Symphonies of Life by Meenakshi Mohan

Symphonies of Life by Meenakshi Mohan

Publisher: Penprints Publication

Publication year: 2024

Pages: 158

Price: ₹ 400 INR / $ 35 USD

ISBN: 978-819679325-8

-Reviewed by Margaret Blake

Many people talk of life as a journey, travelled from beginning to end. For Meenakshi Mohan, however, life is far more fluid than that. This collection of poems considers life as being full of musical movement, sounding richly in each life and throughout communities. Just as each symphony is full of pianissimo and fortissimo, lows and highs, so these all run throughout her poetry, combining to make a harmonious whole. Her skilful use of language is combined with lyrical imagery as she moves us from the personal to the universal. Birth and death, joy and sorrow, loss and fulfilment make up the kaleidoscope of life experienced by all.  Her poems skilfully blend the past and present, the concrete and the abstract, blurring the boundary between private and public life.  Her writings invite us to reflect on who we are as individuals, to reflect on where we have come from, and to consider where our destination might lie. 

Meenakshi, whom I have known online for some years, is a writer, poet, artist, and academic. She left her home country of India as a young bride to start a new life in Maryland, USA, with her graduate husband, Kshitij. Together they built a fulfilling life until his premature death in 2010. All her own experiences, and that of others, is fed into her poetry as she draws on mythology, culture, and tradition for her imagery, blending all together with a skilful use of language to portray modern life.

Her capacity to interpret life through the medium of music shines throughout. She sweeps us along on lyrical imagery, such as that found in the poem ‘My Silence Speaks.’ In that reflection, Meenakshi conjures up visions of ‘melodies of leaves, whispers of the breeze, and fluttering songs of butterflies.’ Such interpretations are not, however, restricted to the wonders of nature alone. ‘You are a Scripture Written in Sweet Melody’ is the greeting offered to a new-born child; but one that also draws on meta-physical concepts of ancestry.

Yet there lurks within this poetry also the sound of loud, disturbing notes as cymbals clash and echo throughout an unequal society. Issues such as race, gender, and domestic abuse are bravely tackled and illustrated with strong imagery. Injustice is exposed, not to be tolerated, and in the poem ‘Gandhi, A Legend’ his spirit calling for ‘peace, harmony, and unity on the earth’ points the way forward to a better future.

The redeeming power of love features throughout this book. The poet weaves the theme through poems of family, of injustice, estrangement, and bereavement. Yet her writing also stretches beyond our everyday life and into philosophical speculation. Poems such as ‘What Color is my Neuron?’ and ‘God is the Color of Water’ remind us that we humans do not own all knowledge; imagination can have a powerful role to play in our lives. These are delightful poems that sweep us into the music of the stratosphere.

Meenakshi Mohan is a woman who firmly believes that the symphony of life continues even after the moment of death. Loss is real. Grief revealed. Yet there is hope, a peacefulness in acknowledging the eternal flow. Estrangement from our homeland is no more, as we see in ‘A Journey Home.’

‘I was there – When the Ganges came rushing,
piercing the hearts of the snow-clad Himalayas
enshrouding my ashes in its bosom.
The misty eyes of the seraph-like clouds watched
the serenade of streams and the chanting of the ancient priest. A long-lost child was finally home.’

As Meenakshi’s Symphony draws to a close, the various cadences are brought together in the words of ‘The Journey’s End.’

‘I watched
the evening sun slowly moving Westward mellowed, leaving behind
its candescent glory
in the bleeding heart of the Elysium
soon to be enveloped in the bosom of the earth. It was the day’s end!

…. Is this the journey’s end
or the beginning of another life?’ 

Symphonies of Life is a book that can resonate with all.

 

Reviewer’s bio: Margaret Blake writes both poetry and prose; her work has appeared in several anthologies: online and in print. She has co-edited e-zines for the Aspiring Writers Society (AWS) and the anthology: Seasons of Change. Reflecting Today, Dreaming Tomorrow. (Authorpress 2024)

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Setu, October 2024