What poetry is; a flash of turquoise

The word 'poetry' comes from a Greek word meaning 'to make': a poet is a maker, someone who creates something new out of words.

Poetry often has rhythm and metre (a regular pattern of beats), and uses figures of speech, such as similes and metaphors. Many modern poems are free of fixed forms, and follow the natural rhythm of speech.

In Sujata Bhatt's poem 'The Peacock', we first hear the bird's call, coming from nowhere, before we see anything. Then there is a flash of turquoise (a bright greenish-blue) in a pipal tree.

Even then, we see only a curved neck and the very tip of a tail, as the bird darts away.

The poem shows a shy, beautiful bird that we can never quite see whole: only in quick, bright glimpses.