Abhay Shetty: A Talk on Poetry and the Ability to Let Go-etry

The tremendously cool, calm and always insightful friend and fellow Writer-Poet, Abhay Shetty, is my special guest. We’re talkin’ Poetry and the power of not forcing rhythm, in and outside of the page. One of the things that inspires me most about Abhay, as a writer (and as a human in general) is how he strives to peacefully cruise with the flow of circumstances that unfold outside of his control. Which as you'll hear in this episode, is something I struggle with on the daily, if not hourly, basis. 

We dig into the rituals of a writer, in discipline and in enjoyment, the importance of balancing writing and reading, how to turn anger into calmness in the process of creative works, and how to stick with or leave a certain rhythm. Abhay shares his fascination, saying “I get to serve as a medium for something to travel from the unknown to the known world onto the page”, and always looks forward to the mystical act of writing. We also talk on the restraint from comparing ourselves to writers who have reached success by a certain age, initial perceptions of poetry between his childhood education in Mumbai, India and mine in Fair Grove, Missouri, and the dangers of overthinking. He urges listeners to head towards a book of poetry if you’re still unsure about the genre, as it can lead to surprising tools of self-knowledge.

The poems recited or mentioned in this broadcast were from books...

• Poems of Nazim Hikmet by Nazim Hikmet
• Marriage of Heaven and Hell by William Blake
• “The Centipede’s Dilemma” thought to be written by Katherine Craster in Pinafore Poems published in 1871 (however, I found it in Alan Watts’ The Way of Zen, where the source was uncited)

*And, if you haven’t already, Abhay recommends folks to check out works by Sufi poets, Hafiz (or Hafez) and Rumi.

Thanks times infinity to Abhay for sharing so much of his relationship to the art and practice of writing.And a special thanks and music credit to Mark Allred.

Edited Cut of the Episode (published June 20th, 2019)