This is a collection of poems which may astonish some of the readers (as they did the poet’s English teacher in Bombay Scottish School) with their depth, others with their cleverness and still others with their brilliant pretentiousness, considering the fact that the poet was merely 17-year old when he wrote these.
In the first poem the poet shows his ability to weave words into a lovely string. He says that though not visible to the naked eye, a poem has colour which you cannot see, hear its texture when you can’t feel it and see “its shape even when it seemingly has none.” He finds a poem far more visual than one can imagine even if it is never presented that way.
In another poem titled ‘Introspection’ the poet says that the past is over and cannot be changed. So, why spend time over what has happened? It is foolish to ponder on what has happened and ignore what may now happen. It is memory which calls us all but we should ignore it for the future that holds a lot. “The present already has a lot to which no credit is given,” he regrets.
In a query addressed to light, the poet says:
The light came on
and
I
saw
it
fade.
Shimmered in the midnight air
as
I
watched
it
fade.
In the Concept of Nothing poem, the poet says,
I have nothing to say, nowhere to
go
nowhere I belong, with nothing
to believe…
Unaided, deformed, helpless but
alone
there is much to wish for with
nothing to detest
alone, hopeless, discarded and
loved
I’ve never been more alone with
myself.
In an address to the mirror, he says:
Mirror, mirror on the wall
my skin was never so pale.
Diseased, parched and frail
deathly fragile and defeated.
What is this image before my eyes?
For it is surely not mine
This book can be read in one go.
– MG
(Rupa & Co., 7/16 Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi-10002.)
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