There is nothing strikingly unconventional about the way writer Neerada Suresh pens her poetry in her latest collection ‘Alignment’. At times, she picks on gender roles, and at others, she talks about distances in relationships. She gives voice to the ‘Married Muteness’ and at other times, she reminisces about the past as she talks about aging parents.
The burden of ‘unmarried daughters’, their ‘mounting debts and migrant labour’ becomes a metaphor for the cost women pay for marriage while ‘In Retrospect’ is a reflection of ‘The Road Not Taken.’ ‘Falling Out with the Pigeons’, sealing open home spaces in order to ward off pigeons, thus, robbing them of their habitat.
It is the burden of domesticity that Neerada tends to explore in 'Alignment'.
‘When Rohan Kaul is away,
His house comes alive
in a disorderly way…’
‘But when Rohan Kaul is in,
Newspapers stand stacked…
Paintings, curtains, cushions, sofas
all tell a tamed tale.’
In “Sorrows”, she says,
‘Sorrows
like a newborn
arranged itself
in my arms
purring in content
as if to say
never let me go.’
Suresh’s “Of Anthropomorphic Androids”, says,
‘Rift is when a grown son
gets polite with you
on silent mode
drifting away from you.’
The poet picks up the nitty gritties of life, sometimes evoking memories, fantasies, regrets, emotional barriers, through her words. She does not elevate to the metaphysical nor romanticise her words – instead Neerada takes out pages from our everyday lives, looking at trivial events and their deep-scarring impacts within. She celebrates emotions as well as the fragmentation and simplification of relationships, ethics, morals and principles, ushered in by a digital era, which has brought along its companions loneliness and disconnect. It talks about the roles forced upon us, the unseen shackles that they tie us with, the vice of distance in relationships, the price women often pay and seeking validation outside.
Educator, translator and writer Neerada’s third volume of poetry ‘Alignment’ published by Current Books, an imprint of DC Books.
