Poetic Probes into Life

Book Review

 

Title: Conversations with Coherent Worlds

Author: Anusha Sridharan

Publisher: Lapsus Creations, 2019

 

Poetry has long served as one of the most enduring means through which human beings attempt to make sense of life. From its earliest oral forms to its modern incarnations, it has offered a space to register emotion, confront loss, articulate joy, and wrest meaning from ordinary experience. Poets have turned to verse not merely to describe life as it is lived, but to distil it: to hold fleeting moments still and examine them with heightened attention.

Anusha Sridharan has made such an attempt in her collection of poems titled Conversations with Coherent Worlds. As the title indicates, this young poet’s world seems to be coherent enough not to unsettle her thoughts and emotions beyond the usual limits. The blurb says that our thought processes are constructed by “a tinge of logic and a bit of consistency” though they may still go wrong occasionally. The wrongs are slight and not many. Nevertheless they are there, and hence we need to pause every now and then to look within. The blurb says that the poems in the volume are meant to “make you more aware of yourself…”

The collection is divided into three parts: My Conversations with the Inanimate, Themed Aspirations, and My Abstractions. Since most poems have similar structures and thought-processes as well as poetic expressions, let me explore one poem from each section to bring a clear idea about the collection to the potential reader.

1. Prayer’s Prominence

This poem frames prayer as a tool for restoration. Life is presented as something that can “bog you down” with worries, but the act of praying provides a “stronger will to succeed.” It suggests that faith acts as a protective layer, allowing the individual to remain hopeful even when circumstances are difficult.

Prayer helps both the individual who prays and the external world. The poem suggests that while prayer starts as a private, internal “magic,” its ultimate goal is “restored peace” for everyone.

Words like radiance, power, and magic elevate prayer from a quiet whisper to a dynamic force. It is described as something you “attain,” implying it is an active empowerment. A line like “Limit not the boundless” carries profound philosophy in it. It invites the reader to stop putting ceilings on what they believe is possible.

2. Journey Called Life

Another philosophical and celebratory reflection on human experiences, this poem shifts the perspective of life from a destination to a continuous process of evolution and connection.  

Life is a multidimensional terrain which offers us both the peaks (success, joy) and the valleys (struggle, pain). The poet argues that life is a “mixture,” and its value comes from three specific actions: the experience of living through the moments, the absorption of lessons offered by these moments, and the passing on of that wisdom to others.

The poem balances the three dimensions of time. The past becomes a “culmination” (the foundation of who we are now), the present is a “gift,” and the future is a “hope.” A pivotal moment in the poem is the “desire to break open from the chains of illusions.” In other words, a major part of our life’s journey is awakening from illusions such as societal expectations, fears, and false beliefs.

There is a holistic view of existence in the poem. It suggests that life isn’t something to be “solved,” but a journey to be experienced with an open heart. By viewing everything as a “celebration,” even the difficult terrains become part of a beautiful, woven tapestry.

3. Off the Cliff

Not everything in the journey called life is enchanting. There are menacing cliffs too. This poem is a powerful exploration of betrayal, the lasting impact of trauma, and the cyclical nature of consequences. This is the last poem in the collection and perhaps the heaviest in terms of psychological underpinnings.

The central metaphor is being pushed off a cliff. However, the poet focuses less on the fall and more on the aftermath. The victim is given the power to “climb again.” The betrayer becomes a “scar” and a “nightmare,” living forever in the victim’s memory.

A line like “It’s not the height but the depth” carries immense power. The “depth” refers to the emotional void left behind when trust is “nullified.” The deeper the original trust was, the more “gravely it hurts” when that trust is broken.

The poem concludes with a warning about the inevitability of a circular justice system. You may not regret your actions now, but “time shall then soon come” when you will occupy the victim’s position. The betrayer will one day become the betrayed and then understanding will descend. The cliff is waiting for them too.

Conclusion

I presented one poem from each section of the book instead of looking at all the poems in general because this will help the potential reader to get an idea of what to expect from a book like this. The collection is poetry of everyday reflection, drawing on familiar emotional and moral landscapes, and does succeed too in the aspiration.

One of the poems

PS. I received a copy of the book from the author herself as a prize for a blog hop activity #EveryConversationMatters  led by  Manali Manan Desai and Sukaina Majeed.