Let's Talk About: Poetry and Urbanity with Devanshi Kheterpal
Her name with Devanshi Kheterpal. Paul Devanchi is pursuing B-A-M-A. In comparative literature at NYU, is the editor in chief of Inklet magazine, and her poetry collection, Small Talk, was published by Writers Workshop Colkata in 2019. She's also held a number of positions at various publications throughout the years, including Poet's House and Washington Square News. I first met her in high school when we both attended the University of Virginia's annual Young Writers Workshop
Devanshi Khetarpal
@DevanshiK · 1:31
And so I think that it sort of has its element of play and fun and anarchy and freedom that isn't present in other forms of writing or art. And I think poetry is really very fluid. It's like water. It can flow and penetrate into other art forms, take on a lot and give a lot, whether it be through music or dance, etcetera. So I think that's what poetry means to me
Something that I've paid more attention to lately is the setting of poems I found just from general reading that poets have a tendency to mention their birthplace or hometown in their writing, and by mention, I don't necessarily mean that it has to be explicit. Sometimes it just becomes clear through their writing that their home has played a part in shaping it, like the way they write, their word choice, the content, the form, et cetera
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15
Devanshi Khetarpal
@DevanshiK · 2:33
Hey, Liora. Yeah. That's that's very true, of course. In fact, the word poem itself. I think the the original word sort of means a made up thing. So it is very interesting, actually, how different poets think about poetry. And I think, yeah, you're very right in saying that a lot of poets mention are right about homes or hometowns, places where they belong or come from or where they even set their poems
And I think your answer really speaks to that home can be both where you're actually from or the language you grew up with or the space you reside in. And it's interesting that you say poetry is a space that we inhabit and create. Last week, I was just talking to another poet here on Swell, and she was talking about how we can use poetry to reinvent our reality. And I think those ideas are very similar
Devanshi Khetarpal
@DevanshiK · 3:05
And I think when I was reading the Neapolitan novels, there are parts which really stood out to me, especially the parts where the two girls are growing up, and they face sexual violence. They face abuse and how that changes their perception, but not in obvious ways. It's not really a simple, easy, traumatic response, and it's not immediate. It filters into their life in subtle, small ways, and they take some years to figure that out
And this is something I've heard multiple times, and every time I do, it just doesn't make any sense to me because things happen every day that proved this to be wrong, just like the Delhi gang rape case that you just mentioned. But regardless of these incorrect opinions, I'm really eager to hear your conclusions. Once you've finished your research, I think it's going to be a really interesting read
Devanshi Khetarpal
@DevanshiK · 2:27
Thank you so much. First of all. And yeah, I think that being a woman being Indian living here as a broader, privileged immigrant, I think all of these things definitely affect every single thing that I do not just poetry, but in terms of literary influences, I think that Ellen Affirmte definitely is one. So is this Slovenian poet Alex Dagger, whose poetry I've turned to more recently and been revisiting and have been inspired by
Devanshi Khetarpal
@DevanshiK · 2:09
Thank you, Leora. It was lovely speaking to you as well. And thank you so much for having me and for your very thoughtful questions. It's such a great way to be back in touch after Young Writers Workshop up. And that's a really difficult question to answer about what we tell our past sells. I think it is one of those things that keeps changing for me
I love that answer. I can relate to a lot of the things that you say that you were when you were younger. I was anxious. I was very unsure of what I would get out of life and things that I have found recently. I was sure that I was never going to get them. And I think that just reassuring my past self would also be a priority for me as it is for you