“In this age, dear Reader
do not look for a poet

who would tell you
the secrets of a mermaid.”

And Vihang A. Naik, the poet of the collection entitled Making a Poem, is absolutely right. Poetry and poets, both, have moved from one to another and they have been moving… moving continuously. The poetry of those days and the poetry of this modern day has changed a lot and the poets have been coping with the change – changed scenario and the changed speed of their pen with limited ink that dries most often. Vihang continues:

“Nowadays
he is a man like
you and me.

A voice hooting in the traffic
with stale words and tired tongue.”

Poems, 25 to be specific, in the collection Making a Poem are bitter-sweet in tone. Vihang Naik is a poet of all seasons and his poetry will surely make you think more than many other poets could do. He writes about the things seen by you and me and unseen by you and me. He writes about his emotions and feelings and then, at other times, about the universal emotions and feelings shared by multi-billion people in the world.

“Last night,
you remember,
the mosquito fight
you could not win.”

The beauty of Vihang Naik’s poetry does not come from within but from what you think – the external sources. The way it communicates to you and the way it transports you to another world of your own are some of the unique qualities of the collection Making a Poem.

Focusing on the content of the collection, the 25 poems have been divided into five parts. Each part is about the poet and his poetry and the poet of the collection has been sticking to the subject throughout.

You cannot deny reading the poems in a sequence because they are short, succinct and all meaningful. About the meaningfulness of the poems, I will say that it’s up to you – how do you want to interpret the poems? The poems by Vihang are like that lonely vast field which invites players of all the sports without being biased and specially designed for a specific sport only!

In short, Making a Poem is a must-read collection and you should go through it… you can have your copy by visiting the link below (Amazon India):

Buy the book – Amazon India – Click here

review by Simran for Featured Books