"Confessions of a Drenched Heart: Turning on the Fife of Life" is a work of poetry from a promising writer, Ms. Shweta Kesri. As the title of this poetry collection itself suggests, the poems indexed are glimpse of writer's psyche or I should rater say, heart. I must admit that poetry was off my mind's radar for a while so when I got my hands on this book, I was little bit skeptical of its chances for scoring my likeness. And this is not to say that I don't like poems but as of late, I have been so immersed with works of prose that I almost forgot what a good poetry collection really means for its readers. Ms. Kesri's debut poetry collection gave me that surreal, enjoyable feeling back. This is in no way a made-up work, this is an honest work and it stays true to its title. It confesses and thus makes you reach out to your heart too.
The Positives
You will probably call me biased if I keep on going raving about this brilliant work but believe me when I say that each one of 45 poems inscribed in this book is a 'gem'. A pleasant surprise for most of the readers shall be Ms. Kesri's usage of 'rhyme' to bind her poems' paras. Have a look at following lines from the very first poem, A Runner:
"I’m a part of a race
And
I
Make my own space
I tread my path
As this life is a rath
Some strangers hold my hands
O
When I am about to lose the strands
But
As Hopes come and go
My dreams always remain alive
And to the future
Positively it holds."
To ones who are learned and experienced readers of poetry, the usage of 'frequent rhymes' must not come us a surprise at all but for the uninitiated ones, I must like to tell them that it's a very difficult art to master. Rhyming the closing lines become all the more troublesome when the language you are using to express yourself is not your own but a foreign one, like English to Indians and thus it makes us all to stand up and take notice of such beautiful, rhythmic lines of Shweta's poems. Most number of poems in this collections have been rhymed to perfection and they are guaranteed to woo the readers for sure. Poems, after all, are known and praised for their 'soothing symphony.'
But She likes to diversify too with both her poem-writing styles and their subjects. At the very start of this book, in 'Acknowledgement' section where one seldom looks for 'crucial information', the poetess presents us with three poems praising the contributions of her father, mother and elder sister. I haven't seen anything like this anywhere and I'm sure you shall all speak along the same lines when you get to read them. She discusses a mother (later also in the main section), eternity, life and hope, twilight, a rainy day, faith, fear, heart, brain, and tombstone here. She also sings in praise of her nation. So much variety in subject lines and yet the language remains languid, floral and very comprehensible. For the first timers and to those who have just initiated themselves in reading poetry, this book shall be strongly recommended for its easy use of words for I clearly remember my struggles with English Language while going over its poetry genre. Very often, the poets and poetesses flower their language with incomprehensible parts of speech, pretending to not know a young reader's leanings and thus risk losing their following. I am glad that Ms. Kesri doesn't dwell too much in that notorious poet's territory and throughout the course of this book remain 'simplistic' in her use of poetic language. The poems, barring some, are small in size yet carry immense power and impact to overwhelm the readers. If one is even slightly aware of the art of poetry, he/she will find the going very smooth and easy on the eye, heart and mind.
The Negatives
As the saying goes, nothing literary or anything creative regardless can be termed 'perfect' and thus we get to notice some minor hiccups with this collection too. I must say that picking out negatives in this book is akin to nitpicking though. The most common issue that I found with this poetry collection was its placement of poems. As it's been mentioned above that this book ventures into many subjects, so it shall be understood that poems that share common subject lines and themes must be grouped together. Say for examples, the ones which discusses 'love', 'lost love' or anything like that must be grouped in some sort of way in one place. Similarly, the same must have done for different themes. You just can't precede or follow up a 'patriotic' poem with a 'melancholic-love' one. And then there shall always be some trivial grammatical mistakes but they are literally trivial in this book and almost can't be noticed even with a practiced eye. The book, as it progresses, also forays into 'archaic English' with both its titles and poems. Again the young readers will supposedly find it a 'detestable' for this collection most of its part talks into plain, easy to grasp English and when someone suddenly confronts words like 'thy, 'thou', 'yon' et al.,they will try to shun these titles altogether. No one likes to read English with a dictionary by their side.
The Conclusion
"Confessions of a Drenched Heart" must be celebrated for its innumerable positives. It has come out at an important time for Prose has supposedly taken over the literary rein of writers in its hand for anything creative and Poetry has to confront this ever-growing challenge. Writing is not an easy job, writing a poem all the more challenging and mind-bending. Poetry cannot be forced, it takes up its existence in its own natural way and only the blessed ones come up with it. Ms. Shweta Kesri thus must be congratulated for her effort for she presents us with an everlasting, sumptuous treat in 'Confessions of a Drenched Heart'.
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