Analysis of Innermost Any by Abu Sayeed

By Nwafor Oji Awala 

The poem Innermost Any by Abu Sayeed from Bangladesh is a layered exploration of the struggle between the external world and the inner self. It carries a metaphysical depth, mingling psychological tension with philosophical reflection, all through the use of striking imagery and metaphorical contrasts.

At its core, the poem dramatizes the difficulty of keeping pace with outwardness—the demands, expectations, and distractions of the material world. The speaker confesses being “divided into Ownself,” suggesting a fragmentation of identity. This duality—caught between outer presence and inner presence—sets the stage for the rest of the poem’s introspection.

The poet juxtaposes the overt thousands of separate existences with the covert most powerful pivoted One. Here, we see the classic conflict between multiplicity and unity: the scattered engagements of everyday life versus the hidden, unshakable essence of being. The latter suggests a spiritual center, a singular truth beneath the clutter of existence.

The stanza on “Devotion and Addiction of sensible Organs / Heart and soul steps and Endeavours” portrays the body and soul as struggling to adapt to the material world through ordinary actions—lying, sitting, standing. These gestures, seemingly mundane, become metaphors for the ways humans attempt to conform in “any realistic Circumstances.”

The exclamation “Wow! Twilight-like dual experiences!” is a sudden burst of awe. Twilight, the meeting of day and night, becomes the perfect metaphor for duality—between reality and illusion, presence and absence, material and spiritual.

The poet then turns to the mind: “losing, mixing and probing / Into distant, untouched, alienated, banished / Engraved, invisible Interest.” This is a depiction of the mind’s restlessness, its ceaseless search into forbidden or unreachable dimensions of thought and existence. The imagery of distance, banishment, and invisibility suggests a yearning for transcendence beyond what is immediately accessible.

Finally, the closing lines—“Hi my Researchers, / Search after search / Here may be innermost Any!”—break the fourth wall. The poet directly addresses seekers, philosophers, and readers, inviting them into the same restless quest for meaning. The phrase “innermost Any” functions as both title and conclusion, leaving us with an open-ended puzzle: perhaps the Any is that indefinable inner truth, the center of being that escapes neat definition but remains the object of endless searching.

Conclusion

Innermost Any is a meditative poem that navigates between fragmentation and unity, outwardness and inwardness, realism and transcendence. Abu Sayeed’s language is dense with metaphor, deliberately enigmatic, and charged with philosophical undertones. The poem resists closure, instead leaving readers to grapple with the same paradoxes it raises—making it a fitting piece for the reflective spirit of metaphorical poetry.

Nwafor Oji Awala 

(c) Metaphorical Poems