The dedication page of Badhuli is quite attention grabbing. The poet says he is free from any answerability by addressing it to his little sibling. This sort of dedication is literary. A true dedication page it is. When a writer publishes a work it can be said that any literary associations based on his art is free to come under any radar. A writer writes to forget by expressing his ideas, subjectivity, philosophy and worldview and a reader reads to remember. Writing is an expressive art, writers do not withhold, they bleed on paper. I believe a writer should not be judged on the basis of his life but should be judged on the basis of his art. What he is in his art should be taken into consideration most importantly. Otherwise, why create a great work of art? Critics can argue otherwise and question the morality of the writer, but a genuine writer like Dr. Alok Kumar Ray has got subjective way of being literary. He is not literal, and I think too much of simplicity ruins a work of art. We should be able to internalize and then subjectivize. How you say is important, rather than what you say. A dedication page is a dedication page, but how you feel about it, how you express it in literary terms is what brings newness in writing and makes it fresh. Playing with words is the new dictum, for every writer.
Badhuli is a flower (balsams) that represents the beauty and fragility of life. It is also about a daughter, how she transforms from being a child, sister, wife and mother. Roles keep skipping, but she is grounded, her self is so closely seen, she has an aura to light up the house where she goes. With love and compassion this book of lotus like verses captures the dew like life of ever glowing daughters. The dew that shines like an armor and nothing about it is impermanent in its beauty. Downright poetic, liquidation of literal ideas. A majestic experience, a cathartic release of beauty. When I first read this collection I pronounced “Beauty” from my lips. I feel I am in nature, in a meditative poise. Reading this collection felt like hearing the stream of water percolating, I was lost in music.
Dr. Rays publication credentials are also equally noteworthy in the book. He has taken Indian Writings in English to different foreign platforms. Raven Cage Zine based in Germany has been mentioned in the book and also other international and national platforms. He is a prolific poet. I believe world literature should circulate. I am obliged to Dr. Ray for granting me an opportunity to review this book and for getting to learn many things about how poetry can be expressed in a new way. It feels rejuvenating.
Dr. Ray clothes his poetic ideas in characterization. This is his unique ability. When you read a single poem you will find it has fully convinced you its message and has taken you to unique overall composure. It is forming a character in your mind, all the small details justify the overall message, it is surely crafted with skilled hands and mature thought clarity. If life could prepare a strong poem with so much of thought, it is proven that even literary reflection of life is alive. We live life in busy terms, but literature is the truth as we know T= t (There is no objective truth, there is only subjective truth respectively)
Also diverse is the poet’s work. It is modern and familial. He writes about candle light dinner and is also shedding light on childish acts of his daughter. I personally admire such writing because the world we live in is modern and traditional, we have outward and inward projection of mind too. A poet should keep diversity in his mind, and his outlook should not be limited. There can be multiple perspectives.
Half-moon in the mid night
Moon gathering girl’s mind doesn’t obey, gets it
She needs a full moon of the full moon day (Moon gathering Girl)
The above lines of a poem from the book is my lunar relief but on earth. The longing for a full moon is compassion beyond longing. That thirst is evidently shown in the poem. We ought to have a compelling desire, if we love something we pine for it. This is larger-than-life.
One day, depicting the moon
in her mathematics notebook,
she became the butt of jokes (Moon gathering Girl)
Readers can see how grief has touched the eyes of the moon gathering girl in the above poem. This is the versatility of a poet. Literature also has two sides like a coin, it plays with the emotive grief, light or heavy and happiness and feelings of delight. Life should be accepted in its face value and in the wholesomeness. It is like saying dying is easy, but have you tried living. Living is hard, don’t run away from it. Literature is a mature science of life. It is not alienated from life. It is us and the power we posses to transcend the reality. Get a new glance and keep reviving. Who knows! it might ease your journey through expression.
