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| Photo credit HERE |
A few moons ago, Amit ji, (Poet Laureate at
Delhi Poetree, Amit Dahiyabadshah),
published a book called Here & Now,
where my ‘Spiritual Poems’ appeared. Since then, there was only one time, when
the muse visited me in Chhabees Gyarah. Not again, till this weekend of 1st
& 2nd October, having picked up two books, both an anthology of
poems, the muse has returned and I can feel the first stirring of a verse,
growing in strength, as if I am ‘going to
lay an egg”, purely by reading the verses, in these two books and being in
the company of poets.
Aerogramme and other Poems by Nivedita K and Little Friend by K. Ramesh are
published by Nivasini Publishers and have within their covers, poems that can
change the climate within a reader to cause a rumble, signifying the coming of
a shower of poems.
They say, for a poet, anything, and
everything is an emotion so inspiring that even the most mundane thing can turn
into verse. And it is proved thus, in these two anthologies.
From a simple memory in ‘We Never Knew’, poet Nivedita K, draws
from her years, ‘From 1990s to 2015s...we
grew we just never knew...The streets saw us, during games of ‘I Spy’, hiding
behind a volley of Ambassadors, Premier Padminis, Maruti 800 and later, naively
kissing each other’s cheeks, in a Premier Padmini.’ To yet another
observation of day-to-day life, without the slightest trace of any highly
complex issue or thought, which the reader can definitely associate with,
including the pathos of the title poem, Aerogramme,
when Hima, the protagonist of the poem receives an aerogramme from abroad and
presses her nose against the white paper to smell the ‘hamburger sprinkled with his scent...there was no news of his arrival
yet; she folded the aerogramme neatly and placed the torn pieces in her
locker.’, there is a way these poems reverberate in our hearts because in
one way or the other, they are so human, so delightfully close to our day to
day happenings, in and around us. My favourite though is the brilliant
composition, Philately, on a Sunday
hobby that was.
‘The
stamp album was one place where, Palestine and Israel shared the same space,
The Queen of England followed Gandhi; where Taj Mahal was visited without going
to Delhi. A world tour in a jiffy!’
There are 18 poems that comprise Aerogramme and other Poems, all
written, between 2014 – 15.
It is quite another matter though with
K.Ramesh’s Little Friend. The collection of 43 poems written over 25
years, are short and most only a one-pager. They are haiku and free verse,
again written on daily observations, but the poems are vibrant with imagery. In
‘Toy Boat’ he writes, ‘In Mudurai where we grew up, the summer
vacation would never come to an end without our visit to the annual fair...The
big crunchy snow-white papad smeared with chillie powder and a tiny oil
droplets, the magic mirrors which distorted our images in ludicrous manner...’
See! Do you remember, yourself going
through the same experience? This and many more poems in the book are what you
and I may have gone through ourselves but are delighted to be reminded of them,
once again, through this collection of very inspiring poems.
K. Ramesh, who teaches in Pathasaala, a
Jiddu Krishnamurthy Foundation School in south India, is a versatile haiku,
tanka and free verse poet who has published poetry anthologies in India and
abroad.
The Little
Friend covers a wide spectrum of daily happenings, around ordinary people
we encounter but may just let pass. But for the poet, they are food for
thought. Take for example ‘On the Road’
– ‘His hands are dark with grease, Smiling,
the bicycle mechanic asks me to drop the coins in, his shirt pocket.’
Now, imagine the extent of imagination and
creativity in K. Ramesh, to turn a cycle mechanic to a poem!
Christina Cowling and Nivedita K, in their
editorial write, ‘If you feel poetry is
not your genre, then you must pick this up to prove yourself wrong.”
I agree in full! There is a poet in all of
us, a verse waiting to find its wings to fly. The muse in me is awakened and
threatening to burst forth; so must yours. Be inspired!
Get Your Copy Now from HERE
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| Photo credit HERE |
Aerogramme and other Poems @ Rs 60 and Little Friend @ Rs 150
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