WOTM: An Interview with @agysankar

31 MAY 2021

The Writer of the Month Project is a revised segment of The Plain Poets that looks into what makes a writer, be it their craft or ideas. At the end of every month, we will be conducting an interview with a selected writer, and we’ll be diving into their muses, their writing history and much more.

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Emerging out of the skyscrapers and the city’s sunny disposition, Aghilen Sankar is a 22-year old writer/poet based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Other than being a student majoring in journalism at university, he’s known for his personal works on @agysankar, the Instagram account. As a writer based in Malaysia is the first Malaysian writer I’ve come across the writers/poets’ community.

If you were to ask me to describe his poems, it would be “romantic” and “nostalgic”. Every piece of his feels reminiscent of old, intimate letters that I shouldn’t have come across. They’re the love letters that will break your heart, no matter how comforting they can be. His poems have always intrigued me, and that’s a reason why I wanted to cover him for Writer of the Month. Especially how these poems have always managed to exude raw emotion in the matter of replayed memories.

This brings me to my next point - his emotions are what inspires him. He extracts it from anger, the music he plays and listens to, and the general state of tranquillity. Another thing I should note is his penchant for detail, which is part of the agenda. “I have come to realize that I love playing with minute details of daily life,” he says, “Like I write about sweet teas as kisses and tree barks as skin tones.”

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The writer’s background and location is also another determining influence on his work. As an ethnic Indian growing up in a multiracial country, he always has been hyper-aware of colourism and race. His love for metaphors around skin tone isn’t just a means of aesthetic, but a way to take pride in his identity as a Malaysian-Indian individual, let alone a writer. Tamil songs are also another way he returns to his roots. He cites his mother’s tongue as a poetic language, which has deepened his love for the craft on many occasions.

Other than his ethnic identity, Aghilen reveals that his struggle with femininity (and toxic masculinity) has affected the way he writes. Though he does not openly state his sexuality, he identifies himself as a “very feminine man”. As a result, his writing is queer coded (coding your character as queer in media), but there are still parts of his identity he does not want to share with the world. He only chooses to reveal himself through the safety of his poems, which may feature pronouns as well.

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Writing, as a whole, truly matters to him, and by the way he talks about it, to say that he loves it is a mere understatement. He sees it as his true calling and a potential career path. Other than poetry, he’s dipped all ten toes into creative writing, and he definitely wants to be an editorial writer someday. As for poetry, he wants to do it on the side - he still does see himself writing more poems in the future since he deeply resonates with the craft. It has healed him on many occasions, and I can agree.

Being a poet/writer has enabled him to evolve, both as a creative writer and a person. After years and years of words and metaphors, he has come to a point of transcendence. “It is more than just ink and paper, keyboard and Google Documents.” he explains, “It is this flood of emotions, waves of epiphanies and surge of imagination that I deem as an acid trip.”

The true manifestation and visual representation of his love for writing would be his writing account (@agysankar). By the way he speaks about it, I can tell that he cherishes it and sees it as something beyond another writing profile. Though he does not explicitly say when

he started writing for Instagram, he does tell me that he started writing poems during a time of pure desperation. He describes the period of his first beginnings as a writer as something can’t remember, since the memory was erased due to trauma. Nevertheless, he does admit that his writing account has been a channel of escapism and emotional outlet. Aghilen is a true advocate for mental health, and he says he has found catharsis in his work.

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In contrast, the concept of putting your art (and work) for a writing account on Instagram is what he deems the downside of being a writer. As such, many people have associated this with public validation, which comes with the idea of being an inauthentic writer amongst the sea of writing and poetry accounts.

But his writing account isn’t just his only project - safe to say, he’s quite the jack of all trades. He's also a contributor to The Eclectic Post, a platform founded by his friends. He has written poetry and a handful of articles there, such as “Queer People Need Movies Devoid of Queerphobia”. As a contributor, he has covered varying topics, including mental health, climate change and social justice. He has also in the process of starting his own blog titled "sweet tea and Sunday rhymes" and at the moment, a chapbook (a small book of poetry) is a work in progress. Publishing a book in the near future is definitely a yes, but he wants to work harder in mastering his own craft first. To do that, he needs music, rain, and a good night’s sleep.

“Do not stop just because it may seem like you’re not good at it for now.” That is his advice to someone who wants to start writing poetry. With that, I shall be concluding the article.

Here at The Plain Poets, we aim to identify these unique poets and writers and to put them on a pedestal via a platform everyone can support them. You may check out our page here.