Urdu poetry collection ‘Waqt’ launched

The first collection of Urdu poetry ‘Waqt’ by journalist and poet Peerzada Salman was launched at Alliance Francaise on Friday evening.

Poet Iftikhar Arif and scholar Noman-ul-Haq spoke at the event, which was moderated by veteran journalist Ghazi Salahuddin. Salahuddin opened the discussion by stating that journalism was literature done in haste and that Salman’s writings shoed that he was a modern man.

Haq said that there are two kinds of universe, with the first being the one bestowed upon humans and the other being the one humans created for themselves. He referred to the concept of time with regard to humans being slaves to it by pointing to the aspect of society, relationships, job and identity or self being dominant in the poetry.

“We can spot some cynicism in the work but the poetry is crisp and fresh. He also hasn’t let go of the traditions and we can see some poems comprising three lines, and it’s admirable how he spins the words using metaphors,” he said. Haq referred to some poems like Naukri, explaining how the poet goes back to his own self when loneliness strikes him.

Arif also lauded Salman’s efforts and said his exposure to culture had left a mark on his work. Speaking about the poem ‘Mahmood Darvesh’, he said that it was an important poem because of the deceased poet’s life and work.

“Mahmood wrote about the liberation movement in Palestine alongside Marxist ideology and the love for humanity. His work was about the poetry of struggle and no one can claim to love an ideology without the love for fellow human beings,” he said.

Arif lamented that ever since literature had become a domain of academia instead of public, a lot of damage had been caused and people were not arguing about various aspects except poetry. He also deeply felt about the absence of critics as none had been produced in the past two decades.