Captivating Poetry Collection, ‘The Frozen Echoes,’ Takes Readers on a Journey of Imagination

Title of the Book: The Frozen Echoes: A Collection Of Poetry

Author: WasimYahya

Publisher: Raj Print Solution, Ghaziabad.

Year: 2022, Pages: 162, Price: 399/-

 

People write for a variety of reasons, and writing has a therapeutic effect. Some people write to communicate an idea, some write from an idea, and some are there to share their opinions, aspirations, and experiences. However, WasimYahya makes use of writing with the overarching goal of bringing all his life experiences and viewpoints to the fore through his poetry. Before coming to the book under review, I would like the readers to know that WasimYahya, a blooming poet in his mid-20s, is a native of a small Ladakhi community and comes from a secluded village, Turtuk. The early childhood years of Yahya’s life were spent in Turtuk, a quaint village in the far north of India that is close to the Line of Control in Ladakh. At the age of 13, he shifted to Jammu, where he completed his school education. After that, he got admission to a prestigious institution, IISER Pune. His journey from a small village to a metropolis setting opened up fresh perspectives on the distinct socio-cultural, political, and economic environment of his nation, which ultimately shaped him as a poet. The frozen echoes: a collection of poetry is his first book of poems.

With each turn of the page, the frozen echoes: a collection of poetry transports readers to the wild jungle of imagination and offers a visual journey of the poet along with the author’s evocative language. The book features a large canopy of themes, from the caress of love to the tumultuous storms of despair. The poet skillfully captures culture, cuisines, modern technology, separation, freedom, liberty, identity crises, and human experience in their myriad shades. The book also contains nostalgic and highly philosophical messages. The book consists of eight distinct parts interlinked with each other by certain themes, followed by an essay on the author and the artist, namely Tashi Namgial, who has designed several sketches that depict different facets of human existence. The front cover of the book has an impressive sketch of a frozen man and a beautiful but naked tree standing on the stomach of the man. Both the poems in the collection and the sketches are refreshing, modern, delightful, and philosophical for readers.

The book begins with the first section titled“Poetry," which enumerates the author’s journey that unfolded his innate qualities to become a poet. This section contains five brief and crisply worded poems that express the reasons why the author ‘spools his pen’ to write. These poems sound more autobiographical in nature, as the poet uses the first-person pronoun ‘I’ in each of the poems.

"Love, Lust and Lies" comprises the second part of the books. The 20 poems in this section deal with themes like love between God and man, man and man, man and woman, etc. A poem called "Love on Sale" is about the love of modern life that the ‘rich folks’ try to buy from ‘premium accounts’. While the poem "Same Old Love" reverberates the antique love relations. These sister poems are full of metaphors, similes, images, personification, etc. What follows later is the third section of the book, "Separation and Longing," which has eight poems and contains the aftermaths of separation from loved ones. The absence of loved ones instigates pain in the hearts of lovers. In this section, a poem titled "Goddess" resonates with the love for mothers, and the poet compares his mother to a goddess.

The next sections, "Reflections on the Self," "Reflection on Life," and "Reflections on the World," are the parts of the book where the poet describes the influences of location, culture, and the relationships of a man with society. In these sections, one can find a large number of allusions to other devices and techniques. Another section is about some narrative poems, followed by the last section, "Paragraphs and Lines." The narrative poetry section starts with the description of the Brokpa Kingdom of Ladakh, a "Virgin and untouched" community devastated by different wars since the partition of 1947. While the Paragraphs and lines are also about the memories of home and his love for nature.

Although the poems do not follow a particular metre, the rhythmic tone makes them interesting. The multiplicity of the themes also adds layers to interpret in different ways. Thus, the book is a great effort and grand initiative to document the wild thoughts to present a poetic panorama to the readers. I conclude this brief review with a beautiful quatrain of Yahya:

“There existed a society once

Primitive yet harmonious

Virgin and untouched away from the bustle,

Between two mighty mountains

Tiny, yet a world in itself.”

(Taken from poem, “Paradise on the Edge”, 141)

Reviewer is a scholar at the Department of English, Maulana Azad National Urdu University, India.