Invincible Verses

Book Review: Poetry/ The Myriad by Supriya Kaur Dhaliwal,Create Space/2011, Paperback

The thirty nine poetries consisted in this anthology marks the moving recollection of a potential poetess laureate, Supriya. Who is still only seventeen years old, came out with her first nattily composed collection of verses at sixteen and amazingly her short experiences are not deterring dappled sentiments to come up vivid in her writing. Her holistic creative approach is promising and not even remotely laden through the bumf expressions. The first four poetries under the aegis of “cherishing the Childhood” were written by this young poetess when she was young enough to call the sun an electrical bulb glowing forever.

It will be hard to arbiter the serious thoughts grooming in Supriya’s innocent words, which are indeed ahead of an ordinary profaced maneuvering. At the age of seven, she had penned down, My country: India, where she lucidly exudes a concerned mind coping with the wariness of depleting originalities under the severe wind of homoginisation. The ending lines says it better, “No iguanas, no anacondas, still having a rich reptile variety, all Indians are anglophiles except our freedom fighters, this is my country, this is my India! Distant from podgy declamation of plots, she had come aptly communicable in other three initial poetries as well on Animals, Flower and Friendship, these all are written with vigour and onslaught any trend ridden reprisals, that makes her writing eligible to be slotted in pure literary category.

As I grew up, second part of the book which the author had written in teen’s years increasingly streamlines her literary imagination with sublime routing it on broader canvasses. Here, Supriya has succeeded amazingly well. I will choose my two favourite poems from this collection, first “Basin of emotions” which is worth of saying her representative work...
I flash a polite smile
Unlaced it in a smart style
Wonder what thoughts lie next to
The dirt inside people’s mind
Hoping to reach
The highest of high
Looking for
Burning tearful good-bye
Tracing my step
Back to the ocean
Previously, had been at helm
Where the defense,
Sat far from the realm
What was it?
That laid a kiss
Leaving a sense
Of domestic bliss.

The second poem that touched me most from her writing is “Deception” which weaves the nuances of love and betrayal and yet the essential persistence of natural feelings rests with the persons who lost most in a valued relationship…
An indecipherable smile
Coiled my wounds, clinched my voice
A single lie
Fluttered my blood, flushed my love
The drain below my love, dries your tongue
A fluting accest, fobbed off itself
Tired of forgiving you of fibbing
And I remember
Like an idiot, I trusted your tall tale
You painted a grim picture of mine
To which I giggled endlessly.

Still a solace observing that poetry writing is comparatively running away from the jealously produced popular novels which are marring the basic ethics of literature. May be, this also highlights the limited commercial viability, for poetries are entitled with but for now, atleast this keeping verses as pure form of literature. But sure, verses have fine time ahead seeing the promising entries of few excellent young writers into this space and consistent decline of noticeable literary tracts from the floods of popular novels.

It would be not an exaggeration, if in present scenario; the literature at large can be ranked grappling high through the quality deficiencies. In Indian English writing, almost nothing is being written with the burning concern of the time essentially which falls in the purview of books to transcend the realities. Unfortunately, it’s unlikely the cases as bulk of fictional works are getting moulded through the market sentiments or they are networked enabled to perform well. Barring few novels, last decade was completely disappointing in this regard, though same is not true in non-fiction category, where good works are increasingly made their impact-there real hope lies. Young aspiring poet/poetess too should be tempting closely to follow the meaningful contexts, the way young Supriya has done in her very first anthology. As reference, she must be feel encouraged with her first work…The Myriad is simply an extraordinary accomplishment, that’s written by a pure writer, without of materialistic pressures. We can be sure; this young writer is going to have long and eventful time in literary world.
Atul Kumar Thakur
Email: summertickets@gmail.com