of the unsaid. A large body of thought hides beneath the surface that reveals to you once you diligently parse his poems. It would then come as no surprise that his verses are hauntingly profound, rich in meaning and deeply moving. It's a shame that he has resolved to publish no more poetry after the death of his wife.
I'm talking to the coffeemaker, to the face
towels folded by the sink, to the air
conditioner that conspires with my enemies. Even now,
in the midst of my extremity my eyes are dry,
and if I jump repeatedly against the window
I can tell myself I'm being lifted by a great joy -
until the glass smites my face and I cry out
your old name. The room is empty, lonely
as a still life, but the water stains speak
with your voice, Honor me, honor everything."
.
.
RATING: 4.75/5
I had purchased Jeet Thayil's Collected Poems last year just after finishing Agha Shahid Ali's The Veiled Suite, which I always recommend to anyone who reads poetry even a little bit. I had of course heard of him because of Narcopolis, which had been on my wishlist for quite a while, but I was unaware about his substantial body of poetry. As I progressed through the book, moving across the sections chronologically, I found myself an ardent fan of his verses more and more. A couple of my favourite poems are attached as images. I was not able to find Suicide's Sonnet online, which is a total gem. These Errors Are Correct and English were my favourite sections out of them all. Thayil navigates between the rigidity of structured poetry (which becomes extraordinarily malleable in his hands) and bounties of free verse expertly.
.
.
Each poem is expertly crafted with not a word out of place. After Agha Shahid, he is the only author whose English ghazals I have found really masterful. He explores his long history with drug addiction, especially cocaine, in detail in multiple poems without resorting to shallow black and white sketches. It is a great example of the heights contemporary Indian Poetry in English can reach in the hands of an expert wordsmith. Thayil is also a master of the unsaid. A large body of thought hides beneath the surface that reveals to you once you diligently parse his poems. It would then come as no surprise that his verses are hauntingly profound, rich in meaning and deeply moving. It's a shame that he has resolved to publish no more poetry after the death of his wife.
December 11, 2015
Masterful. Jeet's work is wholly visceral, and because I read Narcopolis first, I now see how richly infused his fiction is with his prose. He could be my soulmate.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews