Introduction
Professor Ram
Krishna Singh is a brilliant poet and an eminent scholar. He begins this
excellent book with a great comment regarding Diwali, the most representative
festival in India. Such an awesome celebration filling the night with glorious
lights of illumination never seen before. This continues for five days, where
Hindus celebrate victory of good over evil at the “Festival of Lights.” An eloquent
event which is needed, and resonating goodness in the hearts of everyone. In
correlation, this book indicates, “Now is the time for poetry to be a
therapeutic tool with a taste of goodness to humanity.” Such a taste, which
does not have any negative effect, but only nourishment, redeeming values, and
saving grace. This is an inspirational healing of the spirit, through poetry by
driving out evil existing in the soul and body of individuals, where goodness
is reminiscent of Diwali, and its principles regarding life’s goodness and
victory over evil.
This excellent book
is written in English by Professor Ram Krishna Singh, and translated into
Spanish by Joseph Berolo. Based on my knowledge of Spanish, and reading of
such, an exceptional translation was done on each of the poems. Berolo, like
myself, was also moved by the sensual and spiritual essence of the poems. The
fluidity of the poetic verses, proliferates personification of the poems
flowing with much grace like healing water, with realistic idiomatic sinuosity
and imagination. The brevity, and vastness of interpretation of the words scribed
by our illustrious author, stimulate growth for the existence of humanity in
special ways.
The first poem, “New Dawn,” expresses his love for the night, when sleeplessness yield to passion of
the body. This results in the melting of ageing fears, for the beauty of a new
dawn. Such excellent thoughts of love and affection, occurring before the sparkling
orange and red rays of an eloquent sun crests the morn, of blue sky with white billowing
clouds, with its inspirational beauty, uplifts numerous souls with pleasurable endearingness.
He continues with
the poem “Blasphemy,” which begins by stating, “We have lived many
deaths, and are now afraid to live.” This is a result of the terrible ruins in
and around us, where raging fire of voices grows stronger and spreads. This
result in the lack of dreaming and visualizing a new picture of the world. Such
reflection of thoughts, sends a vivid image of, “It’s no use flying high
because the sky seems shattered, and the city is haloed with blasphemy from
saints.” His words and images in this poem, remind us of the book, “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe, Nigerian professor and
poet. It’s translated into 45 languages, with over 10-million copies sold. Some
of the themes are: changes in the status quo, stereotype challenges,
experiences of cultures, and uplifting life’s imaginations—"Such Striking Sights!”
The next poem, “Ritual” is very illuminating, and speaks to the essence of many supposed
leaders. Excerpts follow:
Hiding helplessly in the luxury of
prayers
He raises a wall a babel of
deception
Through cocktail of drugs and
desires
Wakes up to unheard alarms
Repeating rituals of shame ageing
time
Here we see our
distinguished author in deep contemplation dealing with images and perceptions
of, “It’s not to be, and should not take place.” He would rather see life without such rituals
involving drugs and desires. His expectation, is not of one meandering through
life like in a bad dream; thus, winding up as lost sheep walking aimlessly
around.
The pages move to
the next poem “Death of Desire.” Here one is able to see clearly how evening
walks within the lanes and byways of body harmony, which is supposed to bring a
sense of calmness, does not materialized. It’s eventually disturbed and turned
into debates from television, and serial news, regarding temporal things of
distorted wholesomeness. Such disturbing events eventually require swallowing
of pills, as a quest to mitigate rising hackles, which involves walking through
death’s desire to be in bed—"Such
Sickening Situations!”
The next poem “Debris of Dreams” speaks to the importance of not allowing
others to corrupt one’s mind with their antics. Excerpts follow:
It’s near but
Everyplace has a distance
And people too
They flee to see
Me in their vicinity
Sense of anger
Down to smallness
They hate only themselves
The debris of dreams they leave
I must erase and be at peace
These are the kind
of events one sees evolving in our common era. Where we find people distancing
themselves and not wanting to belong. Their actions of negatively toward others
display self-made misery. Such wanton rage has brought them down to the
smallness of hate, reflecting only from themselves. When facing a situation of
this nature, the mind, body and soul now have the quest of positively to erase
such lunacy, and remnants of debris from ones’ dreams to abide in ultimate
peace and accord.
