Reviewed by: Dr. Pramod K. Das
Sunny Rain-n-Snow: An Olio of Poetry for Pleasure
By U Atreya Sarma
Publisher: Partridge India, 2016
ISBN-10: 1482868547
ISBN-13: 978-1482868548
Pages 158
Paperback $ 9.99 | Rs 399 | Flipkart Rs 360
Kindle $ 2.54 | Rs 169
EBOOK (Google Play) Rs 118.30
For
a world full of meaning and vivacity
The garland Sunny Rain-n-Snow has the privilege to
have sixty three varieties of beautiful flowers to offer a unique experience
once you come across such a fragrance those wings of poesy would render. As William Wordsworth puts it correctly in Preface to Lyrical Ballads, “Poetry is
the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings that takes its origin from
emotions recollected in tranquillity”. The strength of this garland lies in its
breadth of the experiences which is portrayed in extraordinary simplicity of
the use of ordinary language. Beauty lies in simplicity. It can be best proved
with such a collection of poetry where the selections of varied human
experiences play a pivotal role in framing the structure of the garland
impressive and attractive.
The twelve
subheadings of the garland has its different constituents which include
‘Femina,’ ‘Facets of Nature,’ ‘Epiphanies, ‘Americana,’ ‘Musings on Poesy,’
‘Relationships and Equations,’ ‘Romantic Peeps,’ ‘Reflectively Yours,’ ‘Social
Bristles,’ ‘Tongue-in-Cheek,’ ‘Occasional Voices,’ and ‘Metrical Forays.’
In the first poem,
the poet highlights the liberation of women from the daily household chores.
How small things in life can make a better relationship between husband and
wife. For instance in “A Housewife’s lib” see how a homemaker speaks out her
simple wishes:
“Once in three
months, give me a day off;
And cook and serve
me delicious home-made food
With your handsome
hands.”(P, 3)
The other poems of
this section also emphasize a cry for liberation of women in many ways.
In the section
titled ‘Facets of Nature’ the poet celebrates the flora and fauna offered by
nature and how humans try to destroy them because of their vested interests.
For example, see the small poem titled “Hills”:
“God turned
All hardness
Into hills.
Harder-hearted man
Entered
And began blasting
them.” (P, 13)
In another poem
titled “Cerulean cornucopia” the poet is amazed with the beauty and grandeur of
the creation as he succinctly portrays:
“Wow! The monsoon
sky! A colourful cosmic cornucopia!
A tonic from the
infinite divine pharmacopeia!
I bow to you in
speechless awe, oh, the Divine Creator,
Architect, bowyer,
fletcher and engineer rolled into one!” (P, 15)
Here we find “the
spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” as he watches from the terrace of
his apartment building.
In the section
‘Epiphanies’ the poet captures the satori of human experience. For instance, in
the poem “Nocturnal Bliss” the poet describes:
“I, the lone
creature on the road, felt
I was an
extra-terrestrial on this earth
Or a terrestrial
on some other planet;
I was the monarch
of all I espied…” (P, 37)
The nest section
titled ‘Americana’ captured the varied adventurous experiences of human
endeavours in a subtle manner. For instance, in the poem, “My Swan Queen” the poet
describes the ship as a swan queen:
“When I saw a wild
flower beautiful and gay
I enjoyed its
bouncy smile and toss, bob and sway…
I didn’t desire to
pluck it or suck its honey any way.” (P, 46)
The next section
titled ‘Musings on Poesy’ muses on the world of poetry and how the words do the
magic on the pages of poetry. As Dr Sunil Sharma writes in the foreword
“Atreya’s style is lyrical, enchanting! English malleable and sweet! It yields
to his expert hands and shapes up into verbal units of sheer delight-aural and
visual.”(P, x) For instance, ruminate over the poet’s concept of poetry as in in
the poem “Cradle of Poesy”:
“When flight of
fancy
And a worthy
wreath of words
Cohabit on a bed
of aesthetics
The labours of
their union
Conceive the baby
of poesy…” (P, 55)
Highlighting on
the theme of human relations, the section titled ‘Relations and Equations’
emphasizes the varied shades of human bonds.Have a taste of it in the poem “Ah,
What a Friendship!”
“Well, friend,
you’re then my tree, sun, and candle;
It’s how I’d
always love you to so handle.
