Review of "Symphonies of Life" by Meenkashi Mohan

Symphonies of Life By Meenakshi Mohan

Published by Penprints India (2024)

Price: 400 INR

ISBN: 978-81-967932-5-8

Language: English, pp.154

Appropriately titled Symphonies of Life, Mohan’s book of poems blends various vivid colours of life for the reader. Like a rainbow appearing in the sky and gradually vanishing, the book leaves us with a sense of quiet fulfillment. According to Aristotle, “catharsis” is the emotional purification of a person witnessing a play. Similarly, Mohan’s poems purge readers’ emotions by making them feel everything in a single volume.

A poet and a painter, Meenakshi Mohan writes in both Hindi and English. She grew up in a small industrial town near Calcutta. For hours, she used to watch the meeting point of the Hooghly River and the Bay of Bengal, the ships in the harbour, and listen to the fishermen’s songs. The connection between the ebb and flow of the tide and the cycle of life consistently appears in her poems. The symbol of the river appears throughout the book:

“When your ashes were dispersed in the Ganges, you floated as a kamal flower in the streams.” (“Namesake”, 27)

“Alas! Life is short! On my sick bed, I thought of the young salmon,

migrating arduous streams and returning to their birthplace!” (“A Journey Home”, 29)

Mohan employs a personal tone in her poems. Her ideas range from personal loss, migration, and nostalgia to hope, freedom, and prosperity. She lost her husband Kshitij to cancer when he was at the pinnacle of his career. Dedicating the poem “Emancipation” to her husband, she writes:

“You were perhaps an illusion,

but for me, this convergence of you and me

stayed as absolute as the seven steps of the solemn oath

we took before the holy fire.” (32)

For many critics, what matters is the movement of a poem from the personal to the universal. But Mohan’s poems sometimes bring you to a standstill and blur this boundary. When you think she’s talking about the universal, she’s actually talking about the personal. When you think she’s referring to the personal, it is the other way around. Some of her poems like “A Taxi Driver in Manhattan, New York”, “Smog”, and “The Story of You and Me” bring the reader to a void, like a road suddenly disappearing from one’s sight.

Her talent for painting is also visible in her poems. Her poems take shape through rich vocabulary and clear diction. A painting lays itself bare in front of a viewer at first glance, but a poem, especially one laden with rich imagery takes its time to unfold. Her poems, have a life of their own—experiencing moments of intense natural scenes. This is reflected, for instance, in the following lines from “The Rage of the Sky”:

“…the blue sky was enveloped in smoky dark clouds.

The sun shied away, and the sky seethes with fiery flames.

Bloody streaks of red and purple bled

through the rough rankles of the shadows.

The wrinkled ways of the ocean

calmly tried to soothe its shore.”

As a poet, her individuality develops with the ways in which she experiences incidents and how she handles them. To say that Mohan is too personal in her poems would be too narrow a view. At times, she deals with an impersonal subject matter with as much sensitivity as she does with her own life. My favourite poem in this collection is “Dreams of a Rickshawala”:

“Yes, you still had dreams-

when you went home to your shack

to your little boy and girl reading

under a dim, dangling light from the ceiling” (37)

Mohan’s poems do not explain the meaning of life, do not instruct, but please and soothe the reader. She invokes particular emotions in her readers—the Shringar Rasa through her tender handling of loss and longing, and the Shanta Rasa through her development of spiritual calm and detachment in her reflections on mortality.

She takes us by the hand through a landscape of experiences—some personal, some unfamiliar—and leaves us to discover our own meaning of life. Nature, mythology, violence, poverty, memory, and identity are also some of the themes that she touches upon in the book. Meenakshi Mohan’s poetry emerges as a breath of fresh air, especially in contemporary times, when people are blinded by false ideals and hollow goals. Her verse reminds us of the quiet truths that sustain us as human beings.

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About the Reviewer

Kumar Sawan is a Ph.D. scholar in the Department of English and Modern European Languages at the University of Lucknow. His work has been published by the Vernon Press, Madras Courier, Borderless, Rhetorica: A Literary Journal of Arts, Contemporary Literary Review India, SPL Journal, Literary Horizon, Creative Saplings, and the Teesta Review.

