Reviews
A touch, a
tear, a tempest by Sanober Khan
by Mary Barnet
Genre : Poetry
(Cyberwit, 2012)
ISBN: 978-81-8253-206-9
Rs : 200
Sanober Khan
celebrates the poem. In the first poem of this book “A touch, a
tear, a tempest” we find in Poetic Toast :
To moments,
That deserve...
profound poems
She also
celebrates nature equally with the every day lives of humanity
and Sanober writes in the same poem Poetic Toast :
To the oceans,
That deserve the balletic dance
of the sun
And, as well,
celebrates all the mortal human world with her view of the
common man :
To the labourers,
Who deserve ice-tea breaks
And a permanent house to come home to
Discussing Life
and Death in I Wouldn’t Mind she faces loss of life :
I wouldn’t mind...
if life left me...
wingless
Then in the same wonderful poem (page 17) :
but I would cry with head
held in my hands
if it left me...
unfulfilled.
Following another
train of thought she considers in the poem Predicament (page 21)
the secure experience versus the free and more stimulating
experience. She compares
long drives
in the star-spangled deserts
or long walks
along winding tea gardens
Finally she ends this poem by asking
and how can I possibly
decide
what is more beautiful
moments that I try to
preserve,
inside my fragile pages, like painted snowflakes
or the ones that I have yet to live
the wonder...
in a deliriously happy baby's eyes
Her joy in living
is simple and all-encompassing as in Sometimes The Rain (page
40)
Simply to salute...
The sheer joy
Of being
Alive.
But this Poet is a
realist and the last poem in this wonderful book is called
Everything I’ll Leave Behind :
Out of all the things I’ll
leave behind
I will miss the silence of the tears I cried,
For everything I had, for everything I couldn’t
For everything I did, for everything I didn’t
For everything I was, for everything I wasn’t
For everything that lived,
and everything that died
And for everyone I loved....more than my life.
Sanober Khan is
a Mumbai-based poet and freelance writer. Her work has been
published in many journals. This is her first book. “A touch, a
tear, a tempest” was shortlisted in 2012 for the Muse India
National Literary Awards. Her other books
“Turquoise Silence” and “A Thousand Flamingos” are well
known. She has read her poems around the world.
In all her
poetry Sanober Khans words are delicate, eloquent and wise. I
suggest you buy “A touch, a tear, a tempest” and read every
word.
By Mary Barnet
Copyright 2017, Mary Barnet
All Rights Reserved.
86 Sonnets for the 21st Century (Casa de Snapdragon,
2015) ;
The New American : Selected Poems (Cyberwit, 2006) ;
Arrival (Casa de Snapdragon)
Editor-in-Chief for 20 years of PoetryMagazine.com