Book Review: Pearls of Strawberry Moon by Monalisa Dash Dwibedy (2020)

Review by Leonard Dabydeen

Pearls of Strawberry Moon 
Monalisa Dash Dwibedy
Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 275 KB
Print Length: 140 pages
Sold by: Amazon Asia-Pacific Holdings Private Limited 
Language: English
ASIN: B086QDHJ29
₹ 0.00 (Kindle Unlimited) ₹ 62.00 to buy

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Monalisa Dash Dwibedy

Pearls Of Strawberry Moon: Poetry that touches your inner being . Kindle Edition.

When the strawberry moon glows it unfolds curiosity and enthusiasm …

Strawberry Moon is the full moon in June. It is called "the moon that grants love come true”. The pearls are the moments of life. You are holding a few pink pearls in your hand. Smile. Celebrate. Cherish. ~ Monalisa Dash Dwibedy

This book, Pearls Of Strawberry Moon, is a relishing debut potpourri of English poems, set in an illuminating cornucopia gemstone by bilingual poet, Monalisa Dash Dwibedy. She also writes in Odia. The author’s 55 poems are bundles wrapped in symbiosis with fragrances of the strawberry moon, sacrosanct in granting love, and beautiful pearls that enhance exciting moments of life. In 140 pages the poems are composted to speak of multifaceted aspects of life – Hippocrene of love, nature, loss, depression, travel, environment, and more. These poems arrive from varied anthologies, including The Year of the Poet VI, Inner Child Press; International (USA); ATUNIS (Albania); Different Truths (India); Sillwords Press (USA); SIPAY (Seychelles); Poetry Leaves (UK) Muse India (India), and many more. Some poems not previously published. The book is independently Published by the Author.

In the PROLOGUE, author Monalisa invites readers to immerse themselves in her “forest of words”, imploring that they will see some of themselves in her poems. In the PREFACE, Muhammad Shanazar, Poet, Critic and Translator, exudes on rich plethora of exploding emotions and thoughts in author Monalisa’s poems. And in the FOREWORD, Dr. Vishnu Pandya – Padma Shree and Chairman, Gujarat Sahitya Academy (India), extends warm congratulations to Author Monalisa for unfolding her debut book: Pearls of Strawberry Moon. And in the last few pages of the book, Mr. Cijo Joseph Chennelil, Poet, Critic, HOD (English), Kristu Jyoti College (India), expressed KIND WORDS through a serenade of sweet atonement to embellish the author’s delightful creativity in her poetry.

In this book, Pearls of Strawberry Moon, author Monalisa takes intricate, creative embrace of pearls reflecting“moments of life” and parceled them into three sections: Life, Lament, and Miracle. And in that marinated cordiality, each partition is espoused to the other in a trickling, lingering connectivity to express her inner consciousness in a yogic, philosophical attribute of knowing the world is ONE. There are no CONTENTS pages; and her unorthodox, crafty, artistic poetic style reflects on such authors as Rupi Kaur – author of milk and honey (2015), and the sun and her flowers (2017); and Professor Indira Babbellapati – author of From the Biography of an Unknown Woman (2015), Nomadic Nights (2016), and Just for once (2019).

Let’s take a perusal in the book, Pearls of Strawberry Moon, to see how the Moon speaks to Monalisa among the pearls of her life. Section: Life (16 poems):

The Moon said [prying at her curiosity]

Remember where you came from

You are the purpose of this universe

 You suffer most when

You slip away from your intention

Stray from your core being or

Tell yourself untruths about who you are

And in her vintage poetic style, Monalisa responds with (first poem):

MY LIFE IN TWO BLUE SUITCASES

When the distant tracks call me

 Opening their arms

I walk out of my comfort zone

To embrace re-dusted earth and blue skies

Time waits around the corner

 For me to return

As I bid goodbye to my hurried pace of life

Staring far along the open roads,

As long as the sun looks upon me

 I try not to look back

 So many lives

 Unlived

 So many places

 Unseen

 Life does not pause

When I meet new faces

 Exchange glances

Wonder in the midst of

 Choices made

 Chances missed

And challenges met

Travelling a full circle

Un-awakened and unconscious life times

 I wait infinitely long

The moment consciousness dawns

The forever being, the maker of the universe

 Comes in search of me

Painted and blank canvases I visit,

I am not bound to any one place.

Travelling free as a bird,

I measure my life in two blue suitcases.

This first poem brings to the core, shimmering enthusiasm and delight of life as Monalisa listens to the “Strawberry Moon”. That she would “ …walk out of my comfort zone” gives readers food for thought, to learn that the author has a career as an IT Consultant, with poetic creativity brush strokes on …

“Painted and blank canvases I visit / I am not bound to any one place.” In this contextual aplomb, she decides to …

“…measure my life in two blue suitcases.” Monalisa comes from the city of Puri, in the state of Odisha, India. She now lives in Toronto, Ontario, Canada .

And in the flamboyance of her arrival with “two blue suitcases” in Canada, the strawberry Moon echoes to Monalisa thus …

The Moon said

Scream at me

Let go of all your tears

Gather your original self

Feed your soul with a song

Breeze through life…

And in unstoppable vehemence, with throb of life, Monalisa entertains us with such poems as LOST AND FOUND, SOUL OF A FOREST, IN LOVE WITH LIFE, A BUTTERFLY, IN PRESENCE OF THE MASTER, TO THE ATLANTIC, and more.

In this poem …

 IN PRESENCE OF THE MASTER

(see stanza 2, lines 1-4)

He chants a prayer

Invokes the unseen

Invites to transform

And transcend the physical/…

the author emboldens holistic and religious affirmation, as she strokes the poetic canvas of life. The poem is dedicated to Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudevji, a yogi of highest order. Monalisa is inclined to follow practice of yoga.

