YA-Poetry
By Rupinder S Brar. Edited by Paul Michael Taylor
Dr Rupinder S Brar is a cardiologist, writer and poet who lives in California. Quoting Bhamaha, a seventh century poet, he says that his intent with this book was also, ‘… to grasp the nature of the world and all tastes (rasa), one by one…’.
By Parwati Tirkey. Translated by Pragya Shukla
The very title Bloom Again (or Phir Ugna) encapsulates the collection’s core ethos. It is not a nostalgic look at a lost past but a powerful assertion of a cyclical ethic of renewal, re-rooting, and reclamation. Even as poems like ‘Migration’, ‘Civilization’, and ‘Return’ mourn the dislocation caused by urbanization and modernity. The collection collectively gestures toward hope and resistance.
Edited with an Introduction by Jerry Pinto
The book carries a poem or two from the random listings of poets cited above. The curation shows scant regard for spatial and/or temporal boundaries. This reviewer would refrain from referring to the collection as a symphony, tempting as the word may be, for while with a symphony each cord, each note is synchronized to meld into a harmonious whole, which is not the case with this delightful little book.