First of all, I thank all poets, reviewers, storywriters, research paper writers and other literati who have not only enriched but also enhanced the literary domain of creative saplings.com by investing into it the coffer of their heartfelt feelings. I am averse to trifling, waffling. On account of the prevailing trend of writing prose poetry, there is the mushroom growth of poets who write slipshod free-verse/ vers libre. Every poet should develop the acumen of differentiating a soul-stirring poem from a piece of insipid prose. Avoiding tedious exhortations, I would like to point out certain facts that a good poem consists of two distinct elements: structure or the physical, visible form which appears on paper and carries verbal music, that is, external line-end rhyme or internal in-line rhyme in the form of alliteration, assonance, consonance; and texture or mental form which is most significant and perceptible in the rational collocation of words, picturesque imagery, figurative and symbolic use of language and startling imagination invested with the foregrounding of strong feelings. By means of his creative imagination, a poet perceives a bit of similarity of beauty among dissimilar things. The poetic function of language is deeply concerned with deautomatisation or defamiliarization of common thoughts and foregrounding of feelings. By linguistic foregrounding, we mean the use of any linguistic device in such a way that its use itself rivets the attention of readers and it is discerned as uncommon, for example: "Her beauty/ a lush landscape of lust." The Great Russian Formalist, Jan Mukarovsky has made a brilliant statement in these words: "In the poetic language, foregrounding achieves maximum intensity. The language of literature itself is foregrounded against the background of conventional linguistic forms of expression." The stylistic and thematic sinews of good poems are manifest in harmony of thoughts, thematic symmetry, universality, originality, neologism, picturesque imagery, word music and amazing figurative use of language. Some of these attributes I have sorted out from the poems submitted to creative saplings.com which are analyzed here.