Giving is your
nature, talking is mine.
Isn’t then our
friendship mutually fine?!” (P, 61)
The section
following titled ‘Romantic Peeps’ talks about the romantic aspects of human
life. For instance the poem “Lip-lapping” titillates us with the various
function of lip:
“Oh,
your lips!
Lips-full, inviting, tempting!
Your
lovely, cosy lips…
What you and I
want is not
The candy kiss or
the Scotch kiss
But the deep kiss,
the soul kiss, the French kiss…”
“Lips full, what a
pull!
This labial
liaison!
What a connubial
celebration!” (P, 70)
The next section
titled ‘Reflectively Yours’ highlights the nature and its artefacts and how we
humans can learn a lot from the galaxy of resources available. The poem
“Tantrums of Nature” showcases the various facets of nature. For instance:
“Wind is erratic –
It’s scalding hot
now;
And biting cold
then.” (P, 86)
In another poem of this section the poet mentions truth as a casualty. As he
writes:
“Truth is a
casualty
Where mind and
hearts refuse to meet,
Where artifice and
interests
Glibly play their
role.” (P, 88)
The section ‘Social
Bristles’ has poems dealing with the theme of social problems. The tone seems
to have elements of revolt. For example in the poem “Let’s succour our Nepali
brethren” the poet advocates tangible help:
“Lip sympathy
won’t do, only acts can-little or big.
Is it enough if a
poet trots out and trolls a threnody?
No, charity should
begin at home.
If I didn’t give
my humble, honest mite,
I wouldn’t have a
right this poem to write.” (P, 103)
The next section
of the collection consists of poems that give us a sense of pleasure as we go
through these. For instance, see the representative lines from the poem titled
“Facebook escapades”:
“Those scared to
squarely face the call of life
Escape into the
endless pages of the Facebook.” (P, 114)
In another poem
titled “What’s in a name, Ms Rosie?” the poet lists out a few examples of names
and gives a different flavour to it. For example:
“Hi, Ms Rose, if I
beckon you as Ms Rosie
You may answer, It
doesn’t prick; it’s good and cosy.
But, Ms Rose, if I
call you out, Come here Ms Sore,
Won’t I on my face
end up for sure with a gore?”
“By changing their
name some people gain fame;
They don names
fake or pen, ev’n of a dame.
We know well of
Mark Twain but perhaps none
Of Samuel
Langhorne Clemens woebegone.” (P, 115)
The next section
of the collection titled ‘Occasional Voices’ captures the essence of different
festivals of India such as Holi, Rakhi, Sun-kranti. See what he has to say in the poem “Holi Voice”:
“The lights of
colours
Celestial and
terrestrial both
Found one another
blush
But couldn’t
fathom
The reason why.” (P,
120)
And here see the gaiety of the “Sun-Kranti” scenes:
“What a thrilling
scene everywhere to sight
That makes our
hearts aright and light!
To make them happy
let’s try day and night.” (P, 124)
The last section
of the collection titled ‘Metrical forays’ highlights different types of verses
we come across in our adventures into the reading of poetry. For instance let
us take a look at a couple of the nine “Limericks” –
“Every trick up
his sleeve – tried Patrick
To somehow compose
a limerick;
But it never did a
click.
So he became damn
sick,
And turned an
early geriatric.”
“In college
there’s a guy so sinister,
Any new girl, he
boasted, “I’d pester.”
He then pawed a
slim girl
Who jabbed him
with a twirl
And a kick- until
he called her ‘Sister!’” (P, 131)
Overall one will
really have a trip to enjoy the collection once he/she holds the book and turns
it page by page. It is hoped that the book will give a different joy of reading
as poetry like music acts as a therapy to forget our day-to-day sorrows in
order to embrace a world full of meaning and vivacity. As Dr Sunil Sharma
succinctly writes in the foreword of the book: “A masterpiece is born! Spring
arrives. Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome the poet of substance- U Atreya
Sarma! Like vernal showers the effect will continue long on you...” (P, xii)
References:
Dr. Pramod Kumar Das is currently
working as an Assistant Professor in the School of Business Studies and Social
Sciences, Christ University, BGR Campus, Bangalore. He has a doctoral degree in
English Literature from the English and Foreign Languages University,
Hyderabad, India on the study of Anita Desai’s fiction.