In the second section titled: LAMENT is a bundle of 22 poems.

[to quilt the author’s equanimity]

The Moon said

There will be some nights when all you have is yourself and me.

I can’t explain what you mean to me or where I’d be without you.

 You and me can fall in love or

 You and I can become one.

 The choice is yours.

It’s as if Monalisa was atuned to the voice of Rabindranath Tagore:

Come with quick steps over the grass.

If your feet are pale with the dew,

If your anklets slacken,

If pearls drop out of your chain,

Do not mind.

Come with quick steps over the grass.

Reading her first Lament poem …

THE NEW IMMIGRANT

(first stanza)

Where are you from? You ask

 I am from the land of

 Wealth and misery

 The mystic range of

 Himalayan mountains

Land of bomb blasts, surgical strikes and sufferings

Land of love, yoga, sun and devotion

I am from border village of India and Pakistan/

Being new immigrant herself, from Puri, Odisha, India to Toronto, Canada, Monalisa asks the question that strikes at the core of every immigrant leaving home. And her answer in this vibrant, evocative first stanza of THE NEW IMMIGRANT, leaves you spellbound. More so if you are an immigrant yourself (or like myself). The depth of sensitivity is an indelible lament, rich with imagery of home thoughts.; serenading the ambivalence of Life.

In the third stanza, Monalisa speaks of her arrival in Canada, engaging readers to feel and share her sensibility…

This is a very new city, do you feel home?

You ask.

On the hillside in the bright daylight

I see the birds fly with same zeal in their flight

The garden near that lawn

I watch the new plants being born

The same way they are born on my land

When it rains here

Leaves shine.

In the last stanza (last two lines), Monalisa’s lament bursts with a sigh…

Tulips in the spring and Camellia in winter

Suddenly felt like home.

As if this section – Lament – brings readers to pause and prune trailing poems with deep emotions, here is a caviar that will thrust readers into the refreshing last section: Miracle of which the MOON speaks to Monalisa for comfort:

THE NEW IMMIGRANT in section Lament was selected as the winning poem in the International Rabindranath Tagore Award 2020, making Monalisa a crown jewel of poetry on the international platform.

In the eyes of Jury Panel member for this award competition, Avik Gangopadhyay, Kolkata, West Bengal, India …

Congratulations Monalisa Dash Dwibedy. Your approach is different from others, your achievement is truly commendable. Many dream, some try and only a few achieve. You are an achiever today.

Other poems that ripple with emotive depth and sensuality in the founding pearls of Monalisa’s Lament section include, TWO LITTLE WORDS, BETTER FAR, SLAVE, TEARS, WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME, YOU ARE NOT ALONE, SHELTER, A LITTLE GIRL I DO NOT WANT TO BE BORN, LOST FRIENDS, and more. Sometimes you can feel the emotions within your heart as in reading this poem (speaking of the environment):

SAVE THE PLANET

(second stanza – lines 1-3)

Do we truly realize what trees do for us?

What the trees exhale, we inhale

Do we know, they are the basis of our breath…

And in a spate of mind-set probity to wave a bruised stroke on her Temper canvas, the author writes …

TRUTH HURTS

(third stanza)

We write poems on love, gender-equality

Forgiveness and hope

Do we ever listen truly?

The painful story of a shattered human being

People do not like, when truth hurts…

In SILENT DEATH, the author brings marginalization of women in India to a new awareness (first stanza)

We were silent seven years ago

We were silent yesterday

We are silent, even today

Reeling emotions on atrocities of women like Nirbhaya and Priyanka Reddy in the past decade.

In the last Temper poem, author Monalisa speaks to readers of our present pandemic, as she writes…

CORONA

Remain still, let silence be your voice

Pray, be grateful for being alive.

In the final section, Miracles – 18 poems - author Monalisa wipes the Temper tear drops, only to return as a sparkler. It’s as if, in wiping the somber, Temper moments of Life…

The Moon said

With me, hearts do not shatter

They blossom…

And Kahlil Gibran stokes the author’s Kindle fire, saying …

Humanity is a river of light from the ex-eternity to eternity.

In the first poem titled:

A THOUSAND LOVE AFFAIRS

(stanza 4)

I love you if you’re toothless

I love you if you’re blind

anything that’s wrong with you

to me you’ll be fine/

This must be “miracle” from the Eternal, but there seems to be a smile on the readers’ faces to speak of trust and faith. But the author gets her way, as it were.

In the second poem:

WHAT YOU SEEK

(last stanza, lines 1-3)

How it feels

When the Universe sends signals to you

When the ether answers your prayers

Here is, indeed, the topping of the author’s Miracle, as the Moon speaks:

The Moon said

Love your solitude

I’m always alone but not lonely for a moment…

And again..,

I know life isn’t always sunny and colorful, sometimes days get rainy and so hard that they hurt. Sometimes you feel life is falling apart. Brave the day. Settle down with me in the evening, let me kiss you. All I want is to be with you.

Amidst the starlight strawberry Moon, a sparkling glow of Miracle poems by Monalisa leaves you with impeccable bliss, to wit :

THE WORLD GOES BLIND

(last two lines)

Infuse a little grease of divinity and bliss

To rusty hearts of human beings.

FALL

(Stanza 3, lines 1-4 )

Life seeks us out

Alone and naked

Uninformed, unlearned

Yet others understand…

The urge to leaf through the poems in this book, rich in soft, melodramatic tone, with metaphors layered in silver and gold, primed with elegance of human metamorphoses in life, will unequivocally satiate your love for enjoyable English literature. This book is a must read.

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Leonard Dabydeen (Ontario, Canada)

Published author, Member of the Law Society of Ontario (Retired). Poet, English Literature critic, Book Reviewer.

Setu, May 2020