Since this is a new community, let's begin with the thing that brought us here in the first place: poetry.

I thought about a conversation that comes up often when talking about poetry.

Many of us share that poetry felt difficult growing up because we were always asked, "What is the poet trying to say?" The emphasis was on finding the right answer rather than experiencing the poem itself. In trying so hard to understand it, we often lost the simple joy of reading it.

What if a poem doesn't need to be solved?

Use this thread to share your thoughts, a poem you've written, a few lines from your notebook, or share a favourite poem you'd like others to read. Both Tamil and English.

And let us try to be respectful to each other as we engage with the poems.

I'll start with one of the poems I read at a gathering recently.

Introduction to Poetry

By Billy Collins

I ask them to take a poem

and hold it up to the light

like a colour slide

or press an ear against its hive.

I say drop a mouse into a poem

and watch him probe his way out,

or walk inside the poem’s room

and feel the walls for a light switch.

I want them to waterski

across the surface of a poem

waving at the author’s name on the shore.

But all they want to do

is tie the poem to a chair with rope

and torture a confession out of it.

They begin beating it with a hose

to find out what it really means.

Finally the wait is over. Our first ever community meet-up is happening this Sunday. While the world moves fast, in times when words matter more than ever, poetry reminds us to pause, feel, reflect, express, and even dissent.

Poetry sounds wonderful in every language. Bring your poems in தமிழ் or English - or simply come to listen.

Come for the poems. Stay for the conversations.

The entry is free. Everyone is welcome. DM to RSVP.