“Oh! How much I craved her attention – all my life! Had I a wishbone,
I would wish the Universe to conspire and turn her head –
To rivet her gaze on me…”

So, we can see that love might have overtaken the poet when he might be composing these lines. Love is wonderful; it can either make you a sensible human being or a poet. The title of the poem, a part of which has been quoted, is Valentines Day.

A book by Shopone, If I am Born Again, Lord Please, has come to us for a review and I will be doing it today. I had a serious read of the book and partly, the book is about a man’s love affair and partly, it becomes universal as it sends out the message – let’s live for love is a part of life and it’s natural. This is a story written in verse or a collection of poems, which, in parts, tells the story of Shopone’s love as a teenager and then his failed attempt to get his love and many other interesting and sentimental things.

There is a beloved. There is a lover in the form of Shopone (the pseudonym taken by the poet). The beloved is married to someone else. Why? How? These questions are answered adequately in the course of the progress of this book. I won’t reveal that much.

The poetic qualities are not much there to be talked. It is easily understood as the poet’s only aim is to let the readers know what happened to his love affair. So, the poet has not taken very much care of his form, style and diction; he has focused on making the story worth reading in verse and he has been successful, I do believe so. If I am Born Again, Lord Please… is an interesting collection of 7 prolonged poems. Not as the lovers of poetry, but also as the general fiction readers, the book will be very interesting for all…

On a deeper level of the interpretation layer, the book shows us a kind of revelation that the author Shopone feels within himself. ‘Reality dawns upon him,’ as he himself writes on the blurb as well as on the front pages of the book.

Well, to conclude, the collection of poems is interesting enough to be liked and appreciated by the readers. The story of Shopone’s love is interesting enough and it will keep the readers intrigued until the last. Happy Reading!

Get the book – click here to buy from Amazon India

by Rupesh Madhukar for Book Worm Reviews