Review: Fragant Flute of Fire - Saswati Das

Just coming out of New Zealand Poetry Month , I figured why not read and feature Saswati Das's poetry book "Fragrant Flute of Fire" on my blog. I' m not normally a huge reader of poetry but every now and again, a poet will send me a review request and I make an allowance.

Review: Fragrant Flutes of Fire - Saswati Das - June 2011

As I said above , Im not normally a poetry person - it's not that I don't enjoy it , I really do but I find it quite difficult to review poetry as each one means something different to a person and how can one measure the quality of poems and poetry. Saswati Das has compiled a book of her poems and titled it Fragrant Flutes of Fire - it is a collection of poems based on love, life and revolutions.

Fragrant Flutes of Fire has been written as a  book of poetry which covers a variety of different topics and issues both personal and social.On one hand it speaks of the sublimity of selfless love, the pain of loneliness, the strength of human character and principles and ripples of friendship and affection over human emotions; while on the other hand it divulges the social evils like class division and child labour, injustice and corruption and people's grievances. In many places my poems have tried to expand the horizon of personal love so that it mingles itself with universal love and all that remains is the beauty of humanism.

“Fragrant flute of fire” is not just meant for the poets, writers, thinkers, literary giants and philosophers. It is for common people with their joys and sorrows, pains, hopes, loneliness, love, grievances and continuous struggle for existence.Apart from beauty her  poems have also spoken of fight and struggle in human life. They have tried to urge the youth to fight for freedom and justice and inspired them to change this world into a better place to live in.

Love

My love is pathosful,

Yet serene and full-bloom;

It lays me down at the bed of thorns,

Then renders me immune;

A love that beckons-

A truth that touches;

A psalm that sings of purple glow-

Melancholy strain and plaintive notes though

Touches every heart to the core;

Yet at the end, there's the thunderous blow

Of hope, strength, struggle and fight.

For a joy eternal and infinite-

In a soul bathed in the morning sun

At the highest zone of virginal light.