Women Writer’s Fest 2020 was conducted via online modes of social media handles of SheThePeople.TV on 26^th September, Saturday. Many renowned and celebrated poets and authors of the literary world shared invaluable words through various panel sessions, as audiences were spellbound and mesmerized at the priceless gems these women writers shared. One of the ending panels of the day was ‘Poetry Spotlight’ at 7 pm IST, which had the distinguished British poet Ruth Padel in conversation with Priyanka Bhattacharya.

Padel, an award-winning British poet, author, wildlife conservationist and musician, was the panelist for the session ‘Poetry Spotlight’. She has published twelve poetry collections, seven works of non-fiction and a wildlife novel. Padel is also Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Professor of Poetry at King’s College London.  She is also the great great granddaughter of Charles Darwin.

What’s happening is a microcosm of what the world is facing: Padel on climate change

When asked about the influence of her scientific heritage on her persona and work, as she is the great great granddaughter of Charles Darwin. Padel said that the commonality between scientists and poets is that they both notice things. She added that the voices of both science and poetry are resonating: you have to trust the voices. She also added that you can understand the entirety of poetry by noticing small details.

Padel further spoke extensively about her newest book “We’re all from somewhere else”, which is about migrants. She talked about how the climate change will create more refugees, like the fires in Lesbos have rendered such a vast population homeless.“What’s happening to these people is a microcosm of what the world is facing [at large]. They are homeless because of no reason of their own.”

What’s happening is a microcosm of what the world is facing.

Ruth Padel on climate change

Bhattacharya when asked Padel to read something from her book, she read the poem “The Letter Home”.

“I inverted the gaze to female gaze”

Padel’s book “Rembrandt World Would Have Loved You” has drawn a lot of attention for its bold poetry and the idea of female gaze, with boldness in it. She spoke about it, saying, “The book came out in 1998. I wrote it at the time when feminist poetry was taken for granted. With it, I inverted the gaze of most love poems which had continued to be so through centuries in Britain.” She further added how an episode from Mahabharata influenced her to write the poem, “Indian Princess Picks Love out from Gods.”

When Bhattacharya asked Ruth Padel to talk about the stereotypical notions of poetic inspiration and what journey her books entail, she said, “There’s no particular way to write a poem. Poems get written in different ways. It’s different for all poets. Elizabeth Bishop, for instance, wrote a single poem for 10 years! She would stick papers all around the room and write a word or two when she got at it. For me, I feel more enlightened, alert and on the edge when I write poetry. I love to explore the different places and environments, whether it’s a jungle, or a city, or maybe someone else’s garden. The idea of seeing something new interests me. Metaphors are at the heart of poetry: they open a window to a new way of seeing. You would see the word from a different perspective: it makes the familiar strange and the strange, if not familiar, approachable.”

Talking of her Indian connection, Padel said that she first came to India for her brother’s wedding, whose wife is from a tiny village in Orissa. She talked about her visiting the only King Cobra reserve in the world, i.e. the Western Ghats. Padel also loved visiting the tiger reserve, as she found a connection between the tiger and poetry. “The tiger hidden in a forest is like meaning of a poem. You may not find the whole meaning to a poem, but it’s there. Every little thing in a forest is related to the other: bird to tiger to otter to tree to leaf mould, in turn to the fallen log; everything is important. In the same way, every word and feeling is important in a poem.”

Amrita Sher Gil was extraordinary: Ruth Padel

Padel also briefed on her fondness of Amrita Sher Gil, the Indian painter. She said that Sher Gil was “a pioneer modernist of Indian art”. “She was extraordinary. The time when most art schools in England weren’t teaching women at all, India had Amrita Sher Gil,” she said.

During the last minutes of the session, Bhattacharya asked the audience to ask questions. One such question of the audience was that what took Padel to poetry, when her mother was a scientist. Padel laughed, and said, “It was music. My mother used to read aloud poems from the Jungle Book to me. Somehow, I could easily learn the poem by heart, even without trying! It was the rhythm and music of it. That was the beginning of it all.”

It was the rhythm and music of poetry that drew me towards it.

Ruth Padel on her poetic inspiration

Finally, Bhattacharya asked Padel to leave a message for the women writers and poets. She said, “Trust yourself. Believe that the way you see the world are truthful, your original and worth sharing in a beautiful communication. Just trust yourself.”

Just trust yourself.

You can listen to Padel’s lockdown poetry here as she had directed!

Image credits: The New York Times