The right kind of book

I turn the cover of Adil Jussawallarsquos The Right Kind Of Dog rather timidly Surely poetry written for young adults by a poet as fine as Jussawalla would dive into teenage angst I presume and subject it to philosophical twists and turns Now that is all good except for one problem I was a rather dreamy teenager and experienced little or no tumult that ldquowelladjustedrdquo kid who didnrsquot see why her peers were seething I turn the pages doubtful that my head will nod as knowledgably as it should And while I am at it I also wish I had read more poetry Adil Jussawallarsquos poems do not talk down to his audience He throws everything imaginable at them greed famine and murderous thoughts PicAtul Kamble It is the authorrsquos letter that puts me at ease There are no lsquoshouldsrsquo in these poems it implies Jussawalla maintains that his poetry like all other before and after him can never be understood fully because it cannot be reduced to a single meaning I take it to mean that I could take my time to linger and savour until I build meanings of my own I see stark evocative illustrations by Ahlawat Gunjan and read about powerlessness And a onearmed man Greed war famine Even an eightyearoldrsquos murderous thoughts wishing that her Great Indian Family were nearly extinct like the Great Indian Bustard Jussawallarsquos poems are about a baffling variety of emotions told from the points of view of children young adults and adults Therersquos one about a boy who does not know how to be good and another about things that stayfrozen in time rummy canasta and their longdead players Some poems in The Right Kind Of Dog are wistful but Jussawalla can be equally wry during an interview the poet admits that he thoroughly enjoys writing satire Read the poem Our Poets And Their Inspirations to know Excerpts from the interview Why did you decide to write poetry for young adults YA What feelings did you hope to run into while writing the poems Thatrsquos the tag the publishers gave The Right Kind of Dog smiles I did not have the segment in mind when I wrote these poems I do not speak in a childrsquos voice in the book There is no consistent YA voice there either I wanted to try capture that seething inner turmoil only children know the tumult and oppression they feel Young adults may find something missing in this collection perhaps sex But they will identify with the darker tones in the poems Children know what it is when you struggle to say things or when voices are shut out u00a0The Thoughts Of an EightYearOld Girl is actually the inner muttering of a girl when she is asked to eat something she does not want to They are her murderous thoughtsu00a0 Did you adopt a separate process because you were writing for a younger audience I allowed myself to be more childish than I normally think I am I cultivated a sense of wonder pathos and naiumlveteacute which comes when you shirk all adultlike thoughts I thought to hell with sophistication and complexities of reason While writing these poems if my response to something was childlike I let it stay I have tried to bring the innocence and experience some of William Blakersquos works have I think I have managed to do that in Three Ships Does The Right Kind Of Dog draw inspiration from your earlier life too What was childhood and adolescence like Yes I did go back to my younger days while writing the book I remember never being very happy in institutions of learning I think it was more about me than them because I do not disregard the dedication my teachers put in their work The ethos of a school to put it mildly is not proindividual creation I also remember the constant impulse to break out fully aware that I wasnrsquot fit to be a rebel I was always regarded as the quiet one the ldquovery good studentrdquo In his autobiography Unreasonable Behaviour British photojournalist Don McCullin writes that he felt lsquocast out unchosen and the wrong breed of dog I felt exactly that way when I was left out of football team in school I did not know how to fill the lunch break and took to drawing panels of stick figures The solace of being able to outpour came at the age of 14 when I began keeping a diary Here Jussawalla opens a file full of illustrations he drew from the age of 10 Therersquos a fiery Batman and Robin The Fox and The Crow and Blackhawk toting a gun Charming When did you start writing poems and what were they like I was introduced to modern poetry only in class 12 and it was a rather hurried exercise I remember reading Murder In A Cathedral and Virginia Woolfrsquos Orlando The first serious poem I tried writing was an imitation of TS Elliot I have always loved walking around the city especially in Mumbai and in London At DN Road I remember coming across a man who was selling toy boats in a basin I wrote a poem likening those toy boats to us people making a lot of noise and going around in circles But I didnrsquot really take to poetry just then I became more interested in poets when I was studying architecture I liked the school more than the subject itself and the repression made me write more than anything My first published poem Seventeen gave me that release I needed What do want to achieve in your future works of poetry I would like to achieve a transparency there because baroque poetry does not impress me at all When I read Seventeen now I find it gossamery and ephemeral It was so long ago I hope what I write now has more depth But what we like to do and what actually happens can be so different Irsquove often told myself that I want to write about family history but that hasnrsquot happened yet I want to write more about issues of power within and outside the family those which are political and social in nature But I let divisions happen I like surprises You havenrsquot left any feeling out of The Right Kind Of Dog It is dark fun and has the powerlessness and rebellion of teenage How do you think young adults would take to your work Oh I take great pleasure in imagining what the reactions will be like I think there will be disgust grim acceptance and genuine wonderment If it makes a young adult feel differently about something for a while the book will have served its purpose Even after all these years I try my best to begin afresh on a new page Like all writing poetry is an effort of rewrites I donrsquot think therersquos anything like experimental poetry it is a misnomer I have not held back there is greed famine and war in the book and I donrsquot think the words are half as horrific as the images children and young adults have access to on television anyway You cannot be politically correct all the time not with children The Right Kind Of Dog Adil Jussawallau00a0Rs200u00a0Published by Duckbill Books Three Ships I christen this sea lsquoShiprsquou00a0its passengers garlands and ashes I christen this sky lsquoNightrsquo its black sail stretched to the limit I christen this morning lsquoMorningrsquoship without outline glorious The Way Iu00a0 Walked Abroadu00a0I cut my nailsu00a0but winter took my toes Their shoes repaired u00a0my feet ran like woundsu00a0ran on but waited for meu00a0further up the road The GoodForNothingu00a0How do I learn to be goodu00a0who am good for nothing thinks the boyu00a0rejected over and overu00a0for reasons he canrsquot understand He presses his face against glassu00a0to make it look uglier How do I learn to be tallu00a0who am only a dull storyu00a0never to be repeated he wonder Every day I grow stronger and stronger every day I get better and better He tells himself over and over as his father told him tou00a0