Of poets and foists

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"Some are born great, Some achieve greatness, And greatness is thrust upon some" is how Shakespeare portrayed greatness. This can truly be attributed to the poets of Bangladesh. Some poets have in-born talents. No matter what formal education they have or not, their works have passed the test of time, and they shine as bright stars in the literary arena. They are real creators and write from their own instincts without caring for favour, return or reward. There is another category of poets who earn poetic quality through their hard work, devotion, zeal and perseverance. There is the other kind of poets where poetic quality is thrust upon them by virtue of their position. There is example of emergence of such poets from within the state power. And the media, considering the oddity or novelty factor as criterion of news, grabbed it. Attention here lays more on the poet thrust with poetic quality than the poem itself. Thus with the blessings of the media, the military dictator turned into a poet in no time. The state run media, the state run television in particular, that was totally devoted to his publicity, got new dimension to eulogise the poet. Competition started within to give visual shape of the poet's verses with befitting images. Why not? The creative teevee executives could visualise that this was the easy way for their elevation. Making the poet happy will bring fortune for them. Why should the noted music composers of the country lag behind? With their magic touch the verses soon became songs, rather anthems for the state-run television. The songs were played every now and then without caring how much the viewers can swallow. A section of the country's poet community, who themselves were renowned, thronged around the new poet to thrust greatness on him. The fame crossed the frontiers of fifty five thousand square miles as the verses were made translated in foreign language, with eye-catching book published at a huge cost, and grand and extravaganza publication ceremony held abroad with the patronage of the country's envoys. The elite envoys were no less enthusiastic runner in the competition as they knew how important the poet's blessings are for their career. The trend still continues. The country's bureaucracy is no less powerful than any dictator. The bureaucrats also command the ability to emerge as poet when need be for them to be so. It had been a long-time practice that poems, whoever may be the poet, appear in the literary page of the newspaper, and the literary pages appear in the inner part of it. Readers these days must have noticed a deviation from this traditional system. Poems now appear on the first page of the dailies. Not all poems, nor by virtue of their poetic superiority or literary judgment, those by top ranking bureaucrats, and in some cases politicians, are printed on the front page. High profile poets of this category assert the power to break the protocol of the newspaper, and the management of these papers, possibly aware of the long hand of bureaucracy; or may be by considering the oddity or novelty factor of news, find it comfortable and a compromise to put the verses on the front page. To make them further eye catching, these are printed in well designed boxes. These bureaucrat poets, who practised writing before, and then not as big a bureaucrat, no doubt had to take painstaking endeavours to get their verses printed in the literary page of a newspaper. The TV channels, not to speak of the state-owned one only; the private run channels too find it a pleasure to invite these high profile poets in their poetry recitation programmes. They know well they need the cooperation of the bureaucrats for many a reason. Strangely there is a similarity in the theme of the poems that have in recent days been appearing on the front page. Their theme is very traditional --- the unparallel leader of the Bangali nation, the leader who gave these poets the identity of top bureaucrats of a sovereign country. No doubt, the verses and songs written on the Bangabandhu amount more than the eulogies made on any other leader around the globe. These are spontaneous and natural expressions of the bards who write out of their sheer love for the great leader. And the readers, with all care and contentment read them, no matter in which page of the newspaper or journal these verses are printed. The epic, time tested and so far best poems on Bangabandhu did not have to appear on the front page. But it was not difficult for the ardent readers to reach them. No doubt the poets, littérateurs and writers will continue their pens for the unflinching leader of the history. The sudden appearance of the bureaucrat poets on the front page wonders the readers. It puts a question on the very purpose of such writings. It looks the poets are making frantic efforts to draw the attention that they are writing on Bangabandhu. A box verse on the front page is the right place for it. It is not difficult for the readers to understand how purposeful writing is this. It is not paying tributes, it is a kind of showing off paying tributes, and the only purpose is to catch attention. Tribute comes from an inherent feeling. It lies within, and does not call for making a public show. When it is expressed by beating drums, the way the bureaucrat poets do, it loses its beauty and solemnity. Bureaucrats are multi-coloured. They change their colour befitting the weather. So are the bureaucrat poets. They compose verses suiting the time. By accident, the lyrics of winter if sung in spring, brings disaster and catastrophe. saleque0707@yahoo.com