Somola Ningthoujam's The Journey reviewed by Herojit Philem

Book Review
 
Name of the Book: - The Journey
Name of the Author: - Somola Ningthoujam
Genre: - Poetry
Year of Publication: - 2017
Publisher: - Maibam Mandakini Devi
ISBN: 978-93-5268-692-6
Price: INR 195 

The Journey is not just a compilation of poems; it is yet a bunch of emotions exploded as written words. Like a journey of a person blended with various events and happenings, “The journey” is a blending of different colours giving a beautiful texture. The Journey, written by Somola Ningthoujam and forwarded by Anamadheya Kumar is knitted with 35 poems relatable to everyone. It opens with the poem The Swan and closes with Spirit of Liberation.

 

Some of my favourite poems include The Swan, The Destiny, Man, Insomnia, Heaven of wicked, Good Bye, Yearning for Love, A Lone Traveller, and Wounded Heart.

 

The Swan is beautifully crafted with the use of simile. The author has used the figure of speech to bring for the readers the beauty of the swan, which is never seen before. The poem that begins with “Looks like Heaven has come down on the earth.” ends with “After crossing the dark and silent woods.” has heart captivating lines.

“Spreading up her white feathers

Like the soft petals of the lotus”   is one such pair of lines. Is the author trying to infuse its readers that if we step out of a long turmoil or fatigue walk or something grim, everything is beautiful? Because after crossing the dark and silent woods, the author found a kind of relief to see the swan moving like the queen with elegance and pride, somewhere in Polska.

 

As I have said earlier that The Journey is a blending of different colours giving a beautiful texture. Thus, the author doesn’t stick with only describing the beauty of nature. There is yet another beautiful poem titled The Destiny. The poem is unfolding the meaning of life, which changes from phase to phase with only thoughts remaining unchanged. We long to be with our dear ones but there is a journey ahead and sometimes we bewilder if we can really complete the journey? The journey of life as some people say is a voyage in a mysterious sea and not all the ships succeed to reach the shore but this is life and  “Troubles may come in life, to face it, is the only way…” with faith in the God we need to move on and must live this life to fullest.

 

The poem Man is loomed with three stanzas. In the first stanza, the poet says that the dark world becomes darker with the presence of people two dual characters. And in the second stanza, with a similar mood of the previous stanza, the poet says that human mind or sense is conquered by material desires. The dark world is ruled by man like animals. But there is sudden change in the mood as we go on to the third stanza; in it we are given comfort saying if we are with Heavenly Father, for the dark world we not the victim. And In addition, we will have brighter path.

 

There are also some love poems. One of them I would mention here is Love’s Sake. It is beautifully written with the opening line “Love me for love’s Sake. And I should say that the kind of love what is mentioned in the poem must be sought by everyone.

 

I cannot say that all the poems are related to all the readers, but one or the other poem will be definitely touch the readers. For example, a person suffering insomnia will be touched by the poem titled “Insomnia” in which the author says:

“…the pillow

That once comforts you

No more provides the warmth

and the same pleasure.”

What really happens in a sleepless night is vividly described. And one can clearly visualize what really insomnia is.

 

The poems are of great literary value. It will keep readers in the grip till the end. The book is worth reading and must be read to explore the poetic ingredient present in it.

 

 

Review of Bhoomika Ashok Dekate's Stages of Love by Herojit Philem

Name of the Book: - Stages of Love

Name of the Author: - Bhoomika Ashok Dekate

Genre: - Poetry

Year of Publication: - 2020

Publisher: - Independently Published 

The book Stages of Love by Bhoomika Ashok Dekate is a collection of 50 poems. The poems are written in a very simple way but within the lines, there are feelings and emotions everyone could feel. The poems are written with loosely structured lines, some lines are as short as one word while some lines are as long as seven words. And to talk about the length of the poems, some are of just four lines but with powerful words and deeply felt emotions. One such poem is “Beauty”.

The poem “Beauty” is of just four lines. Like most of the poems of the book, it is also written in a very simple way. The four-lined poem begins all the four lines with “Beauty is in my..” followed by a noun such as “lips, smile, words and mind” in the first line, second line, third line, and fourth-line respectively. The noun in each line is followed by a comma which is followed by “but not without your…” which is followed by a noun such as “skin, voice, movements and heart” in the first line, second line, third line, and fourth-line respectively. Through this simple four-lined poem, the speaker conveys the things he or she possesses is worthless without his or her love. Those beauties that one possesses are nothing without the loved ones. 

