https://hashspeaks.blogspot.in/2011/02/book-review-yearnings-by-abha-iyengar.html
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Book Review: Yearnings by Abha Iyengar
I'm not a
great reader of poems, but as a lover of literary expression in any form, I was
drawn in by Abha Iyengar's sample poems from her book Yearnings. Drawn
in enough to immediately order a copy of her book.
As the
title makes clear, this collection is about longing, love, loss, passion and
related emotions and situations. What I admire about Abha's poetry is its
impressionist style of communication--it paints a quick, terse picture whose
aim is to capture the moment and the emotion, and it does that effectively. In
art, too, I have a deeper admiration of Impressionism than Realism. Realism
merely portrays what the eye sees, albeit in careful, loving detail but
Impressionism carries the heart of the artist as well--it is his choice to
capture the subject in that particular moment, angle and light, and this choice
and his quick strokes show intense focus and urgency to record and love that
person, place or action at that moment.
Yearnings
is a collection of 67 short poems that are a pleasure to read and re-read. In
these poems, there's none of the embellishment that a lot of poetry falls prey
to: the frills and lace that really point to nothing. Instead there's solid
content, honesty and truth. For example, here's Travel:
If you
give me a look
vistas
open up
If you
blow me a kiss
winds
gather up a storm
If you
hold my hand
my
fingers touch smooth pillars
In
unseen corridors
I
travel blind
but
belong.
Another
one I like is Aroma:
Sometimes
it takes just the aroma
Of
freshly ground coffee beans
To
make me fall into your brown arms.
I am
vacuuming
The
carpet,
Wiping
the sweat off my
Hot
brow,
And
the whiff comes from across the hall
Of
somebody casting the magic spell
With
the help of a potent witches' brew.
I
switch off the vacuum and
Remove
my shirt.
Some of
the other poems I enjoyed in this collection are Ice cream, Strange Lands, A
Table, Two Poems, Echo, Grief, Shadows, Everything Natural and I
Conserve.
Yearnings
is available from Serene Woods
and Flipkart.
1 comment:
monideepa said...
The poems
are lovely. Abha caputres so aptly the many delicate nuances of romance. A
must-read for die-hard romantic dreamers and everyone else too
