Prophets and Parching Lilies

Between the flaps are assorted the free wanderings of poetic and spiritual visions couched in a language of heightened sensations that constantly prod the reader to reach for ‘a higher language’ beyond the printed words. Diction is broken free of the fetters of rigorous metrical composition being taken off on the wings of free verse. Yet everywhere the charge and cadence of poetry are palpable. Frequent forays into allusions and criticism or annotations variegate the thematic structure of the book that splits itself into the original poetry of Jay Basu in Part One and his transcreations from the Nobel laureate Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore in Part Two. A prospective reader of the book will presumably find it a delightful ‘read’ as s/he passes from the snapshots of the brute visceral realities of life to poignant digs into the individual’s lonely inward living with existential angst and redemptive spiritual visions. Prophets and Parching Lilies encompasses a certain fullness of the human experience of life in its endless unfolding pageants.