Sticking with the subject of dreams, the next poem “Dreams
of Clay,” raise questions regarding existence of things that should not
be. Excerpts are as follow:
They make
my face
Ugly in my
own sight
There is
not beauty, nor holiness left
The hinges
of doors moan
Politics of
corruption
I weep for
names and faces defaced
With clay
dreams.
Here our eminent author, states his mind on what he does not
like that’s existing in his sight. He questions the desire to even look in the
mirror. He is afraid of what he may see of himself caused by others. He does
not feel there is any beauty or holiness left and the nation is naked. He sees
streams flowing in darkness. Political corruption resulting in moaning, even
with the motion of opening a door. There exists weeping for defaced faces like
rigid shattering of clay in a dream. Naturally, there are visions to change
this situation of life. He realizes, one is able to do so with creativity and
ability, while molding the situation making it better.
On the next page we find the poem, “Gourmet Journey.”
This poem addresses the kind of events we see daily in political situations. It
started by illustrating, how others win elections, with the practice of
sponsoring chaos chanting. The objective is to kill tongues uttering dissent in
the form of righteousness, opposing such foolishness. As a result, many closed
their windows, allowing the essence of dysfunctionalism to be the holy
constitution. Allowing, such displeasing situations to be the norm. These
actions foster into small deities of tango with collaborations invading newer
territories; thus, becoming the status quo. The ensuing reality, allows a
variety of dreams to rise and sell, as political posturing and pleasing, feet
moving forward and minds backward, as they relish lies of gourmet journey with
their passion of discontent— “Flagrantly Transforming Fear Festering.”
The next poem “Aftermath” shows another phase of
disruptiveness to humanity. Selected Excerpts follow:
Between
mossy and thronged pathways shadows slant
Wisdom
splashes in gonzo arguments, as a rooster walk
Others feel
the sting but prefer silence
Like caged
parrot’s free to shame from decades groomed
Hey know how weak they are to stop
the burning
Aberrations clot in their minds
The wounded converts
Counting cries form lashes and
piercing
Here our illustrious author, tells the truth of situations
others find themselves residing with in their daily lives. Their voices are
silent and afraid to speak, like their tongues taken out and now dumb. They are
forced to accept the existing conditions. These individuals are not like the
poets arriving with a therapeutic tool for humans to taste goodness, knowing it
does not hurt, and is not flattering. In actuality, they fail to realize poetic
essence only incorporates nourishment of the spirit, redeems lives, and saves
the body and soul from being controlled by evil. Unfortunately, their sight
does not allow them to see, how poetic words fill lives with melodious echoes
of peace and spiritual harmony as body therapy. They experienced such negative
conditions daily in life, without any thoughts of eventual poetic essence and
liberation.
The next poem “Intellectuals” reflects the emerging
era. One must be cognizant of the environment, and who is teaching ethics,
integrity, and related subjects of progress. It begins by addressing the issue
of being stranded in the past. Actually, governed by supposed intellectuals,
with glasses in hands, preaching ancient wisdom to a modern generation. Some
diving nude into dried pools, while corralling others along. Many now sit by
the fence, polishing their reduced and diffused visions, reflecting on minimal
value, and buffing such distorted knowledge for the next day’s session—"Such
Sunrise Slaughtered Sheep!”
The final poem to review in the awesome book of Tainted with
Prayers is “Liberation.” Selected excerpts follow:
Away from
home in academics, sex, philosophy and religion
I’ve been skeptical
about these years, hell reveals in lost memories
Couldn’t be
new dialect for spring
Fears are
not bread from heaven
Yet the
eagles fly with wide eyes
Nose opened
to stinking patches
Mandates
for dream wrapped in nightmares
Praying for
liberation and decay with divinity
Here our recognized author paints a clear picture of reality
on several university and college campuses, while away from home. He sees his
dreams as nightmares still wondering in his mind as fires, with no heat or
light. They only exist as sterile emotions, making their presence dark and
absent. The resonating mud and ghost bewilderment, leave him preying for
liberation and decay with divinity—"Supreme Spiritual Insight!”
