Interviewed time: 12.00 p.m
Interviewed Date: 14th April’ 2008
Kaiser Haq is one of the renowned poets in Bangladesh who writes in English. He has born in Dhaka. He educated at the University of Dhaka and he took the Ph. D Degree from Warwick University in English Literature as a Commonwealth Scholar. He is a poet, editor, essayist and translator as well.
We personally went to Kaise Haq and spent some time with him and had a little chat with him about some issues related to him, it was kind of an interview. We asked him some questions and he gave us very clear answer. We have given the total discussion in the below.
Q. when did u started writing poetry sir?
Ans: I started writing at the age of 16/17.
Q. Sir we have read some poetry of yours but they are not like other poems, I mean they are not in the style that we normally read. Is it your own style that you have created?
Ans: Obviously it is a different style but this type of poetry first written by a Goan poet named Joseph Fuetatl in 19 century. An Indian poet named Simi also wrote six poems in this style. I have written some comic poems in this style but you can write some serious poems and you can write serious poems in this style. I have written four poems in this style and want to write five more because the Goan poet he wrote eight poems in this style so I want to exceed his number of poems.
Q. Sir do you have any plan to write novel or any kind of fiction?
Ans: No I don’t. I tried to write fiction and wrote one but after that I realize that fiction is not for me.
Q. Sir could you please tell me what you wanted to mean in “O Bhairavi”, I mean what is the message?
Ans: Here I talked about a female and romance that I have taken from Tantrisism. The poem talks about no normal fulfillment.
Q. Sir when you write a poem that times you must have a structure in your mind to write the poem. So sir what structure do you follow while you are writing?
Ans: Structure differs. Poet should not be written in regret forms. There are some magic happens when you are writing. Most of the 20th century poets write in free verse.
Q. Sir as we all know that you are not only a poet, you are also a editor, essayist and translator, so sir when you want to translate any one’s poetry don’t you have to take permission from that person?
Ans: Yes, one has to take permission to translate any person’s poem, but in Bangladesh people don’t follow this rule.
Q. What do you think about reader in Bangladesh, how much do they like poems in English?
Ans: Readership is very low in Bangladesh both in Bangla and English. Collection of poem’s books don’t sale that much. Publishers publish 200 copies of poetry book of specific poet. In America publishers publish 1000 and1000 copies of poetry books.
Q. Sir you have seen some young writers who write poems in English in a magazine Monsoon Letters, so what do you think about them, what are the things they are lacking in their poetry?
Ans: They have read very seriously, there is no other option then reading and they should try different style.
Q. What do u think about the future of poetry in English in Bangladesh?
Ans: poetry you can’t predict, fiction is going in a parallel way. Everything has negative and positive but the readership of poetry is growing in Bangladesh.
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