UNTIL BIRDS SING

REVIEW Of “MERAKI”

A Book of Poems By RUKMINI

The poet writes on the back cover page of her book “ Meraki “, “ I hope you liked the book and I hope you felt the hug I sent you.“

As a reader, one cannot but feel the hug the poet mentions of, so tender are the words, so comforting.

As if in an intimate conversation with her readers, the poet absolutely wins the confidence of her readers. They soon realise this is a special voyage they are in, with words.

“ I could tell you a

hundred stories of

righteous men born

of salted wounds”

 

Place in your calloused palms

a bouquet of million torn petals

broken with grief and hope

and yet

I would never find you

in the places I lost you.”

Her imageries are sharp in what they denote yet they come with the tenderest expressions like

“ salted wounds” and “ calloused palms”.

 

Poetry is so much about seeking some solace, catharsis in words that burst from the immensity of our perceptions of experiences.

“ I am wound up today,

Tight like the coils around my neck.

Breathless, like the dead noose

around my heart

I am tethered today

heavy like the stale air

in my lungs.”

With these lines, it all comes alive for us all those times we have felt broken, with no respite in our sight from the sufferings. The poet befriends the readers by exposing them to her own vulnerabilities. The words ring true for all who are familiar with similar feelings of dejection and loss.

 

Rukmini, the young poet talks of pain and loss like she knows them for long. Even in her one-liner, you cannot miss to feel it.

“ Do you hold funerals for the broken-off parts of you too?”

It is impossible not to feel the pathos in this line.

The reader is engulfed by the feeling of grief at such funerals. But while the poems evoke a distinct feeling of loss and despair, the poet herself provides relief to her readers.

 

“ The water is lighter on my tongue

so strange and so familiar.

My home remembers me.

The embraces are just

that much more precious.

My home remembers me. “

Clearly, the poet provides pointers at the places of repose when life’s challenges overpower us. Home is not just a place but also a feeling to resort to, for the necessary pause in the journey to seek comfort, to heal.

Pain is a recurrent theme in this slim volume of poems. The poet herself says,

“ To understand poetry,

one must be intimately acquainted

with the tongue of pain

For it is only when I am

rendered speechless,

that I turn to the ink

 

The pages caress my pain

and they feel so warm and motherly. “

 

Home is a theme close to the poet’s heart.

“ The voices in her head

whispered no more as a train

whistled past, bathing her

in the light of the Goddess.

For that was who she was,

another brave immortal

soldier treading on

her deserted station,

waiting for the last train

to take her away,

take her home.”

 

Another theme that marks Rukmini's poems is “ motherhood “.

In one of her poems, she questions

“ Who is a good mother?”

The reader is bound to think of the possible replies to this query. The poet asks,

“ Is she born of wounds?

Does she know to shield

her child from them?”

In this complex world, motherhood doesn’t come with age-old narratives of safety and comfort and that could be the reason why the poet asks,

“ and stabs needles of hatred

in her child? Does she call it love?”

Does she pamper her child

or does she prepare them?

Who is a good mother?”

The onus often falls upon poetry to ask pertinent questions like that. One can be hopeful, that the

query itself can open a floodgate of possibilities with the concept of the new age motherhood and its ramifications on societal structures.

 

There is a distinct lyrical quality in some of these poems.

“ How old is old enough?”

“ How strong is strong enough?”

As if, when put to tune these poems can turn into beautiful songs. The lines could come alive as refrains from a song that can hold the message with a frankness that bewitches the reader in a way good art form does. Bound to wear the thinking hats with the words, it is as if the reader is a different person after the reading experience.

The word “ Meraki “ means putting a piece of your soul into your work.

The title completely lives up to its meaning. One thing the book is never in dearth of in all the pages is the soul. This being the first book of poems from Rukmini, it can be said with surety here’s a poet to look out for, in the future.