Reviewed by Sutanuka Ghosh Roy
Ranu Uniyal is an academic and creative writer based in Lucknow. This Could Be a Love Poem for You is her latest collection of poetry. The aesthetic book cover pulls the readers with a magnetic force to believe that this collection is a billet-doux. The intriguing title suggests an impending connection, a positive invitation to delve into the realm of romantic expression. The book is divided into three sections: ‘Dust My Regrets’, ‘Be a Good Girl’ and “Thy Eternal Grace’. Uniyal’s considerable poetic prowess, her remarkable virtuosity, and her poised telling of life’s narratives make the collection unique. The poignant themes of love, death, loss, aging, and sarcasm are explored through the collection masterfully. The opening poem ‘English in Me’ ensures that it dazzles in the poet’s interpretation of it. A striking mover, she animates her love for the ‘English’ language with characteristic energy, her expressions soaring and swelling as she describes the trajectory of her love for ‘English’ her command over the language making it her own over time and space is as impeccable as ever—“English is the language/ I make love in./ English is the language/ I have used for my living./ English is the language/ I travel in mind, body and soul”.
“Days/ stretch low, an eyesore opens,/ a memory stands, an invisible hand/ breaks even, table is stripped bare,” writes Uniyal in ‘After the Loss’. The loss appears, diminished, and morphed, as the vibrant memory pulsed through the poem in which bodies/death become carriers of memories and transformations in the way that poetic form bears innovation within them. In many of the poems in this collection where she speaks of her late mother, we find love and loss bleed into her poetic compositions. This contextual lens allows the readers to approach the volume with a deeper emotional awareness. “But grief and angst of being are not the only themes that percolate in her deeper being. Some of her poems are avowedly political. In a sharp tone, they capture the ironies of this violent world of private and public breakdowns, and view things from the perspective of the poor and the powerless” writes Anamika in the introduction to the book. “Open your mouth,/ spit fire and burn,/ and merrily they thrash./ Pick up your pen/ and you will be nailed tomorrow”. Irony and sarcasm add textural depth to Uniyal’s poem and the political becomes personal for she deftly uses philosophical moorings to it.
At a time when the entire world is busy flexing muscles and baying for blood, poetic iterations like “The Faith of Light” that talk about empathy and faith fulfill an important purpose of poetry which is to propose challenges to societal norms. “You looked beyond/ the soaring light/ hugged her tight/ O land of mine–/ I am with you, come what may”. The poet surrenders—“O my Lord!/ This soul of mine will unfold thy face/ if you bless me now with thy eternal grace”. She finds liberation in ‘unconditional surrender’. The titular poem ‘This Could Be a Love Poem For You’ captures the intricate montages of everyday images, fleeting and fragmentary, and has a racy colloquialism that strikes a chord—“I have a wallet that bulges inside out/ even without a single coin. / Like this hammock which you ordered for me/ from Mexico, I sling my thoughts onto it and then there is no desire in me/ to go back and forth.” Like a miniature painting, Uniyal’s poetic canvases hide multiple stories in the same frame which unfold as the readers’ eye travels across This Could Be a Love Poem for You.
Throughout the slim volume,Uniyal’s interpretation of life and its myriad hues is both reverent and reflective. She didn’t indulge in showmanship; nor did she try to impress with overly poetic flourishes. Instead, she allows poetry to breathe. “I blow kisses in the air and/ watch them collide with/ with ever-vigilant grains/ of ash and disappear./ Of love, they have no evidence./ Of remorse I have none” (‘Only Grief’). Each poem unfurls slowly, often pausing just long enough to let the silence settle before the next poem, lending the collection a rare emotional intimacy. By the end of reading This Could Be a Love Poem for You one can sense a gentle stillness in the mind, an afterglow of poetry that had not only been read but deeply felt.