Ponder Awhile by Mohit Misra – Book Review

Indian English poetry has been a very close subject to me. Right from the beginning of my undergraduate years, I have invested my time in reading, understanding and occasionally writing poetry. In short, if you can notice, poetry entices me. And this attraction for poems often brings me close to the books of poems, emerging and established poets, the latest trends in Indian English poetry and so on… And it pulled me, recently, to a collection of poems published in 2014, for the first time, Ponder Awhile. It is a poetry collection written by Mohit Misra, a poet of one kind.

You are the One who gave him birth,
His soul I pray is with you,
As his body is with Mother Earth.

Mohit Misra writes more as a maverick than a poet. A poet would spend his days searching for the perfect metaphor and finding the best analogy before writing one hundred words. This poet, nevertheless, does not spend much time thinking about his subjects. He just writes and leaves the readers baffled, amused, bemused, enchanted and sometimes in the posture of deep thinking, momentarily, at least. Many poems in this collection by Mohit Misra are direct utterances of his heart, mind and at times, soul. Utterances convert into realisations when a reader would care to dig deep and find the underlying meanings in the lines that hide behind the sketchy surface layers. There is much more about this poetry collection than what meets the eye, apparently.

Ponder Awhile talks about life and death, lies and truths, soul and heart, seeking and finding, realising and ignoring, and many other subjects. There is not much to discuss as far as the style of poetry is concerned. The poet has kept it simple, with couplets that make it easy for the readers to find sense in two lines rather than waiting for the entire poem to be finished and then the process of stitching for a unified sense to commence. The choices of words, style of writing and the art of expression should resonate with modern readers of Indian English poetry.

God and religion is so complicated,
So when you talk of it, some people get irritated.

Well, you can see how Mohit has worded his lines. And it’s true that God and religion are so complicated things that we often do not find ourselves in a position to discuss them freely. It leads to arguments and that might lead to further discord between people. And it’s as simple as that – simply put in lines that philosophers and writers might have made so complicated for us to grasp. Mohit has kept these things simple. In the same poem titled Infinity, the poet tells the readers:

The moment you submit to the point of light,
The word death is no more such a fright.

And here, it is not only about telling simple truths. It becomes beyond simple. Mohit has tried to convey the biggest truth that our scriptures have been trying to tell us. The world is one. We are all one. The part of some grand scheme, often alluded to with light. And the poet tells the same. Once again, many poets might have taken pages to convey what we find in these two lines. Likewise, the entire collection is filled with such lines and ideas that will make it simple for the readers to understand many mysteries we often ignore. Just read these poems and enjoy. You may have more to discuss once you finish reading the book!

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Review by Alok Mishra