Reviewed By B S Tyagi
It contains 59 and 46 poems respectively composed in varied moods and at different moments feeling passionately. Most of the poems show poet’s sensitive heart and his sincere restlessness to speak for them. The poet garbs his emotions in simple and lucid language. The poems are full of pains and sufferings and struggles of the ordinary people we come across in day to day life. It shows the poet’s deep concern and sensitivity.
The poet Abu Siddik is rooted in the soil. He does not live in ivory tower. His approach towards life is pragmatic. He gives voice to common man who feels helpless in the present system. By raising his voice he tries to draw attention of the responsible
or run the whole show. His heart goes out to the suffering humanity; it makes the poems universal in nature. Example –
Just I bite at my buttered bread,
An aged beggar asks for alms
And spread his battered hands
Before my eyes
My bread gets stale. (Shadows of Mourning; page 13)
The scene is very touching; image is very powerful. Words are simple conveying full sense.Ordinary men and women are the subject of his poems. Poems related to Covid-19 are very realistic and shows people’s endless woes. The poet exposes paradoxes prevailing all over the society and it pains the poet. ‘Muslims are to be blamed’, Rivers of sorrows, Maa, Unreal scene, celebration, Crossing the fence, etc are beautiful poems.
The poems contained in Undying Embers too are heart touching and take the reader where the poet wishes. A cabbage Man, Jute Planters, Elderly Man two, A Mad Girl, Grave Diggers, Balloon Sellers, An aged Scholar, A tribal Mother, watering Plants, Other Side of the story etc are wonderful poems. Every reader wants to read them again and again.
Critical Comment:
At several places the poet fails to give a complete picture of the person or scene described in the poem. Language is inadequate, words are not chosen carefully, Example – Just I bite at my buttered bread. The expression bite at is un-English expression and hardly makes any sense. In several poems the use of article and conjunctions create confusion and make the poem prosaic especially conjunctions; they mar the poetic ictus which is very essential in poetry.
Repetition of the words, thoughts are boring. Something must be left to the intelligence of the readers.Brevity is the soul of poetry. Too many details are unwanted. It makes the poem verbose.Several words are noun but they are mistakenly used as verb.A ring of abandoned tire (page 49, Undying Embers)So I flip pages after pages and find reports (page 58, Shadows of Mourning) contains grammatical error. There are other lines in both of the books. The poet is sincerely advised to pay attention to the language. Words must be chosen with the utmost care.