Conclusion
This dynamic book reflecting realistic essence of life ends
with a collection of notes and opinions regarding the inspiration, skill,
knowledge, and ability of our prestigious author. Some are as follows: “[This] is
not only existential, but metaphysics and sensual denouncement of exile from a
world that has been stolen from poets, and worldwide humanity” (Christina
Montero, Argentina). “A true poet is a poet without boarder as he echoes the innate
sensibility, desires and angst of human being that often transcend time, race,
and medium…poetry resonate at a universal wavelength and can connect with the sensitive
souls the world over” (Dr. C. L. Khatri, TPS College, Patna, Bihar,
India). “Ram Krishna Singh is a true
poet. Not one to rest in the knowledge, him being a lyrical poet like none, he
also has a work ethic like few….” (Spiros Zafiris). “[This is such] a
unique collection of poetry which implicitly assists the reader to find the
right path through the enigmatic maze between life and reality” (Munia Khan,
Author of, To Evince the Belu). “[Starting] from the first line of every poem,
the poet’s wit, unfailingly, unleashes the reader into a different plane of
existence and fluid flow…having tasted the gentlest expressions of the rising
star in rebellion against the mundanity till the last drop of dying desire….”
(Varsha Vijay, Suecia).
There exists various use of English literary principles
outlined in this wonderful book of realism. Some include: metaphor and simile
for distinctive comparison, couplet poetry form of two lines, narrative forms
of continuous lines without stanza breaks, analogy which shows similarity
between two things, imagery which allows readers to see and feel the meaning of
the poetic words, haiku styles of poetry as stanzas, and other variations.
Waiting to get this eloquently expressed poetry book after
reading this review, is an injustice to one’s self. Now is the time to act, by
obtaining a copy and expand the power of the mind, body and soul, through
reading the stimulating essence of reality unleashed in this book, through
poetry by our esteemed author, Ram Krishna Singh, and translated into Spanish
by Joseph Borolo!
About The Author
Our valiant author, Dr. Ram Christina Singha (December 31,
1950-), Varanasi, India, earned his B. A. in 1970, and M.A. in English
literature, Banaras University, 1972, and a Ph.D., Kashi Vidyapith, Varanasi,
1981. Additionally, he obtained a diploma in Russian during 1972.
He started his career in journalism, as a compilation
officer with the District Gazetteers Department, Lucknow, 1973, and as a
journalist with Press Trust of India, New Delhi, 1973-1974. Thereafter, he
became a lecturer at the Royal Bhutan Polytechnic, Deothang, Bhutan, 1974-1976.
He joined the Indian School of Mines in Dhanbad as a lecturer from 1976-1983,
and subsequently was promoted to assistant professor in 1983. He served as
professor of English with the Department of Humanities and Social Science,
Dhanbad, beginning in 1993, and retired as a professor in December 2015. He is
highly recognized in English for Specific Purposes, from India, and has
evaluated over forty Ph.D. theses from a variety of universities.
Some of his literary activities include the following
authorship: writing of over 160
researched articles, 170 book reviews, 40 books, and published in over 150
anthologies. His editorial activities in guest editing include: language forums
during 1986, 1995, and creative forums in 1991, 1997, and 1998. He served as
the general editor for Creative Forum New Post Series, editorial board for
Canopy, Indian Book Chronicles, Indian Journal of Applied Linguistics,
Reflections, Titiksha, International Journal of Translation, Poetcrit,
Impression of Eternity, and SlugFest. His poems have been translated in:
French, Spanish, Romanian, Chinese, Serbian, Croatian, Slovene, Japanese,
Bulgarian, German, Italian, Portuguese, Greek, Crimean Tatar, Arabic, Farsi,
Esperanto, Kannada, Tamil, Hindi, Punjabi, Telugu, and Bangla.
Dr. Singh is also known as R. K. Singh, a prominent Indian
English haiku genre poet. Some of his known publications are: Every Stone Drop
Pebbles (1999), Pending Dreams, part of a trilogy collection in English and
Italian, Pacem in Terris, written jointly with Myriam Pierri and Giovanni
Campisi (2003), The River Returns (2006),
Sense and Silence: Collected Poems (2010), New and Selected Poems: Tanka
and Haiku (2012), I Am No Jesus: and others selected poems in Tanka and Haiku
(English/Crimean/Tatar 2014), God Too Awaits Light (Cholla Neddles, September
2017), and Growing Within: A Bilingual English and Romanian Collection
(Constanta: Anticus Press). He uses mystical
elements, involving emergent social and political consciousness, to validate
and exemplify his haiku practice in India. Additionally, he developed his own
Indian kigo, images, and experiences in haiku practice, and does not
differentiate between the practice and writing of haiku and senryu poems.
