Poem Review: ’White Mandala’ & ‘Sunny Day’
Sometimes, I contrive to build bridges between two poems.
The reason for this contrivance is not the pair of poems itself, but a deep sense of purpose behind them. The poets express little about this purpose, but it is left to the reader to connect.
The poems we are to explore are contrasting in form, meaning and verse, but connect at a deeper level ( called purpose). I shall call this as the ‘sublimation’ and save it till the end. And that is my two cents worth for these two interesting compositions.
Let us explore the poem formats at play here.
Haikus are like sharp pine needles, tiny as they are, they pinch our thoughts and liberate our souls. On the other hand, free verses bring out the beauty of the thoughts without focusing on the structure.
Poet Desiree Driesenaar connects with me at multiple levels, and it seems that we have mutual interest in poems, nature and sustainability. I hope to discover more through her poems, but for now, this review is an attempt to unravel her writings from my perspective.
Poet Shwetahitesh works with me on my poetry series, literature channel, and is a dear friend. She advises me on my publishing as well. Her poems are deep and emotive.
What connects these two poems? Allow me to be get that, so bear with me. Let us read the poems first.
Poem 1: ‘White Mandala’
Dutch
De sneeuwvlok landt
op het puntje van haar neus.
Witte mandala.
English
The snowflake lands
on the tip of her nose.
White mandala
Commentary on Poem 1:
I had to search for the word ‘Mandala’. Mandala, in Sanskrit, means “circle” or “discoid object,”. It is a geometric design.
Let us expand a little further. Mandala, which is the design form of snowflake, has some science behind it. I picked a simple causation definition from the website earthsky.org for us to understand.
The shapes of snowflakes are influenced by the temperature and humidity of the atmosphere. Snowflakes form in the atmosphere when cold water droplets freeze onto dust particles. Depending on the temperature and humidity of the air where the snowflakes form, the resulting ice crystals will grow into a myriad of different shapes.
This definition is interesting. Mandala forms are unique to each crystal. They indicate a high degree of customization and sophistication.
Now having understood the complexity around ‘Mandala’, the last line has another adjective to it ‘White’. White indicates pristine. So we are looking at ‘ pristine and complex’ geometric shapes of snowflakes, a beauty of nature.
This ‘snowflake lands on the tip of her nose’, the poet writes. To have a snowflake land in the tip of one’s nose, the person will have to be there ( being present locally, at the right place), and then ( at the right time).
Now, we all can ‘imagine’ the snowflake crystal from a distance, or watch it on a high resolution screen, but to ‘experience’ it, you have to physically be there. To be there, you have to let things be. Observe from nature. Localize.
It implies that, the solutions and spectacles of nature, are inherently localized, and we don’t need to contrive and build something out of the blue.
The inference is powerful. I have the advantage of knowing the poet’s background as a sustainability expert and lover of nature.
So let me take advantage of that. Extending the metaphor here, one can see that solutions for sustainability too, are present close to nature, in many local communities.
All one has to do is to observe with an open mind and experience it. Common sense will take over from there.
Kudos to the poet Desiree Driesenaar’s deep thinking here, and the much desired brevity to bring out a powerful message.
Let us now look at the second poem.
Poem 2: ‘ The Sunny Day’
Have you ever seen
The sight of beautiful rain
On a sunny day…
The rain goes and what remain
Are blooming flowers , petrichor
And the sunny day…
The most stubborn creation of Nature…
Like past, it doesn’t go anywhere
Sedimented with layers of memories
Encountered with fresh rendezvous
It remains…
Erupts, like a plant
On the most unexpected grounds
From the source of love and rebellion…
The sunny day.
Commentary on Poem 2:
The poem starts with a beautiful scenario ‘ sight of a beautiful rain on a sunny day’.
From my childhood, I have wondered how sun and rain can coexist. Rains are supposed to be from the dark clouds and those clouds hid the sun. But when both of them exist, it is magic. I remember rainbows. Just the opening lines can carry one away into their memories.
The poet does not stay there, however. She brings you back to another scenario quickly.
‘The rain goes and what remain
Are blooming flowers , petrichor
And the sunny day…
Rains are transient. If one stays long enough to see the magic, the remnants are the sunny day ( it was a sunny day alright), blooming flowers and petrichor.
The sight and smell of what is present after the rains have gone are intoxicating. Roll over in the grass and smell the mud. Watch the bright sunlight and the flowers. ‘All things bright and beautiful’,of Alfred Tennyson comes to mind.
The most stubborn creation of Nature…
Like past, it doesn’t go anywhere
Sedimented with layers of memories
Encountered with fresh rendezvous
It remains…
We all have built memories — little moments like the above, which remain in our memories. Built one upon and another. Rains bring petrichor. Sunlight and warmth. Cause and effect.
Associative and cognitive memories are causal in nature, even at a subconscious level. The lines ‘ Like past, it does not go anywhere, sedimented with layers of memories’ clearly bring out this science. And the present event is captured well, when one is present in the right time and right place ( remember the ‘White Mandala’ now, just for a moment), ‘encountered with fresh rendezvous’ ( remember the snow flake on the tip of her nose).
I got caught in the ‘associative’ aspect of the two poems, didn’t I? Well, some cat is out of the bag. Let me stay the course now.
The poet surprises us with the ‘green little thing’ out of the ground.
Erupts, like a plant
On the most unexpected grounds
From the source of love and rebellion…
The sunny day.
The semen of the rain in the womb of the soil brings out the green shoot ( Erupts like a plant, from the source of love and rebellion), which rises towards the life giver, the sun.
If one is present there, this little green shoot, will spring a surprise on the nature lover.
Sublimation through association:
I have spilled the beans earlier.
The two poets put the protagonist at the right place at the right time amid nature. The protagonist is also a nature lover and an open minded person, willing to pause, look for and listen to the ‘little things’.
Such protagonists would discover the little things of nature — beauty, love, rebellion, and surprise at the base level, and associate them with life, society and human behavior at a broader level.
In an age of fast paced life, one either overlooks or obliterates little things of time and space ( read nature), the poets emphatically place the ‘little things’ right in front of us and confront us to look at them closely.
The two poems, while seemingly are independent, are interconnected by this purpose. Hence the ‘sublimation through association’, while the form, meaning and verse of both are different.
One could just enjoy the two poems independently, but then, I am guilty of this attempt, I admit that the association is by contrivance, and happy to be sentenced for more such endeavors.
~ Ashok Subramanian
