LARKANA: Saeed Memon is a poet of nature and his poetry is one of the strongest and representative voices in modern Sindhi literature because of its scholastic value, depth of ideas, spontaneity and accurate portrayal of human tragedies. These thoughts were expressed by poets and writers at the launching ceremony of Saeed Memon’s anthology Azal jo Aadano organised on Sunday by the literary section of the Arts Council Larkana. The book consists of one long ghazal containing 595 couplets.

Poet Ayaz Jani who chaired the ceremony said that existentialism formed one of the basis of Saeed’s poetry. “It is not influenced by any particular school of thought. But the poet has expressed his inner feelings in a unique manner.”

He said that Saeed portrayed social tragedies, deprivation and dismal treatment meted out to fellow human beings in society. Highlighting the importance of social media, he said: “Facebook is providing an effective platform for emerging poets to publish their poetry and reach out to readers in every nook and corner of the world,” he said.

Prof Mukhtiar Samo, poet, writer and secretary of Larkana Historical Society, said that spontaneity was a special characteristic of the poet which helped him in presenting his original thoughts without making any compromises.

Speaking about the the long ghazal, he said, it was the only poetic content of the book that gave a biographical account of the poet’s life and also encompasses his observations on life.

He said that Saeed could rightly be called a poet of nature as his thoughts became more enriched when he spent time in his native village where he had the opportunity to view nature from up close.

Dr Ahsan Danish said that after reading Saeed’s poetry one found that his poetic thoughts evoked the glorious tradition of Indus civilisation. “The words and their proper and disciplined usage in poetry proved the real worth of a poet. Mystic thoughts gave it a unique flavour and placed it on a high pedestal in Sindhi literature,” he said.

Akhlaque Ansari, short story writer and television playwright, said that poetry was mostly used only for expressing subjective thoughts but it also needed to be a representative of objective realities of life if it was to have a lifelong appeal.

Dr Fayyaz Latif said that even though Sindhi society was producing numerous poets but the quality of their poetry, with some exceptions like that of Saeed’s, was on the decline.

“Many poets compromised quality for the sake of quantity but Saeed was not one of them,” he said.

Dr Amna Soomro said that Saeed had discussed in his poetry many problems that a common man had to grapple with in his daily life and, therefore, it reflected the true face of life in society.

At the end of the ceremony, the author of the book, Saeed Memon, concluded: “I have not composed even a single line with pre-thought ideas. Poetry wells up within me and gushes forth when I’m deeply moved by something. I do not claim to be a big poet but my poetry is a source of my own satisfaction.”

Poets and writers Ayaz Jani, Prof Mukhtiar Samo, Akhlaque Ansari, Dr Ahsan Danish, Dr Fayaz Latif, Qadeer Shaikh, Dr Amana Soomro and Rizwan Gul formally performed the book launch.

Qasim Kehar, Rizwan Gul, Mumtaz Lohar and Khalid Chandio also spoke at the ceremony.

Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2016