News

Another theme running through the poems which strikes the reader is that of desire. But to understand how desire functions in Iyer’s poems, it will be fruitful to recollect Sara Ahmed’s question in her book, The Cultural Politics of Emotion, namely, ‘What do emotions do?’; she later elaborates, ‘Emotions are simply not something “I” or “we” have. Rather, it is through emotions that surfaces and boundaries are made: the “I” and the “we” are shaped by, and even take shape of, contact with others.’ It is through this framework of illuminating both the object and the subject that the desiring-subject functions in Iyer’s poems.

Sharmistha Mohanty has a voice that has the ability to stay with the reader long after Book One has been read. In fact, this book would make the reader want to read more of her latest writings as well. It is a book that seems to come from a place of personal relevance; it carries within an unhurried pace, thus mirroring human thought itself. In these days of insta-living and gratification, it is only in the mind that we can lead a slow and defined existence.