Poetry is one of the many bridges the human society has invented to forge a sense of collectiveness, among other things. Thoughts or emotions put to words by a poet resonate with readers separated by time and space. This transcending quality of human intellect, of humanity itself, when takes form in a poem it repudiates the sense of despondency. A poem is the faint sound of second chuckle when one is happy, a shoulder to cry on in destitution, a fellow witness to the stillness of time, a companion in the ever-changing reality; a poem is a friend that lives and breathes in words.
In the world of fast-evolving artificial intelligence, poetry can easily be put in a corner somewhere to be forgotten. Or so it seems. Humans overwhelmed by reality always find solace in one of the many art forms including poetry. It doesn’t mean that poems are just an escape, rather they are a safe place where one can come to terms with reality to come back with rejuvenated strength to go on.
Outlook has not only realised the importance of poetry in human life, but celebrates it as well. In the first issue of 2024, Outlook brought to you 100 pages of prophecy in the form of a selection of poems that help us glimpse the past, the present and the future and how we, the readers and survivors of our times, understand and respond to our own selves in an AI-controlled, digitally manipulated and market-choreographed landscape of ideas, desires and feelings.
Guest edited by Amar Kanwar, the issue presented a selection of poetry and verses that have moved us and that we felt serve as evidence of our bleak times and lives - of truth, distortions or simply of existence - and as a premonition of what is yet to come.
Once again, Outlook takes you back to the land of poetry where one can not only understand the many realities we live in, but the strength to confront them as well.
