Aziz Hajini’s poetry is the poetry of loss. But it is the loss of gain. Loss is an essential part of identity. Rather, loss is gain in articulation of identity. In fact historical consciousness is not possible without the consciousness of loss. Without it, there can be no movement for gain or reclaiming of the lost selfhood. Hajini’s poetic themes are an attempt to create awareness of our collective loss. That is why his poetry is an autonomous expression which evolves not through its dialectical relationship with the poet but is a natural growth like a tree. It is not just nostalgia. It just begins with nostalgia. It has no invasive intrusion from any source – internal or external – which does not conform to its own dynamics of evolution. Each and every poem is dotted with our own cultural signposts, topographical landmarks and typical indigenous expressions.
Hajini’s poetry integrates traditional metaphors with the modern idiom in a way that is as natural and peaceful as if travelling in a plane in which you never realize having crossed boundaries from one country to another.
His poetry thrives on the indigenous logic of Kashmir. It has no borrowed jargon and theorization. There is least influence of other languages or cultures. Its creativity flows spontaneously from its core. The poems like “The sky has turned red” make us realize that Kashmiris think with their heart and not with their mind.
Hajini’s poetry revolves around Kashmir; its language, culture and a collective sense of loss – all woven into one focal point which again is Kashmir. And he never loses his focus. He is not rooted in Kashmir. He is Kashmir – its land and people, language and culture, landscape and topography and its past, present and future. All this is knitted in a pattern that looks indigenous, ethnic, and our own. At the same time, he talks of all these things in reference to himself. His poetry is not a comment on any of these things as if it is some external phenomenon. It is about himself. But it is equally about all of us. Reading his poetry is not reading him, it is about reading one’s own self.
He passionately writes on love. His understanding of love sounds similar to that of Habba Khatoon in comparison to her predecessors. He celebrates earthly love with all its passion and pulse. Being human means nothing if not being a lover. That is what the title poem of the collection “I and my Animal” conveys.
Usually writing poetry is a private matter. Poets write even when they expect no readership. However, Hajini’s poetry is to be read for one’s own sake. All such cultural expressions, which we have consigned to the shelf of forgetfulness, come alive in his poetry. At times, there is an epiphanic realization of stumbling over some words, expressions, collective values considered long dead. His bubbling compositions are poetic lessons drawn from Kashmir, its nature, and its indigenous tradition.
Hajini’s poetry reads like a fight against forgetfulness. He misses the past but does not concede to the onslaught of time. His poetry is a race against time. And he wins this race because he succeeds in instilling a biting nostalgia in his readers. We realize the pain of our lost self that defined us in the past and whose absence defines our present. At the same time, his poetry is redeeming as it rekindles hope in us to strive for the time-tested values of compassion and humanity that formed our self once. It makes us realize how impoverished we are without our rich legacy. But he does not simply narrate this loss to us. That would be very prosaic which does not suit his person. He is a poet – a genuine poet. He sings, he hums, he whines, he moans and he wails – all at the same time.
His is a poetic introduction to Kashmir, its culture, language, worldview. He does not look at Kashmir as merely a geographical entity. It is a living cultural experience for him, a pulsating soul that gives life to the dead. It is a garland of values that needs to be preserved and worn up for our own sake to save ourselves from getting dehumanised. His poetry is a persistent endeavour to reclaim his self and identity, sense and sensibility, word and meaning.