Derivatives: A Collection of Poems

By Kota V Subbaram

This is the sixth collection of poems Derivatives by Kota V. Subbaram and deals with varied themes, topics, and ideas. The poet has based his work on different dimensions of man and the familial; manifestations of nature; primal elements; abstractions; insights into diverse experiences he has had in life; the imagination that goes into creating new mini-worlds; and intuition that provides new perceptions about the un / seen. Each poem is unique and gives to the reader the pleasure of capturing the sensitivities of the poet in nuanced forms and his poetic sensibilities at multiple levels.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing India
• Release date: Aug 20, 2015
• ISBN: 9781482852394

Kota V Subbaram

Born in 1942 in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, the poet, Kota V. Subbaram, completed his early education there before moving to the Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh state, India, to take his Bachelor ’s degree and Master ’s degree in Physics in 1960 and 1962. Then he joined the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh state, India, and took his Ph.D. degree ( Physics ). Later, he spent some time in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, and, in Halifax, Canada, on fellowships for research studies and made some significant contributions to scientific knowledge. Kota V. Subbaram returned to India and joined Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, Haryana state, India, and taught Physics for about a decade. Having then found his interests in education, literacy, science communication and issues concerning society, he took up relevant activities. He contributed several articles, letters to the editor, essays – covering a gamut of topics in the context of Indian society – to newspapers, magazines, and journals. He authored a number of books on science, education, scientific temper, science-society interface, and philosophy of science. He received, on behalf of the organization he was heading, an award from the Government of India for the best work done in science communication. Kota V. Subbaram’s creative literary talents culminated in a number of published poems – later brought out as collections of poems at various times in the last about forty years. A metaphysical monologue by him – lamenting the failure of human evolution from a mere (static) organic existence to a (dynamic) psycho-social level – received critical appreciation in literary circles in India. All in all, the entire volume of literary works by the author has received rave reviews (A hungry heart ...  a kind of genius)  in various journals, magazines, and newspapers. Kota V. Subbaram also directed research on validation of Indian Ayurvedic medicinal practices mentioned in the ancient texts, using modern medical research protocols, prescribing the medicines to patients with ailments which led to several volumes of documentation of the results of clinical studies, as also research papers published in peer-reviewed inter / national journals. The poet has received biographical honors from the American Biographical Institute, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA, and from the International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, UK, for services to the fields of Education, Literature, Sciences, and Human Welfare. Presently, the poet resides in Hyderabad, India. Email: [e-mail]

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Copyright © 2015 by Kota V Subbaram.

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Contents

Acknowledgement

Preface

Poem

Aches of the Earth

Epistemics

Geographia

Change of State

Become a Pugilist

Persona non grata

The Blessed

Dialoguic

Invite, of the Past

Impressions, A to Z

Time, its mite

Host

Transposed

Yes, I Con

A Soirée

Retribution

Superannuation

Son of the Soil

The Seeker

The Lord learns

The Sixth Element

Inside Golconda Fort, Hyderabad

From the River Bank

Local Glocal

At Crossroads

Jugglery

Handing Over

Hedging

Innerware

Action at a Distance

Juvenilia

The Day Before

Here is the News

Halfway, through

Atop Kailasagiri Hill

Art Unbounded

Fire

The Tome, A Tale

If You Know What I Mean

An Ant Speaks

It’s All In The Air

Salvation

A Repeat Recall

A Conundrum

A Poem In A Poem

House – Home Dyad

Sangam

Hope against Hope

Kumbh Mela

End of Communication

There is nothing

original in this world.

All are derivatives

including this differential!

Acknowledgement

The help extended by my son, Kartik Kota, in organizing the entire manuscript of this collection of poems is acknowledged.

Preface

Anyone who is sufficiently inspired can attempt writing poetry. Whether or not that is poetry can only be decided by readers and academician-critics. When I started writing poetry in English towards the late 1970s, there were not very many trying to articulate their ideas and feelings in poetic form. Well, there were already established senior poets leading the way. Nearly forty years later, these days, there are a number of persons – young and not so young, old and not so old – writing in English. Some of them are prolific in their exposition. Although, there is no competition among the people to write poetry on various topics, these days there seems to be overt neurosis among the older ones to wrap up their writings owing to inevitable uncertainties of life. Whatever has been said so far can perhaps be extended to the field of world literature in general and track of poetry in particular.

For a topic that is chosen, to be given a poetic demeanor, there has to be a beginning, a middle, and an end. The thoughts, ideas, feelings, and emotions, stand expressed in terms of appropriate imagery, metaphors, similies, and the like. One creates a symphony with internal rhyming, cadence, end-line rhyming, and some gentle rhythm, felt only in the mind of the reader. In the free verse of this era, turning of lines has become too spontaneous in some poetry, the lines ending with articles / nouns / verbs / adverbs / adjectives, among other parts of speech of the language, and occasionally, prepositions a few worthies seem to use as crutches under their axilla. All this may be taken as part of poetic licence and the creative process, without losing the exactness of expression intended to be