The absence of the moon
on the new moon day each time
caused for her great pain
Whether it is Ketugrasa or Rahugrasa
Ketugrasa or Rahugrasa- Celestial events during eclipses as per Hindu Puranas
The poet has faith in Hinduism. This piousness is reflected in his writings. He is a cultural poet too. This planted a seed of belief in me too. The poet hails from Odisha, India and is deeply devoted in religion. I love this religious flair in this post-modern world. There are deep religious ideas in this book of poems. It is so good to see belief manifested as faith. Faith is strong, belief on the other hand is not so deeply rooted. Belief needs ground, a stable one, it also needs nurture. It is not so elusive, it needs strong mindset to be rooted, it is not easy. And to enmesh it in consciousness is not so light, it is not so faint. It needs depth, it needs to enter deep into the subconscious, it has and to write that is to burst forth with it. All these ideas I get while reading this poetry collection by Dr. Alok Kumar Ray from Odisha, India, a devoted land of lord Jagannath. It has come to me as a blessing. This poetry collection is rich in imageries. It conjures up from depth. It is easy to read and face the words in their face value. Comprehension in poetry should be maintained and symbolism comes to be balanced in such aspects. Keeping the poetic flair alive, the propulsive force of sudden expression takes shape. A life is formed in pages, it grows, twists and turns it experiences, it detests and is pleased, is pampered and cherished with love too. Finally we conquer who we are, we give birth to our consciousness. We reach the depth of life. I love philosophical poems and this collection is no exception to it. Philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein said poetry should be philosophical. I believe it is a philosophical inquiry and delight, question and answer at the same time. We reach and just don’t arrive. Imagination is important than knowledge, the old dictum that surpasses every gravity of thoughts and ideas.
The poet says self advertising is a curse. I like it. It is necessary in a modern world. Some sort of isolation and inner peace for existing is necessary. If everyone tries doing their own business, and letting a free space for others the world would be more peaceful, at least we can hope. We can be more open to our brothers and fellow beings. Respecting other people’s feelings and letting them take their space, offering empathy is all that is needed. If I express more of myself and lose my self-respect it feels like I was self advertising. That is the reach of Dr. Ray’s poetry.
This collection also has glossary. The tough words fall on the page of soft roses. Reader of any age can click the poems within their heart. It soothes and boosts the interest, keeps the reader hooked just like attention grabbing dedication page of the book, which is offered to us in the beginning.
A poetic work might have sentiment. It might have some philosophical suffocation, but it still reaches the audience with the full bloom of energy which it was intended for. One should not be deliberately coloring the reality, it should be creative in expression. Free verse is not defended by your liking or disliking the musicality, it is a modern revolution from traditional forms, expressions can kiss the sky, they can shatter every bonds that hold you back. Why should life be different than poetry? Why should expression wear the cloak of artificiality or be lost to some unknown piper playing music for triviality, no offence to the original piper story.
Coming to this point, as I read the collection I also encountered a review below a poem in this collection. The efforts to write this book is highly impressive. It is a joint effort and interdependence is better than being independent. It is important in case of literature because literature is a critical art, we want literary criticism to let it thrive. To talk more about Dr. Ray’s poetry race, religion and darkness also come in close reading. He is a social critic too. And to talk about his versatility in a single book there are poems translated into Assamese in its English version too. I am again reminded of interdependence. Yet, all the credit goes to the conceiving artist, Dr. Alok Kumar Ray.
I wish him good luck for the book and his entry to Indian Writings in English is praiseworthy for it deserves every bit of readership.
Bio: Sushant Thapa is a Nepalese poet and fiction writer from Biratnagar-13, Nepal, with ten books of poems to his credit and two books of short stories. The books of poems are: The Poetic Burden and Other Poems (Authorspress, New Delhi, 2020), Abstraction and Other Poems (impspired, UK, 2021), Minutes of Merit (Haoajan Publishers, Kolkata, 2021), Love’s Cradle (World Inkers Printing and Publishing, New York, New York, Dakar, Senegal, 2023), Spontaneity: A New Name of Rhyme (Ambar Publication House, New Delhi, 2023), Chorus of Simplicity and Other New Poems (Ukiyoto Publishing, Philippines, India, USA, 2024), Finding My Soul in Kathmandu (Ukiyoto Publishing, Philippines, India, USA, 2024), My Grandfather Had Been a Cowboy (Ukiyoto Publishing, Philippines, India, USA, 2025), The Walking Rebel (Transcendent Zero Press, Houston, Texas, USA, 2025) and When I Desire and Other Poems (Ukiyoto Publishing, Philippines, India, USA, 2026). His first collection of flash fiction and short stories is titled “The One Rupee Taker and Other Stories from Nepal” published by Ukiyoto Publishing in 2024. His second collection of short stories is titled “The White Dot and Other Stories” published by Transcendent Zero Press based in Houston, Texas, USA in 2026. Thapa holds an M.A. in English from Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, India. Curriculum Development Center has approved a poem by Sushant Thapa titled “Festivities” to be taught in Grade 6 in Nepal. It is included in the book Paragon English.
