Poems Written Under My Grandfather's Tree

There is an old saint, siting under theshadow of a palm treeHis wooden stick calmly resting on hisShoulderAnd with a smile on his face, he starts telling a tale'Imran Khan Bayo is from Pakistan. He, like me, does not have English as a native language. Like me, he had to hijack it and make it his own. It makes for a very personal style, which shows in his writing. His verses indeed are not about accentuation, phonology, or, even, meters. They are about images, and the more powerful the images the better. Content is, to him, more important than decorative features. That is not to say Imran Khan Bayo has no care for the language, or that he cannot dabble in traditional forms. He does, in fact, have a deep heartfelt passion for words, and, whether he ventures into traditional forms, or, get us lost into the realm of free expression, there is no denying his creativity and artful spark. Just have a read, for example, at his final series of haiku! They are formal, they follow the expected syllabic pattern; yet, they also remain broken words splattered on the page like sharp revelations left for the reader to decode. Imran Khan Bayo's passion for words runs deeper than that: it's part of his very own goal to grow as a person, English language being, as the most successful international language, his way to open up and connect with like-minded people worldwide. His is an echo that wants to be in unison with us all, and, poetry his mirror offered to the world, his way to reflect a beautiful soul -his soul. As a result, his verses are poetry I like, because they are poetry I relate to. They are poetry which, beyond a simple creative endeavour, one can understand and acquiesce to. His poetry is not selfish. His poems are not the self-centred and shallow verses put on display in a Twitter-post like manner. They, on the contrary, bear a message for us all to listen, a universal message we too often forget in the rat race we can all be so engrossed in. They are an invite, an invite for us to slow down. Indeed, Imran Khan Bayo wants us to sit down like under the shade of a palm tree, in order to fully appreciate the simplicities that make the magic of life. His prose might be autobiographical, starting by reminiscing about his grandfather, but his poetry embodies a universal yearning -for friendship, for love, for family, for an openness and generosity embracing the whole of mankind. Do not believe it to be naïve, though! He can also vent his anger, and point at those failing to care, rail against the selfishness and greed, alien to him, which he abhors with disdain. The simplicity of his language, the simplicity of his imagery (usually common metaphors and sayings he twists at will) coupled with the simplicity of his message, will therefore not fail to strike the reader for its profound and genuine call for brotherhood, its childish wonders at the world we all share despite its, at times, poisonous ugliness. He demands:'see in darknessWrite in brightness'I will personally add: 'read with kindness'. Come, and sit down. There still is space under the shade of the palm tree. Aurélien ThomasAurélien Thomas is the author of 'A Vow- A Collection of Love Poems'. You can follow him on his blog (aurelienthomas.org) and/ or Burning Words Poetry, his YouTube channel dedicated to poetry.