‘Abhay’s poems have a tinge of optimism’

New Delhi: The Poetry Society (India) and India International Centre hosted a discussion on Bihar-born poet Abhay K.’s poetry collection Stray Poems and Sanjula Sharma’s The Temple.

Noted poet and editor Sukrita Paul Kumar talked about Stray Poems while Prof. Rumki Basu talked about The Temple.

Talking about Stray Poems, Sukrita said, “There is tinge of optimism in Abhay’s poems that you notice again and again, poem after poem. There is no sense of morbidity, if there is death, there is redemption. The word resurrection recurs in his poetry, which you can see as a point of hope for the future. Also when he is flying into the universe to Neptune, Saturn or wherever, he is creating a cosmic mythology but always comes back to mother Earth. So the love for Mother Earth, which also makes him, on the one hand, transcend Bihar, on the other hand, makes him more conscious of Bihar. So he edited The Book of Bihari Literature. I think in Abhay’s Stray Poems, one thing that comes clearly is a sense of abandon and freedom, it’s not suited-booted poetry, but poetry that can come at any point of time.”

Rajni Sekhari Sibal, who chaired the poetry reading session at IIC said, “In Abhay’s poems the imagery is so strong that you feel like you’re sitting and watching what’s happening. She mentioned how Abhay talked about Nalanda and the day it was burnt –

“The Sun has disappeared from sky today
Even my bricks bleed
Sacred chants that sanctified Magadh
Has turned into shrieks of a falling humanity
The light of the world is fading today
to face the ravages of time today
abandoned, scorned, forgotten
Or perhaps to be reborn into many Nalandas.”

Sibal said: “That’s hope again, rising from the ashes. All through the rest of the book (Stray Poems), there is an element of hope despite despair. The despair is very well described, and there is immense hope, in poems like ‘The Partitioned Land’, and ‘Fire and Sermon.’ Another thing I noticed is his ability to reflect, to delve into himself and bring out home truths. One such poem is ‘Bureaucrab’…we share similar experiences.”

Mandira Ghosh, treasurer of the Poetry Society (India) took the initiative to organize the discussion at IIC on Stray Poems by Abhay K. for its distinctive style and The Temple by Sanjula Sharma for its metaphysical ideas.

Abhay K. speaking on the occasion said- “Stray Poems were written over a decade between 2010-2020 and published in various literary journals across the world. They take the readers on a journey from my birthplace in Nalanda, Bihar to across the world and to the far reaches of the universe.”

The event was attended by distinguished poets, writers, civil servants, diplomats, scholars, and poetry lovers among others.

– global bihari bureau