A collection of poems is not a usual scenario these days. You cannot find a sensible and ‘affordable’ poetry collection at the same time. You may have to do a lot of research to find some readable poetry collections in today’s book market. And I love reading poetry, there is no doubt about that. Recently, I stumbled upon a poetry collection by Mohit Misra, an Indian living in Dubai right now. Though he wrote his poetry collection back in 2014, I got to know about it from one of my friends who is also into reading poetry. Ponder Awhile – the title sounded lucrative and instantly invited my attention. I could not resist and decided to read this poetry collection, with 51 poems inside. It is an interesting read. To be frank and direct. I will share other thoughts about this poetry collection below.

Mohit Misra comes from a very interesting background. He is the son of a couple from Parsi and Hindu backgrounds, his maternal grandfather being a priest in Mumbai’s fire temple and his paternal city being Prayagraj, the meeting point of three holy rivers of India. Though he comes from a religious background by birth, the poet began his life as an atheist and sceptic. However, when he became a sailor by profession and began sailing in the oceans, a sudden realisation, a flash, a light from nowhere changed Mohit Misra’s life. He claims he realised something – and that is what he plans to share in his poetry book. Ponder Awhile is the poetry collection that compels you to think, as the title suggests, ponder, churn the thoughts as they appear…

The moment you submit to the point of light,
The word death is no more such a fright.
Infinity you become at once,
The human form you then trounce.

Lines like these give away many important messages. From the book and also about the book – messages from the book come in many forms, on many occasions and about many aspects of life. The messages about the book also come on many occasions. As you keep reading, you will get to know that the poet is not an extraordinary poet and he did not care for the rhyme and lyrical quality of the book. Ponder Awhile is about thoughts that the poet had… randomly and when he thought seriously. However, these thoughts, it seems apparently have been rendered into poems just like that – in a raw and unadulterated format. That is good for those who can find poetry in the thoughts expressed in lines rather than in the lines themselves. However, those who appreciate poetry in the lines might not find pleasure, the aesthetic side of it, this poetry collection on many occasions.

The level of seriousness in this poetry collection will also be perceived by the readers subjectively. The poet might seem brooding on simple and ordinary aspects of life in many poems. AT times, the poet raises many serious questions related to the lives of us all. Sometimes we find connected with the line of thought and at times, we might feel only the observers of whatever is happening in the poetry collection.

Overall, it is a good and readable poetry collection by Mohit Misra. If you like reading poetry by contemporary poets, you will find many things in this collection to appreciate. You can get a copy by clicking the link to Amazon India below:

Get a copy of this poetry collection – buy from Amazon 

Review by Alka for BookWorm Reviews