The poem "Stammer" by Satchidanandan was first written in Malayalam under the title "Vikku" and was later translated in to English by the poet himself. The poem talks about stammer, but clearly the poet does not mean just the physical handicap. Stammer is used here as a metaphor to mean the uncertainty, ambiguity and hesitation apparent in human life as well as human language. It is equally about doubt and ambivalence in speech and also in action.
If stammer is a hesitation or ambiguity in meaning, lameness is the same in action. Is stammer innate to human nature? The poet seems to be of the opinion that stammer preceded language as it is something the creation inherited from the creator himself. When God created man he must have stammered. Probably that is why the words of men carry different meanings. His every utterance is marked by stammer, right from his prayers to his commands. But there is still beauty in this uncertainty. That is why he compares it to poetry.
Each time we stammer, the poet says, that we are offering a sacrifice to the God of meanings. Our stammer is the result of our attempt to please 'meaning' and bring it into the word. This attempt is not always successful. On another level stammer in action is our hesitation to be proactive. We have become silently complicit and we accept injustice without raising our voice against it or acting against it. The poet is actually accusing the present generation when he says that stammer has become our mother tongue.
The final statement that poetry stammers, tells us about the nature of poetry which is open to various interpretations. It is applicable to this poem also. Although the poem is about doubt, ambiguity and ambivalence, it lends itself to different nuances of interpretations.