Poesy in teens

I strongly believe that poetry happens; it’s not made. Bhavana, a teenager, is smitten by this sweet happening. Daughter of well-known writer Akkiraju Bhattiprolu, who is known in Telugu literature for his unique style of penning short stories, this literary bud Bhavana bloomed in California and came to India in her third year. Her schooling, up to 12th standard, was in Chirec International School, Hyderabad. She is now pursuing her undergraduate course at UC Berkeley with Maths as a major subject.

Usually people who are into poesy are not good or at least not interested in Math. But this girl relates Math and poetry and avers that they aren’t different. She has been writing her blog named ‘After Three Ice creams’ and has a tag line to it ‘an attempt to make peace with my vices’ since her elementary school years.

It was in her eighth standard that she came up with an abstract poem and since then has never looked back, says her father. Her journey of poetry continues. She practices spoken word poetry. She was a finalist at National Poetry Slam at Bangalore.

Her anthology of fourteen poems named “Peaceful Vices”, released in 2018, added this young lady into the family of young poets. Her poems were penned in English and the translation of these poems into Telugu was made by eminent poet and translator Sri Vadrevu China Veerabhadrudu, and both the titles were published in one volume.

All the fourteen poems in her anthology have a unique flavour. She is very comfortable with the lingua franca of English and is at ease with her expression.

“This world has made me a paper doll/Easy to hold/Easy to look at/Easy to burn” she starts a poem “Paper Doll” with these words and finally says some of us are cut unevenly and have our rough edges. And finally concludes the poem saying, “So we stand here/And wait/For the fire to burn through those edges/For the fire to turn white to black/For them to turn us into ash”.

This little lady has a wide expanse of thought. She takes in her stride the disparities in the world. She says in another poem, “We all have circles around us/Circles that are so important/That they pretty much define /Who we are” her clarity of thought gives the crystal-clear expression of her in her words.

Her poem “Chopping Onions” is a real feminist poem in which she observes her mom chopping onions with tears in her eyes. And from that she grows up with an individuality of her own. Her mother has been her inspiration and motivation to make a life of her own.

Finally, she says it’s all in her choice to be what she wants to and none can deny her empowerment. Unshackling from the shackles of yester generation, she is now a new woman, self-made and with loads of self-esteem. (The writer, translator, literary critic. [email protected])