KARACHI: A journalist allowing his creative poetic impulses to be expressed, penning down the imaginative thoughts that have consumed him all his life; that was the story shared of journalist, short story writer, and poet Peerzada Salman at the launch of his first poetry book Bemused at T2F on Friday

Bemused, a selection of poems, is not Salman’s first published work; apart from being associated with Dawn for the last 14 years and writing extensively on culture, art and literature, his columns published on Karachi’s colonial buildings were compiled and published under the titled Karachi – Legacies of Empires. However, Bemused is his first poetry book.

Salman spoke about why he decided to publish the work which for years he had avoided. “I do journalism to put food on the table, but I am a writer first. However, there are two reasons why I never wanted to publish my stuff. When you have read people like Joyce, Shakespeare, Eliot and Ghalib, you feel that they’ve said it all. The second reason is I find that writing about your own creative stuff carries a sense of self -projection and self-aggrandizement. So I never wanted to publish my work.”

However, an illness two years ago which landed him in hospital changed his perspective.

“That experience unhinged me and got me thinking how my friends and family would react to my death. I wanted to give them something tangible: books are tangible and what they contain is intangible. So that’s where I decided to publish my work.”

In the author’s owns words, the reason why he chose poetry is because it is “like setting dreams and nightmares to music. Words, rhythm and dreams form the triumvirate that rules me.”

Prof Dr Nomanul Haq delivered a lecture on the fundamental purpose of poetry. Poetry, he said, did teach us language and the possibility of its expression. However, the joy and meaningfulness it gave to life, he explained, was the greatest defence of poetry.

“In my solitude I chant Ghalib; when walking from building A to B at the IBA campus, I recall the verses of Hafiz, Sadi and Mir,” he said.

“The most powerful faculty we have as human beings is the faculty of imagination. We can, in juxtaposition to the universe that is given to us, create an alternative universe. Like Manto created an alternative history. There’s the real history of the Partition, but he created his own history.”

Human intellect was subservient to imagination, he said, summing up why poetry was important, especially when written and read in difficult times.

Michael Pearson read a few poems from the book which included “Girl in Fallujah”, “Suicide attack in Quetta” and “The Mughal Emperor”.

On the insistence of the poet, less was spoken about his poems and more about poetry as an indispensable medium of higher thought and creative expression. “Peerzada’s poetry has brought us into his private moments and the language used is very informal,” said Dr Noman about Bemused.

Published in Dawn, December 30th, 2017