AN EXQUISITE MELANGE OF ELOQUENT POETRY

Book Review: Leisure by Sanchari Das

“Poetry of words is the rhythmical creation of beauty”, Edgar Allan Poe once said. Poetry is indeed music of the soul. With the advent of the recent phenomenon of Instapoetry and poetry becoming more accessible on social media, this creative medium is finding new takers. However, poets writing conventional poetry are also experimenting with new trends. Sanchari Das comes up with such a poetry book “Leisure”, which is a collection of poems that delve into multiple themes and the many-hued human emotions, written by her in pithy verse.
The front cover of this poetry book is simple, and shows a stilt house standing in a sea, with piers emanating from its doors. This signifies the author’s deep cogitations in an expansive sea of emotions. The poems in this collection are written in a simple language, but they convey the emotions of the poet vividly; and these poems are very apt for people who want to begin reading poetry, and readers who don’t like to foray into labyrinthine poetry with complex words. However, despite of the simple language, many of the poems deal with many complex themes and emotional gravitas.
The first poem “Leisure” is about the poet recreating in nature’s beauty. The poem “Girl House” talks about a girl’s frustration of not having a house of her own, and living in houses of her father, husband and son. In the poem, however, the girl ultimately breaks the glass ceiling, becomes the CEO of a company and lives in a house of her own. The poem “Aagomoni Song” details the enthusiasm of Bengalis for Durga Puja. The poem “Golden Cage” deals with a woman comparing a patriarchal marriage to emotional captivity. The poem “Song of Seasons” details the myriad beauty of seasons with motley of changing colours of leaves- green, auburn, golden, reddish and brown. Some of the other poems are “Drench in the rain”, “Dear Society”, and “My loving Siliguri”. There’s also an endearing poem “Thank you, Readers!” in the end.
Many of these poems deal with human innocence, nature’s beauty, and the patriarchy that women have to face in our society. Some of the poems which delve into emotional vehemence add a heightened poetic dimension to the readers’ understanding of human sentimentality. However, some of the poems need more refining and some of them are too simple for the liking of experienced readers and lovers of intricate poetry.
These poems have a subtle layering, and are lyrical in tone. Most of them follow a set rhyming scheme and present the readers with deep musings to ponder about. This is a poetry book which should be read during periods of contemplation and also moments of leisure, for the readers will ponder more deeply about the intense themes which have been delved into by the poet, and also the expressive emotions rendered in the poems will put a smile on the reader’s face.