      Now I broach the qualities of poems posted on creative saplings.com. Poems reflect the potpourri of strong passions. Aju Mukhopadhayaya, in his poem 'Cultivating the Human Being' has contrasted the fruitfulness of Nature with the futility and frivolity of human nature: "as human beings/ remains fallow/ women sell their bodies." Sugam Babu has made an effective use of symbolic, picturesque imagery culled from Nature in these lines: "When the first flower (alliteration) unfolds/ there is agony/ Even for a tree.../ creativity comes with pain." Here the alliterative phrase 'first flower' typifies the first cry of a child after the great churning of labour pain, and "tree" suggests a poet and 'creativity' connotes the birth of a good poem. K.K. Saxena's two lines - "We both are to our destiny/ what a toy is to a child" recall Shakespeare's famous lines - "What flies are to wanton boys/ we are to Gods." The poem 'Soup' by P.K. Mohanan contains symbolic imagery caused by semantic deviation. The word "soup" (an inanimate, - human noun personified) connotes soul while "bowl" stands for body. It is the soul (soup) that makes the body (bowl) meaningful and sappy. R.R. Menon mostly maintains rhyme and rhythm, and he reveals the souldeep bond between Lord Krishna and Radha, but the poem lacks emotive appeal and exalted spirituality. Peter Geoffery Paul Thomson undertakes psychic search in fetching style. Exercising internal rhyme created by the clusters of alliterative, adjectival phrases, Syed Ameeruddin explores the manmade execrable pandemonium in which people live their chaos in these lines: "devastating deluge/ deep dales/ hissing hurricanes of horror." H. Tulsi has tried to simplify the existence of immortal soul shrouded in murky maya as defined by Lord Krishna in the Gita, "Thus like the smoke covering the fire/ or like mirrors blurred by dust/ "senses" wrap the soul." In his poem "Table Talk' (On Kashmiris). Arvind Gigoo narrates in symbolic language how kashmiris are overwhelmed with terror and frustration. A meaningless life of kashmiris is transparent in these lives: I've lost my I". It is suggested here that kashmiris have been deprived of their self-esteem and peace. In the typical lines, "He does not speak/ he farts through his mouth," the foregrounded word 'farts' covers several imports. On the one hand, it suggests a volley of abusive words from the young; on the other, it suggests the death-deal from bullets. Archana Rajgopalan's arid prose-poem is larded with the childish version of cricket nostalgia. She does not impress in that the poem is devoid of figurative language, symbolic imagery and emotive appeal. K.V. Dominic has presented beautiful argument by natural analogy about beauty: "Bodily beauty fades as a flower/ Be like the sun/ Brightening the dark world with your inner beauty/ Eternal beauty is in achievements eternal." The poet has buttressed up his logical notion with the inventory of big guns relating to literature, science, history and other fields of unprecedented achievements. The title of Tasneem Shahnaaz's poem - " The fairness of unfairness' is paradoxical which connotes a decent living even in the jaws of adversity. Poet's taunt on the indecent living of human being is foregrounded in euphemistic tone in these lines. "You are human/ in your unfairness". Even god is not spared from her indirect scathing scoff in these lines: " The divine one loves us too/ parceling partiality in our fates." Grammatical deviation in the last line accounts for the excellent figurative use of language. The polysemous verb 'parcel' (in its present participial clause - parceling) signifies multiples meanings. As a noun, it denotes a packet of valuable thing; and as a verb, it expresses the delivery of a packet. Having + concrete + count, - human features, the word "parcel(ing)" is deviantly collocated with the word "partiality" carrying + abstract, - count, + human features, but it accounts for grammatical deviation as well as condensed feelings. Alliteration and assonance are blended in the participle clause 'parceling partiality.' It is implied that when the Almighty himself perpetrates bias in designing the fates of people, the unfairness of human beings is fairly tenable. It is apparent that linguistic devices, such as, foregrounding, suggestiveness, symbolic imagery and brevity cause repeated readability of a poem. Sunita Choudhary's poem 'Lost in the crowd' is sprinkled with the beautiful personification of Nature. We are aware of it that nature is colourful, tangible, vivid and sine qua non for living creatures on the earth. Nature symbols render freshness, colourful variety and emotive pith to a poem. Feelings are foregrounded in these lines: "smiling petals sketching dreams/ pouring innocence drop by drop." These symbolic lines suggest that innocent children are immersed in chalking out their high ambitions. V.V. Ram Rao points out in his poem the hypocritical ways of life wherein money makes many things. Nandini Shau's poem 'That foot (for my Baba) is tinged with touching compassion. Figurative use of an exclusive word for a document "passport" and its recurrent collocation with the thematic adjectival phrase "that foot" impressively recounts wonderful deeds in these lines: "That foot - your passport to Utopia/ passport to planets uncharted..." Nikesh Murali has fairly experimented with innovative style of technical phraseology in his poem 'The Webcam Suicide.' Certain lines having computer vocabulary are impressive in context of emotive diction; the last ghazal of inebriated love/ binary expression (expression of the feelings of beloved and her lover) of muted cries/ digital murmur (fluctuating sobs and gasps) of a broken heart." Anuja Mohan Pradhan's poem 'Anatomy of a Riot' is a good catalogue poem. The poet has detailed an irreparable loss of people, property and other things in the poem. There is a satiric tone in these striking phrases: "fake committees/ a handful of relief." Sukrita Paul Kumar might have described more effectively the sufferings of Tsunami survivors. In her good poem "Growing Up", Babhita Marina Justine has made a fair attempt at pinpointing suggestively the difference of behaviour in a girl in proportion to her growth in age. It is remarkable that excluding the florid verbiage but including nice lucidity and linguistic simplicity, she has explored in these lines how the psychology of a child undergoes a sensitive change in terms of growing age: "The girl who talked nonstop/ was an adult now/ towing the silence of words/ of woods unknown/ and memories inerasable/ like the vision/ seen through a film of tears/ there yet/ not there." The poem is studded with implicit suggestiveness. The transitional contrast of age implies that childhood had the rich grace of garrulous innocence and sweet freedom of pleasures; while adulthood tutored the girl in restrained behaviour. The word "woods" connotes pricking liabilities in adult age which fetch tears of pain. The front-focus of adverb 'there' postmodified by positive adverb 'yet' (there yet) emphasizes suggestively the presence of endless grievances in adulthood, while the end-focus adverb 'there' premodified by the negative adverb 'not' implies the worry-free boon period of childhood having the abundance of frolic and fun. Frank Joussen's poem is concerned with Einstein's depreciatory comments on the destructive achievements of science. Mind attractive lines run as: "but I am even more curious/ how the feeble man/ managed to hide it/ the last secret of destruction." Stephen Gill is a veteran, qualitative poet who always writes good poems in fine style. His poem "Seed of democracy" is rich in natural symbols. A few striking lines are worth reading. "The seed of democracy/ sprouts in the open air (atmosphere of total freedom)/ The shade of the tree provides/ the bliss of social equality." Shefali Shah Choksi has portrayed Lord Krishna's omnipotence and omnipresence in modern but flippant diction in these lines: "I masticate celestial systems/ like chewing-gums/ my cheeks plump with creation." R. K. Bhushan, a poet of variegated colours has scattered aroma of spirituality with his peculiar choice of words and imagery. A. N. Dwivedi, a senior poet and critic has exhibited his philosophical notions weaving it in fine imagery and symbol in his poem ‘Life Boat’. Two translated poems of Moh Dutt Saathi and Kamal Kumar Kanti establish the fact that a fine poem is beyond the barrier of language and time. Similarly the poems of Satish Verma, Emanuel Siguake, Fred Hose, K. D. Singh, D. C. Chambial and Samartha Vashishtha are so well-written and rich in poetic sensibility that they do not need any foregrounding or introduction for them. Poets should eschew the handling of pure spiritual theme in fuzzy style in as much as religious poems require the sagacity for deferential diction culled from the in-depth, judicious study of scriptures.

     Lastly, I cannot discipline my strong knack for the candid and noteworthy appraisal of Ramendra Kumar's experimental and sensual poem 'Why Do I Lust You?' The menu of semantically deviant and salacious adjectival phrases, "delectable lips/ succulent breast/ sumptuous hips/ ravenous mouth," connotes that the poet gorged himself with dishful delicious fleshy limbs of a buxom lady in a gorgeous dinner. Sensuous description is preferable to sensual details. I am impelled to produce my own fresh poem 'Grudge' below to justify how sensuality can be presented with utmost decency of sensuous style invested with suggestiveness. Example is better than precept.

Daily stirred the streets:
Hey, she flaunted the titbits
Of her feel-meal-form familiarly.

Everybody relished her as
A lush landscape of lust,
A pastime butterfly of passions.

On her fresh tempting-teen
I too crazed my cash cares.
Her newsy elopement appalled all
Young kennel growled, growled...

The sky echoed my wailings.
My show of sorrows- a feign knock
On the pulp of pain of her parents.

I've been green with the cactus of Grudge
Since she spurned me as her Hero.
(Courtesy: Poetcrit: July 2008)

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