Kiriti Sengupta’s new collection of poems, Oneness, is a book to look forward to. It is divided into two parts: haiku and other poems, and the works are short and accompanied by paintings. The reader can never predict what is coming next, other than the seriousness of purpose, even when the poet is playful. The haiku poems are visually complete descriptions of moments from Sengupta’s experience and the space he occupies. His space is continuously mobile.
Cultural and critical values seem to be synonymous for the poet; in fact, poetry itself is a criticism of life for him. As Matthew Arnold says in his seminal essay, ‘The Study of Poetry’ (1888), poetry alone can be our sustenance.
Why do we hold the eyes liable
for cognition? Can they glimpse
beyond the story intended for shared
perusal? Visions delude.
(‘Arrangements’)
Sengupta’s own style of free verse appears to be ‘free’ for it is a verse form controlled by proximate and a subterranean rhythm.
...I place myself amid the landscape
to explain the prevailing isolation.
(‘Separation’)
There is no inaccessibility in the written words. Rather, they invite the reader to form a bond both on a material and soul level. But the poet does not allow himself to be smitten by grand emotions that oftentimes lead to inaccuracy. Overwhelmingly, the emotions are mundane, but that is what gives life its quality.
Does grief know
its future?
Like the river,
it refuses to cease but
reveals progression.
(‘On Exit’)
The daily business of living with anger and grief, joy and contentment, gets reflected in the poems in a subtle manner. The passion is subdued. This is because life itself is transient.
Why do I fail
to prefix Late
with my father’s name?
......
When I floated his ashes
in the Ganges, I realised
my father’s passage from
his bedroom to the crematory
was therapeutic.
(‘On Exit’)
Poet Kiriti Sengupta | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
There is poetic vigour, variety, flexibility and a combination of wittiness and lived-with intelligence, which makes Oneness interesting. The haiku poems are dense and layered, and the poet has the ability to put thoughts into words that might very well be our own.
the post box
recedes to rust
the lost art
......
full moon
across the landscape
fireflies
Oneness reminds me of a single huge tree that may conceal a forest, dense and deep, its roots stretching into the subconscious — an invitation to discover and realise one’s bearings.
The illustrations in this book do not mirror the sentiment of the poems, but they enliven the landscape of poetry. The artist, Pintu Biswas, uses mostly primary colours and is not interested in the photographic likeness of the subject. Nor is he concerned with distortion or contrived effects. The paintings speak of some special mood in the quality of the subject, such as the cobalt sky dotted with crimson, the warm red hand touching a blue healing hand, the pink lotus and vivid colour variations. The cover design of Oneness is sourced from ace watercolour artist Samir Mondal’s painting, Impediment.
Going through this book of poems and illustrations (the size is very attractive), one becomes aware of the personality of the poems — soft and musical, hard and strong, vulnerable and sublime. The ease of expression lures the reader to turn one page after another. A must-read if one is willing to traverse a known terrain in a different way.
Oneness
Kiriti Sengupta
Transcendent Zero Press
₹300
The reviewer is a poet and essayist, and Associate Professor of History at City College, Kolkata.
