REVIEW OF AND THE SILENCE WHISPERED
The debut collection of 103 heart –
wrenching poems by Wani Nazir, ‘And the silence whispered’, is indeed a
valuable addition to the world of English poetry. His is a vociferous poetic
voice emerging from conflict – ridden Kashmir, pleading for a return to sanity,
an end to the roar of guns, and the wails of widows- in fact a resurrection of
the lost paradise, which is his home.
In very poignant tones, he writes about an impoverished widow soothing her fatherless child with false promises of buying him a rattle, of kite-flying children and sudden snapping of kites, of his son fetching him the morning newspaper filled with nothing else but the screams and wails of beleaguered humanity .
In his poems, he pours his anger and angst, laments the pathetic condition his land has been reduced to, talks of discordant ripples, and cacophonies ricocheting throughout the beautiful land, the pristine beauty marred by grotesqueries perpetrated madly. He feels the specter of gloom looming everywhere and the rampant violence makes him echo the words of Gloucester in King Lear,
“As flies to the wanton boys
Are we to the gods
They kill us for their sport.”
His poetic heart asks, “how can I eulogize the spring when it too gushes out blood?”, but, nonetheless, his pessimism turns to optimism and his pen , assuming brighter hues , writes about the soothing breeze , the buzzing bees, the dreams of the woodchucks , the moon , and his ink starts throbbing with “the rejuvenating spirit of resurrection .”
The anthology is replete with mystical musings, intoxicating Saqi poems and also tankas but he poem which really took my heart away by its sheer simplicity, was the ‘Song of an autist’ where he gives voice to an autistic child who pleads with the poet not to lament his misfortune, but to eulogize him because he does not crumble down under what others think is a bondage:
“Nay! I have my own sovereign microcosm
And I summon the sun to shine
On the firmament I myself create.”
By the time one finishes reading his poems, one finds his uncertain pen, which he himself confesses, had been lying mute, stricken by some ‘palsy –like malady,’ gaining a surefootedness, running smoothly on even terrain, leaving one with the fragrance emanating, as though from a handful of crushed petals, and also the sincere hope that the ‘searing, bleeding, wailing and shrieking world' will one day be healed by the poet’s quill, and ‘a golden dawn will crack from the Zabarwan ‘ [A letter for my beloved] and the paradise will , once again be regained .
This book is indeed a delightful read for all lovers of poetry.
AND THE SILENCE WHISPERED
GENRE: POETRY
Poet: Wani Nazir
Publishers: Global Fraternity of Poets, Gurgaon, HARYANA
PP. 148
Price INR 340.00, U. S $22
In very poignant tones, he writes about an impoverished widow soothing her fatherless child with false promises of buying him a rattle, of kite-flying children and sudden snapping of kites, of his son fetching him the morning newspaper filled with nothing else but the screams and wails of beleaguered humanity .
In his poems, he pours his anger and angst, laments the pathetic condition his land has been reduced to, talks of discordant ripples, and cacophonies ricocheting throughout the beautiful land, the pristine beauty marred by grotesqueries perpetrated madly. He feels the specter of gloom looming everywhere and the rampant violence makes him echo the words of Gloucester in King Lear,
“As flies to the wanton boys
Are we to the gods
They kill us for their sport.”
His poetic heart asks, “how can I eulogize the spring when it too gushes out blood?”, but, nonetheless, his pessimism turns to optimism and his pen , assuming brighter hues , writes about the soothing breeze , the buzzing bees, the dreams of the woodchucks , the moon , and his ink starts throbbing with “the rejuvenating spirit of resurrection .”
The anthology is replete with mystical musings, intoxicating Saqi poems and also tankas but he poem which really took my heart away by its sheer simplicity, was the ‘Song of an autist’ where he gives voice to an autistic child who pleads with the poet not to lament his misfortune, but to eulogize him because he does not crumble down under what others think is a bondage:
“Nay! I have my own sovereign microcosm
And I summon the sun to shine
On the firmament I myself create.”
By the time one finishes reading his poems, one finds his uncertain pen, which he himself confesses, had been lying mute, stricken by some ‘palsy –like malady,’ gaining a surefootedness, running smoothly on even terrain, leaving one with the fragrance emanating, as though from a handful of crushed petals, and also the sincere hope that the ‘searing, bleeding, wailing and shrieking world' will one day be healed by the poet’s quill, and ‘a golden dawn will crack from the Zabarwan ‘ [A letter for my beloved] and the paradise will , once again be regained .
This book is indeed a delightful read for all lovers of poetry.
AND THE SILENCE WHISPERED
GENRE: POETRY
Poet: Wani Nazir
Publishers: Global Fraternity of Poets, Gurgaon, HARYANA
PP. 148
Price INR 340.00, U. S $22
Wonderful review.
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