The Poetic Minimalism of "Yellow" by Sukrita Paul Kumar

Small is Beautiful: The Poetic Minimalism of Yellow by Sukrita Paul Kumar

Published by Sahitya Akademi, 2024

ASIN: B0DHZXDXH2

Language: English, pp.1288

The collection Yellow: Poemlets New and Earlier by Sukrita Paul Kumar is a luminous tribute to the quiet, tender, and evocative moments that define human existence. The yellow flowers of the Amaltas on the cover page justify the title of the book in both colour and symbolism—bright yet transient, delicate yet compelling. Just as the Amaltas blossoms cascade in golden sprays, the poemlets unfold like petals—small, layered, and deeply evocative.

The subtitle, Poemlets New and Earlier, suggests a gathering of poetic pieces across time, yet they are unified by the poet’s distinctive voice and vision. The term “poemlets” denotes little verses, and Kumar’s preference for this nomenclature is both deliberate and meaningful. In her preface titled Poemlets in Communication, she notes that poemlets are “somewhat incomplete” in structure, yet they “locate a home in the reader’s mind and get a sense of wholeness.” This speaks to the dynamic, relational quality of poetry—where what is left unsaid becomes just as vital as what is expressed.

The collection comprises 37 poemlets, each a compact yet vivid burst of language and image. What is striking is how Kumar uses brevity to her advantage. These are not minimalistic poems in the traditional sense but rather meditative fragments—distilled and self-contained, yet always reaching outward to connect. Each poemlet feels like a thought suspended in time, inviting the reader to pause, reflect, and feel.

Kumar’s poetry reveals a deep engagement with the images of everyday life, memory, history, and above all, nature. Her verses often read like brushstrokes—careful, spontaneous, and emotionally resonant. A powerful example is found in the opening poemlet Buddha in the Neighbourhood, where she writes:

“clouds of haze / melt the mountain / with Buddha’s hum.”

“Buddha in grey stone / melting in / white peace.”

These small verses, in its minimalism, captures the essence of serenity and the omnipresence of wisdom. Later, in the poemlet titled Silence, the poet refers again to the Buddha:

“silence belongs to Buddha / all joy held in the aura / noiselessly.”

Silence is a recurring presence in this collection. It functions not as a void, but as a vessel of meaning. These silences—embedded between images and metaphors—are like pearls strung across the verse. They are moments where the poem breathes and the reader listens. Kumar’s silences are meditative, often imbued with peace and wisdom, reminding one of the stillness at the heart of all great art.

While some poemlets draw from spiritual or philosophical depths, others are rooted in worldly emotions—longing, loss, memory, and human connection. In one such piece titled Generation gap, Kumar evokes the vastness of emotional distance through oceanic imagery:

“I cannot fathom / this ocean between us / the ocean filling up with / alligators, big fish, sharks and all / corals and weeds / going in circles / with elephantine waves / gushing over them / round and round / over and over.”

With minimal words, Kumar conjures a vivid underwater world teeming with life, danger, and metaphor. The ocean here becomes a metaphor for emotional overwhelm—its waves echoing cycles of pain and connection, separation and understanding. This is a hallmark of Kumar’s style: rich imagery nestled in deceptively simple language.

Another poignant example of Kumar’s empathy and subtlety is found in the poemlet Awareness:

“the blind pair of / man and wife / had two little babies / with eyes that saw the world / the father the mother who / showed them the way / with their walking sticks.”

This short yet powerful piece quietly celebrates resilience, familial love, and interdependence. The reversal of roles—where sighted children are guided by blind parents—is gently rendered, inviting readers to reflect on what it means to “see” and to “lead.” It is in such moments that Kumar’s poetry reveals its ethical and emotional depth, encouraging awareness not only of the outer world but also of the inner moral compass.

The organic interconnectedness of the poemlets is another of the book’s strengths. Though each stands on its own, there are thematic and emotional threads that subtly link them. A reader might find an image in one poemlet that unexpectedly resonates with another on a later page. These threads form an intricate, quiet web across the collection—a kind of poetic symbiosis.

