9 Must Read Poets When Life Gets Too Real

The silent weight of responsibility sometimes doesn't let us speak our hearts out. We turn to booze or pick up a habit that takes us further away from expressing vulnerabilities . Most of us don't turn to poetry unless its a heartbreak, a loved one passes away, or life throws unexpected googlies, leaving us in a limbo of incoherence.

Beyond the surface, poems take us through the mind's eye into corridors where unspoken truth and emotional relief meet us. For when the prose of the everyday life don't surmise, verses unravel past the ordinary expressions.

Away from the Insta-poets' bite-sized verses, that are often heavy on aesthetics and light on depth, we have curated a list of poets who unearthed what often goes unsaid. From the existential musings of Sahir Ludhianvi, the raw and unfiltered poems by Charles Bukowski to resilient poetry of Khalil Gibran, d, poems hold the power to move us.

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Powerful Poems Every Man Should Read

Defeat, My Defeat

By KHALIL GIBRAN

The poem by Khalil Gibran speaks universally to all about embracing failure while discovering yourself. It is a conversation between pride, loss and resilience.

Here is an excerpt from the poem:

"Defeat, my Defeat, my deathless courage,

You and I shall laugh together with the storm,

And together we shall dig graves for all that die in us,

And we shall stand in the sun with a will,

And we shall be dangerous."

A Postcard From Kashmir

By AGHA SHAHID ALI

The poem deals with displacement, identity, memory and exile. The poem quiet literally hits home as it deeply resonates with India's history.

Here is an excerpt from the poem:

"This is home. And this the closest
I'll ever be to home. When I return,
the colors won't be so brilliant,
the Jhelum's waters so clean,
so ultramarine. My love
so overexposed."

No Leaders Please

By CHARLES BUKOWSKI

Anti-conformist verses that present the raw grit, the poem by the controversial American poet, Charles Bukowski, speaks of embracing individuality over conforming to the society's ideals. The poems explores the idea of carving out you own fate and rejecting authority.

Here is an excerpt from the poem:

"invent yourself and then reinvent yourself,
change your tone and shape so often that they can
never
categorize you."

Hunger

By JAYANTA MAHAPATRA

Hunger is essentially a raw and bleak depiction of desire, poverty, and masculinity. But it speaks to all by confronting the ways of human behaviour and society. The poem highlights the bleakness of the world and is an unsettling account of moral decay that arises from desperation- the hunger to survive.

Here is an excerpt:

" I heard him say: My daughter, she’s just turned fifteen…
Feel her. I’ll be back soon, your bus leaves at nine.
The sky fell on me, and a father’s exhausted wile.
Long and lean, her years were cold as rubber.
She opened her wormy legs wide. I felt the hunger there,
the other one, the fish slithering, turning inside."

I Belong There

By MAHMOUD DARWISH

A celebrated Palestinian poet who often portrayed the angst of exile, resistance, and discussed issues surrounding identity and human conditions through his works. In I Belong There , the poet presents a man's path to establishing himself, his identity in a world that is always shifting. It is symbolic of his resistance to be erased from the books of history.

Here is an excerpt:

"I have lived on the land long before swords turned man into prey.
I belong there. When heaven mourns for her mother, I return heaven to her mother.
And I cry so that a returning cloud might carry my tears.
To break the rules, I have learned all the words needed for a trial by blood.
I have learned and dismantled all the words in order to draw from them a
single word: Home."

Daddy

By SYLVIA PLATH

One of the most famous poems, Plath's Daddy is a confessional poem written a month after her separation from her husband, Ted Hughes. A rage-filled address to a father figure, the poem explores the patriarchal power and is a critique on authority and women subjugation.

Here is an excerpt:

"Says there are a dozen or two.
So I never could tell where you
Put your foot, your root,
I never could talk to you.
The tongue stuck in my jaw.

It stuck in a barb wire snare.
Ich, ich, ich, ich,
I could hardly speak.
I thought every German was you.
And the language obscene"

Durvastha (The Tragic Plight)

By KUMARAN ASAN

Durvastha by Kumaran Asan, a Malayalam poet, portrays struggles of a Nair woman, Savithri, who falls for lower-caste man. Highlighting caste oppression in the Kerala society, through the poem, Asan seeks to question the caste system and challenge the rigid hierarchy that dictate matters of love. Translated from Malayalam to English, Kumaran Asan's works also include Nalini, Chinthavishtayaya, and Leela amongst others.

Latecomer

By ARVIND KRISHNA MEHROTRA

The introspective poems by Mehrotra are often characterised by sharp wit and Latecomer (part selected poems and translations) is no exception. The poem delves into the ideas of passage of time, ageing and human condition that cannot be reserved. It focuses on how men often reflect on their past wondering if they are too late to have arrived in their present. It is all about reflections and realisations.

Little of Me

By RABINDRANATH TAGORE

One of the highly underrated poems by the bard in Bengali, Rabindranath Tagore's poem Little of Me is a deep inward-looking expression on the burdens of manhood. It critiques grandeur and power that is expected of men but if the society looks closer, men are longing simplicity, It reflects the paradox of strength and vulnerability and also a reflection of an age that had a growing interest in mysticism and spirituality in the 20th century.

Here is an excerpt:

"Let only that little be left of me
whereby I may never hide thee.
Let only that little of my fetters be left
whereby I am bound with thy will,
and thy purpose is carried out in my life—-and that is the fetter of thy love."