Philosophical Musings for Meaningful Life (eBook)

Chapter 1 - Introduction: Poetic Mind of K. V. Dominic
by P. C. K. PREM

Dominic considers multiculturalism or unity in diversity as the essence of existence, the real beauty of oneness. The symphony and harmony in nature are symbols of unity in diversity. Multiculturalism is visible everywhere—from microcosm to macrocosm, from individuals and families to the entire world. The human organism certainly displays diversity, but still, wide-ranging organs work for the whole in perfect harmony. If a man upholds harmony in each wing of life, a meaningful synthesis will work for a dignified cause. Like many poets, he affirms that materialism distorts, rather kills principles, values, family, and social relations. Corruption is the hallmark of contemporary life where poets, as prophets, must perform social duties, he exhorts at many places. And the advent of terrorism and religious fanaticism disturb him. He calls it an irony that a man does everything in the name of God.

K. V. Dominic has published three poetic collections: Winged Reason (2010), Write Son, Write (2011), and Multicultural Symphony (2014) so far, and each volume exhibits the poet’s anxieties for the little aspirations of an ordinary man who works in the fields and factories and who does not live a comfortable life.

Earthly Realities

Dominic’s Winged Reason is a collection of poems of earthly imagination. Lofty thoughts and ideas are not the areas of his poetic forays. Dominic is worried about the social life of man. If a man is happy in a society and earns his livelihood, he makes a wonderful world. Winged Reason conveys a definite message. His second collection of poems Write Son, Write carries the thought process forward, and again the poet raises issues concerning man, life, and god. He is truly realistic and down-to-earth in the sense that the words with the tonal values do not distract the readers with multi-faceted meanings. In Multicultural Symphony, thoughts of love, fellow feelings, social anxieties, and compassion present universal feelings of human sentiments. He attempts to recognize pains, sufferings, and anguish of men, who work hard, live a miserly life but contribute to the building of vast empires, nations, and rulers. However, no one really thinks of the wellbeing of the poor and hardworking people.

The poet believes in simple, straight, and unadorned language while displaying genuine anxiety for the socially neglected segments of society. He is more interested in conveying feelings, thoughts, miseries, and the little joys of life rather than the craft and style of poetry. He is genuinely interested in life of men and considers it a poetic forte when he says:

I believe what he says, and he proves it. Poetry, if serves humanity, will make a permanent impression, he feels. He concentrates on the miserable conditions of the poor and feels emotional attachment. He constructs a philosophy of life worth emulating. In the sufferings of man, he finds hidden zest and meaning for life. The relation between God, Nature, and Man is the theme in Dominic’s poetry. The poet believes that Man learns many things from Nature and non-human beings. Unfortunately, human beings break the flow or rhythm of a system. Dominic’s poetry appeals to reason and feelings rather than imagination. Dominic’s poems ‘instruct’ and ‘delight’—the twin purposes of poetry—and thus, social thoughts predominate his poetry.

Disease and the System

He is ruefully conscious of the rampant corruption whether political or religious. Whatever concerns a man’s life, living, and society is the theme of his poetic creation with minimum use of similes, metaphors, and images. In a long preface, the poet makes a statement about poetic morality, theme, and philosophy of life in totality while underlining the miserable conditions of the poor in the world. In the background of each poem, the otherwise invisible and unobserved existence of obtrusively stark realities of life of hard working poor people, and the utter darkness they confront around, challenges a sensitive mind and makes a powerful and permanent impact, and thereafter, eloquently speaks of the power of poetry, its beauty, and strength. Intensity of experience and sincerity in depiction beautify social realism in Dominic’s poetry. Out of curiosity, when I probed further, he wrote to me:

Dominic is deeply aware of the hiatus between the rich and the poor and the degree of prejudice, injustice, and exploitation that governs the lives of the poor. He the agonies and sufferings of women, old men, and the downtrodden with aching intensity and depth. Rural life is ideal, simple, and innocent, where no evil ever enters, but urbanites appear cruel and unsympathetic, materialistic and avaricious.

One may find it difficult to agree with the poet but deep down, truth reveals hard realities of life, where the cultured and the civilized dictate principles of life. In fact, life in totality without philosophic nuances is the subject matter of Dominic’s poems and through an objective and realistic evaluation in social perspective, if efforts are sincere, a man’s life can be happy and meaningful, the poet asserts.

Man and the World

Dominic is fundamentally a poet of humanity and his subject is ‘man’ and ‘society’. His compassion and sympathy are concentrated on man and this quality makes Dominic special. His humanism is transparently perceptible, the moment one goes into the emotional areas the poet’s verses create. A journey into the heart of the poems is an experience of not only unique stillness but also one feels a terrific eruption of feelings, volatile stirring of suppressed emotions, and restrained but transcendent creation of an affectionate and rich world.

The poet does not take the reader to regions beyond sky or probes into the depths of heart. He is definitely not worried about the other world. Ideas of love, birth, and death do not create ripples in the poet’s mind and heart. Intellectual strength, capacity, and physical limitations of Dominic try to understand the known and required essentials of life of a poor man. He wishes to explore the realistic needs of man and wants to share a few moments of joy and happiness with the neglected segment of the society.

He experiments with multifaceted experiences and incidents of life, and the itch drives the poet to the heart of the society where a man lives, flourishes, and suffers. At this moment, the poet intellectualizes life where facts and truths in little fragments surface. Life turns out an indefinite mystery. Bereft of philosophic undercurrent, the little verses of Dominic are highly subjective with an objective outlook. He may appear personal in the depiction of life of a particular section of the society, but if understood properly, he speaks for the whole humanity and invokes sentiments of love for humanity. In one of the lyrics, he asks: “My dear fellow beings/when will you learn/the need for/multicultural existence?”

In beautiful and subtle words, he talks of unity in creation:

In the third stanza, he says:

(“Multicultural Harmony”, Multicultural Symphony 15)

At times, he interprets a man’s life from experiences gathered after conscious and careful understanding of man and life.

Many poems indirectly deal with societal setup and man’s behavior and attitude in the collective endeavor to make society a better place to live. The wretched and desolate living conditions of the poor disturb the poet and he tries to hold the rich responsible for the...