Should I give up
Traversing the terrain of love?
Love of all hues,
Embracing all pain
In an effort to soothe
With that enigma
Called love.
Should I think otherwise?
Quit loving altogether,
Relinquishing the nitty gritties
That makes the stories
Of great love.
Picking pebbles
Besides the vast waters
Of Life
I still am misled
By love,
Trapped into amnesia,
And every morrow
Leading into nothingness.
Composed by Merry Baruah, Assoc. Professor, English Dept, Cotton University, Guwahati, Assam
Reflections from the Heart- Anthology of 100 Poems by Dr Bhaskar Bora, Merry Baruah, and Santanu Phukan easily emerge as one of the scintillating displays of raw emotions emanating out of the heart of these three poets. This anthology, containing 100 mesmerising poems, makes the readers anticipate every line when they are being read which reiterates the thrust it exerts. One can find a gripping and potent force which belies the surface of the anthology thereby making it situated right in the hearts of the readers. As nonchalant as it can get, the poems that this anthology carries, open up a multitude of ideas and emotions that these poets nurture in their minds and soul. They, at once, make the readers introspect and reflect upon the myriad ways in which life can lead to the life of an individual. Anyone familiar would Bhaskar Bora, one of the writers of this anthology, would know how troublesome and painstaking his life has been. But, through the poems which are on show for us, the readers, in this anthology, he has almost demolished and dismantled the hurdles of life to emerge as an example; an epitome of unflinching determination and untainted courage. The poems become emblematic in nature, in that, they are so deep in their thoughts and so relentless in the ways they are presented to the readers.
The foreword to the book, written by the eminent North-eastern writer, Mitra Phukan reiterates the structural base of the poems which are the cumulative outcome of the different sweet and bitter experiences of the three poets in their lives. The ups and downs, the verisimilitude of experiences that the three poets of this anthology have encountered in their lives have indeed paved the way for their emotions to take shape of the poems in this book. Significantly enough, the poems, of that, although very personal when it comes to the experiences of the poets, contain in them the trait of being ubiquitous in nature. One can feel the influence of these poems in the common-day living of every individual which makes the readers comprehend the inherent essence which every poem carries within its lines. That said, the poems also contain an essence of being commonplace in nature, in that, they can easily be grasped and comprehended by any individual. The anthology can be called exquisite in its outlook and intense in its presence in terms of the depth it carries in it as the poems are the result of the experiences of the poets, some of which are soul-stirring for normal readers.
Merry Baruah’s poetry depicts the confronting situations of a lady who has to carry out multiple roles in society. As a working lady, it can easily be understood that maintaining a sheer balance between professional and personal life is indeed a tedious task. Her poems can be called the emblematic representation of the inner state of the turmoil of every lady who is working in a professional field in modern-day society. Significantly enough, one can find her poems to be a plea to acknowledge the efforts which every working woman in society strives for striking the chord of balance in the family and the workplace. The poems, if observed keenly, can be argued to be epitomes of the different roles played by a woman working in society which almost relegates the subjectivity of the self.
Poems like “Rendezvous With Self,” “The Fragrance of the Night Queen,” “A Chain of Moments,” “A Season of Bloom” etc. vividly epitomise the essence of the diversified experiences which an individual, particularly a woman, comes across in her life. The poems beget hopes and aspirations for ladies, working ones, in particular, to mould their lives as per their desires so that they do not get confined within the shackles of society. One can feel that the syntactical structures which are used in the poems are a clear outpouring of the heart of the poet which makes the title of the anthology all the more apt. The poems provide a space for the readers to almost view the world in its different hues and forms which sometimes estrange themselves to envelop human living. The following lines from one of her poems “A Chain of Moments” are a clear example of this aspect:
“The night is just another one
Dark and quiet
Except for the beating heart
And hope for a different tomorrow.”