Reading Yellow is akin to walking through a quiet garden of thought—each bloom (or poemlet) distinct, yet harmonized in tone. Some are imbued with wisdom, some spark curiosity and wonder, while others pulse with life and quiet intensity. What binds them all is the poet’s ability to draw the reader into a shared space of contemplation.

Kumar’s strength lies in her attentiveness to small things—the fleeting, the marginal, the easily overlooked. Whether it is a passing cloud, a leaf in motion, or a moment of stillness, she captures the poetic essence in everyday life. Her language is not ornamental but precise and intentional. It is this restraint that gives the collection its emotional depth and spiritual reach.

In a world overwhelmed by noise and excess, Yellow offers a space for introspection. It affirms that poetry need not be loud to be powerful, and that even the smallest of verses can carry the weight of profound meaning. Sukrita Paul Kumar’s Yellow: Poemlets New and Earlier is a quietly dazzling collection, where every word is measured, every silence meaningful, and every poemlet a universe in itself.

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About the Reviewer

Dr. Anand Mishra is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English at Satyawati College (Evening), University of Delhi.

Review of Vineeta Agrawal's "Eartha"

Ecocritical Echoes: A Review of Eartha

Written by Vinita Agarwal

Published by Sahitya Akademi

New Delhi 2024

ASIN: B0DK1DKNPT

Language: English, pp. 78

Penned by Vinita Agarwal and published by Sahitya Akademi, Eartha is a beautifully crafted collection of fifty-five poems that weave the flora and fauna of a living planet into a poetic ecosystem. Dedicated to “every living entity, and to our planet Earth”, the author herself describes the book as “a modest attempt to save what’s left of our planet, save in ways that words can…with belief that pen is mightier than the sword, that words are also weapons, this time, of the right kind.”

While Eartha, used as a term of endearment for Earth,” becomes the central image of the collection, the poems sketch vivid and realistic images of the natural landscape from diverse viewpoints. As the title poem’s beginning lines read: “Eartha, you’re wounded. Allow me to wrap a shawl around you”, the poet attempts to poetically advocate for our planet that she painfully describes as in need of compassion and help. In another verse from the collection titled “To the Earth That’s Losing Itself”, the poet similarly draws images that surface our changing ethos:

Write about shrinking spaces

Write about the colour green

Write a line of dropped trees

Write a symphony of broken rings

Write yourself an optimist.

With a constant urge to step forward to save our planet home, the verses intersperse the ecological, the social and the cultural ethos to create a tapestry of images that collectively describe and paint ‘Eartha.’

The poems talk of earth and its inhabitants that remain in a constant battle of survival. While creating a sense of urgency to save the planet from deteriorating forces, they present a multitude of images that speak of ecocritical loss, pain, struggle, as well as hope and defiance. The collection holds numerous creatures and their stories preserved via a potent weapon as pen. The encounters with different species of trees and animals form beautifully crafted poetic pieces that comprise Eartha.

Clad in a cover that reverberates shades of green with images of inhabitants of Earth that coexist to form a living planet, the book feels elegant and handy. The cover illustrations add to its thematic appeal and design. The language of the poems is lucid, and the verses appear to flow in an unnamed or uncategorized rhythmic charm. The poetic diction adds to its simplistic appeal, and the collection stands out as a beautiful poetic gem in green.

With verses that resonate with the environmental crisis of our time, the book becomes a moving ecocritical journey into both nature and its changing dimensions. It is recommended as a reading companion to every poetry enthusiast who wishes to delve into a seamless reading experience through the pages that bring our planet to life. Compiling many powerful ‘ecocritical echoes’ into a resounding book frame, Eartha by Vinita Agarwal becomes a poetic landmark of its own.

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About the Reviewer

Amrita Sharma is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English at Sri Venkateswara College, University of Delhi, India. She has a Ph.D. in English from the University of Lucknow and has been a Fulbright Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Languages and Cultures, University of Notre Dame, USA. Her works have previously been published in several national and international journals. Her first collection of poems is titled The Skies: Poems and has been published as a part of ‘The Hawakal Young Poets Series 2022.’