Feature

A Poetic Teacher - Sabahat Jahan

Zannatul Lamea

“ The places gone, Streets transform
The place was cement & blood & bones
And smell of flowers you brought me in rain
It appears sometimes in the dreams in middle of a hot afternoon
When life is in full swing and the mangoes hang low on the branches
Today juice of small white flowers
Is bitter like true sweet poison
I drown in its heavy sweetness
Dreaming of you, the place where I want to belong.”

- Sabahat Jahan
Home; Rough Edges

We all have passions, categorized in deviating dimensions- maybe wild, maybe out-of-the- box , maybe stereo-type; we all do have some. But how many amongst us have actually chased it and achieved distinct recognition- doing what we really wanted to? Lets hear from someone who successfully did so, someone who gained international appreciation and recognition for her distinctive literary skill- Sabahat Jahan. She is currently the lecturer at English Department, North South University. She completed her Bachelors in English & Psychology from Angelo State University and her Masters in English from Baylor University. Sabahat Jahan compiled a book titled “Rough Edges”, comprising 80 short love-poems; the book was highly appreciated and gained immense popularity- both at home and abroad.

“ I wrote the poems whenever I felt like writing. They actually are linked to scraps of my memories, partly fact and partly fiction. Poetry is something on which you don't work on, it just keeps flowing in your mind. Reminiscing the publishing of the poetry book, I still remember, the book was published shortly after I had my first child, it really felt great! I actually had the time to flip through the pages of my own book during my maternity leave. Still some of the poetries are still not included in the book, I am planning to save them up for the second edition.” said Sabahat Jahan about publishing of her book.

“Why literature?” I asked with a confused state of mind. Sabahat Jahan replied

“Well! I have faced this question several times in my life, and I know I will be facing so, you know. And the answer is I still can't find an answer! What I can tell you is, you can study any subject you want to, you can conduct research and learn things; but literature is something you never can learn. It just comes from your inner soul, and frankly speaking, you can never “study or learn” literature. Most importantly I felt literature gave me the power to express myself , to frame my feelings the way I wanted to. Yes, maybe literature wont teach me how to save lives, but it sure did teach me how to make life worth living; theatres, movies, arts gives meaning to lives, gives you a window to peek at the lives of others, to make you a better person by enabling you to understand others better.”

“ I took lessons and guidance from everyone connected to my life. Actually my teachers & my friends had a great impact on me, they all helped me to become what I am today. I didn't plan on taking teaching as a profession though, but after completing my studies, when I returned back, North South offered me the position of a lecturer at the English Department and I thought it would be nice to teach the subject I really liked. And I do think that teaching itself is very rewarding” said Sabahat Jahan adverting on her professional career.

“I stood in the doorway with my bags packed,
In the coat you hated.
Years passed. I was ready to leave.
Instead, I joined you on the balcony
To watch young boys grow
Into bitter old men.”
Familiarity; Rough Edges

-Sabahat Jahan

Always be a poet, even in prose. ~Charles Baudelaire

Poetry is a mirror which makes beautiful that which is distorted. ~Percy Shelley

A poet can survive everything but a misprint. ~Oscar Wilde

Who can tell the dancer from the dance? ~William Butler Yeats

The poet is a liar who always speaks the truth. ~Jean Cocteau

The poem is the point at which our strength gave out. ~Richard Rosen

Poetry heals the wounds inflicted by reason. ~Novalis

You can't write poetry on the computer. ~Quentin Tarantino

Poetry is thoughts that breathe, and words that burn. ~Thomas Gray

God is the perfect poet. ~Robert Browning