Brinda Bose's debut book,1 Calcutta, Crow and other fragments (2020), captures the ephemeral essence of life with broken, fragmented words that help readers in the act of perceiving the internal and external realities of life. These "fragments" are soaked in the aesthetics of rhythm and a narrative density, congruously complimenting the city of Calcutta, and encompassing both ends of the spectrum, from the personal to the political. A collection of twenty mesmerizing poems, this book is Bose's homage to her home city and offers an emotional outpouring and nostalgia but also an engagement with undying ties that allows the reader to dive into subdued monologues and experience the lurking reality behind the making of multicultural Calcutta. Her references are layered with a need to belong, as well as a tinge of anxiety and restlessness that reflects upon successes and failures in life. The only pictorial representation in Calcutta, Crow that helps one to discern a silent yet strong and observant image of fleeting time while keeping the scattered fragments of life intact within a distinct poetic frame is that of a bowl of pomegranate seeds upended by the crow.
展开▼
