Two birds sit on the golden bough of the pippala tree. One eats the sweet fruit. The other watches. Both are happy. One is happier. Which? - Swetasvatara, Upanishad

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The lines printed on the first page of Dr. Sunaina Jain's poetry collection prove prophetic as the readers sail along her ‘dinghy’ from ‘Self’ to ‘Love’ and culminate in the ‘World’, the three sections in the book consisting of 54 poems. The handcrafted covers of ‘The Patchwork Quilt’, the maiden poetry collection of Dr. Sunaina Jain invites poetry lovers to engage and reflect. Some poems take the unpredictable route, spring up surprises and some bring an unexpected smile on our faces. They make us wink at the vagaries of life as we unwittingly smile at its follies and frailties. The collection is like Aladdin’s Carpet which magically transports readers to different places, emotions, and stages of life.  They celebrate life with all its cracks, chaos, failures, aches and pains, longing, and disillusionments giving the anthology a kintsugi effect. The writerly poems enable us to recreate and reimagine as we enjoy infusing our life stories into the poems.

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Self

The eclectic ‘Self’ oscillates between the sublime and subtle with ease and tugs at the strings of our conscience. We reflect upon our broken selves trying to put up a brave face for the world. The poems in this section ruffle the emotions as in ‘Of and on Lover’ where ‘my words are my muse’ and vice versa. The first poem prepares us to embrace our uniqueness. ‘The Patchwork Quilt’ with all the patches and unevenness of human life seems to make life worth living. The poet celebrates feminity and how verses empower her as she wades through life (The Sexiest Thing About Me, pg 20).  “Words – which spark lightning and fires/ Words – which are light like dreamy desires/ Words – which thunder with passion and rage”

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Well into her middle age, the narrator feels that the threshold offers her to introspect, reflect and aspire for more all at the same time. In ‘The Butter Fingered’, the beautiful image of things falling and relationships slipping out of life is figuratively juxtaposed. The unique sexual orientation of a daughter is touched upon in the poem ‘Beyond the Broken Mirrors’. The vivid portrayal of myriad emotions, orientations, and conditioning make the first section a bouquet of blossoms in different shades and textures.

 

Love

The lines from ‘And Still I Rise’ are a sort of prologue to what the Reader is yet to unfold in the second section ‘Love’.  The love of a woman and the aging process is portrayed vividly with sensitivity; whether it's ‘Transition into Grace’ or ‘Blue and White Love’ in a society fussing over age and appearances. Sunaina uses a poetic filter to magnify the futility of it all. ‘The Dream Daughter’ expresses a woman’s desire or longing for a daughter and her craving for more creative pursuits. This poem seems to be the springboard that catapults the imagination of readers. They also nonchalantly peep into the dark crevices of their lives. The poem ‘Reunion’ is a beautiful ode to a love affair in which one consummates with himself or herself. The way the lady romances herself underscores her repressed emotions. The poem is unapologetically feminine.  Another poem in this section ‘Oh My Heart’ is written as an apostrophe as one moves from the external to the internal landscape. The oxymoronic ‘Sounds of Silence’ stages emotions that sometimes freeze or succumb to societal norms.  The hedge of our imagination is pruned and trimmed throughout our lives. 

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‘I Sailed My Dinghy’ promises to take the readers to the uncharted oceans like the mariners In ‘The Rime of Ancient Mariner’ as they stand still as a picture amid the ocean of emotions. They realize that it is the journey that the poet takes them along and seems to be in no hurry to reach any destination. The fragility of relationships is explored in ‘A Fragile Bond’  with emotions delicately worded in poetry. As the images become real and then freeze in time, it becomes the poignant tale of life and its experiences.

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World

As the reader evolves from individual experience, he witnesses a more collective experience in the third section ‘World’. The first poem ‘Dumb Charades in the Night’ is a jolt from the slumber of subtle emotions to exposing some heavily guarded secrets of families.

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“Some common uncles and friends/ Are exposed during/ The act of pantomime/ In the dead of night.” (pg 74)

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The lines almost stun the conscience as many readers universalize the experiences and unwittingly dig into their psyche. The poem makes us squirm as we uncomfortably recall some bitter moments. The absurdity of the postmodern world in the form of celebrations devoid of any real emotions in ‘Her Birthday’, aging parents longing to see their children in ‘Mother Loves You’ and poems like ‘Little Children’ and ‘Green Bangles’ are all stories of childhood lost on roads. They reek of indifference of society and how society has failed to ensure the basics of life. More poems that follow are satire on the state of affairs that have made the society a battlefield for ideologies. The ‘Saga of a Tree’ is a commentary on the Anthropocene approach which played havoc on the fragile biome. The fragmentation and despair bear reflection of the postmodern world. The last three poems expose the ostentatiousness of the modern world where real relationships, genuine conversations and interactions are soon being replaced by ‘frills’ or ‘ornamentation’ leading us to the dark abyss.

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To encapsulate, the anthology of poems is a slice of life from our lives.  A poem like ‘I Have Seen an Angel’ cuddles and comforts us, then there is ‘Dumb charades in the Night’ which warns of opening a can of worms. The poet plays around with emotions and with her Midas touch expresses love, longing, loss and hope all juxtaposed. Poems titled ‘Her Birthday’, Dream’, ‘I Want to Disown’ stealthily wriggle into the crevices of our mind where we hide our innermost desires, ‘Embers and Ochres’, ‘I sailed my Dinghy’ lift the carpet and lets us peep into a world of dreams which we brushed underneath along the journey of life.   The most outstanding quality is the universal appeal that ‘The Patchwork Quilt’ offers. Once you pick up the book, the poems become the stories of your life, the expression of your emotions, and the restlessness of your quest to find the purpose of life.

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Poems like ‘To a Dream Daughter’ leave the readers asking for more but the poet skillfully lets her pen stop at the moment of reckoning nudging us to use our experiences and accumulated knowledge to complete the circle of thought. Despite the despair and absurdity of the postmodern world, there is that unmissable glimmer of hope. For every ‘broken mirror’, there is an ‘I shall stand whole’; for ‘The Autumnal Mood’, there is ‘Pain left me as I exorcised the baggage of the past…”; for ‘The Liminal in Life’, there is “but also a warm realisation of reality”. The patchwork quilt is a mishmash of purples, blues, whites, pinks, greens, the crimsons, and the readers relish them as per tastes and circumstances. The poems abound in sensory appeal appealing to all the senses. The language is artfully used to weave magic into poetry. The juxtaposition, pun, transferred epithets, and reflective imagery all constitute to making the poetry collection an experience in itself.