One of my favorite poems from the collection is Our Love. This is also a simple poem yet the poem gives the insight of the opposite ideas being attracted like the two poles of the magnet being attracted. The speaker says that she makes war and her loved ones make peace. They have contradictory behavior yet she says their combination can exist as opposites always attract. 

The book “Stages of Love” is knitted with feelings and emotions in the simplest way one can understand. I cannot say all the poems can be related to by every reader but I assure you that some poems will definitely be related to everyone. The book is worth reading.
 

A review of Tali Cohen-Shabtai's Protest by Herojit Philem

Name of the Book: - PROTEST

Name of the Author: - Tali Cohen Shabtai

Genre: - Poetry

Year of Publication: - 2012

Publisher: - Iton 77 Publishing House, Tel Aviv, Israel 

ISBN: - 978-965-7351-79-6

Purchase link: Protest

Poet Tali Cohen-Shabtai was born in Jerusalem. Her first book 'The Black Ticket's contaminated crimson with woman" (2007) received much acclaim - "poetry that does not surrender easily,
it follows (observes) its own rules ... well aware of linguistic lore... a young, refreshing touch to Hebrew poetry, leaving one craving to taste more.."


Tali Cohen-Shabtai's second book, 'Protest' offers challenging poetics, protesting. Cohen-Shabtai places parts of sentences in clashing, disorientating relationships, testing - firstly - herself. In spite of the impossible, complex, conflicting existence, she writes in pain - but without fear.

The poems express a sense of exile - - both real and mental, and they form their own necessity. The words are needed constantly, they are the act itself. The conclusion arising as one reads the poems, as the poems stimulate one's intellect and challenge one’s perception of what poetry is, as they leave us astounded, is - as the poet says to herself: "you divert/from the nominative plural", and to us readers, "My language is not/your language, I regret any gesture."

But in fact, one does not regret any gesture at all, because reading Protest is nothing short of a moving experience.

Protest is a poetry collection by Tali Cohen-Shabtai. The book is divided into two sections; one being poetry written in Hebrew and the other being poetry written in English, and I will review the poetry written in English.

The English section of the book opens with the poem “Four years – in the – Country” and closes with “Such a therapist.” Tali Cohen-Shabtai’s poems are euphony and have great literary value with lots of subdued expression. Each poem speaks with powerful feeling which will drive readers to a state of ecstasy sometimes and at the other time the reader would be left to wonder the poems want to convey and that state of wonderment would make the reader keep reading.  

Some poems begin with lines that will make any reader continue to read the poem till it ends. Some such opening lines are “A poet is a type of clown who is placated with his pain” from the poem “Four years - in The – Country”.  “I play games in my mind - behind papers …..” from the poem “Such a therapist”. The poems not only open with beautiful catchy line but they would give a reader a kind of satisfaction after reading the poems. The lines of the poems are of different length, some lines have 14 syllables while some have just one syllable.

 

Like a poet buried under a deep feeling trying to awake every sense organ Tali Cohen-Shabtai expresses each poem with emotions that would make a reader of her book “Protest” experience an indescribable feeling.

There is used of sexuality so poetically, like in the line “……..By blank papers and faked orgasms” in the poem “Such a therapist” “To masturbate over a poem” in the poem Femme Fatale. The line “……to masturbate over a poem” suggest the speaker in the poem is being alienated or is being neglected by her love ones so she relies on herself instead of depending on other man. But if we go with the name of the book and the title of the book, the poem Femme Fatale is Protest against those people who pretend to know the speaker well.

In the poem Femme Fatale, the speaker enjoys being Femme Fatale who relies over herself and not over a man. She wants no man to provide any kind of assistance so she leaves no traces through which man can follow her.   This attitude of the speaker makes those pretending people wonder if her life is filled with more entertainment than theirs. But the fact is she is as ordinary as everyone who would show things that everyone would show to others. If those pretending people understand her, they can also know the taste of being Femme Fatale.

In the book Protest, I read poems which are very rare and unique. This book of poetry would give poetry lovers a new poetic taste. So, get a copy of it today and enjoy reading.