Verses of this Universe: The Backstory

4 min readMar 4, 2022

There is a story behind the story, they say. As is customary for my books, I share the backstory of the book that was published ‘Verses of this Universe- Poetarrati Volume 3.’

Backstory:

I have been writing poems since 2011. With more than 300 poems in different places, including blogs and Facebook posts, I decided to put them together. I realized that I have an interesting collection at hand. I self-published the collection in two volumes — Poetarrati Volume 1 & 2 in May 2020.

The book got me into the mainstream, with connects and patrons, who loved my poems. This turned into a sustained engagement through posts in social media.

The poetry that I wrote during the pandemic emerged as a possible collection, and that is when I read the poem ‘Touch’ of Shweta. It lead to a series of firsts…that I am happy to share them here.

Verses of this Universe — Poetarrati Volume 3 displayed in Odyssey Book Store, Chennai

The Firsts:

Following are the lists of firsts of the book ‘Verses of this Universe — Poetarrati Volume 3’.

a) The book is the launch of Poet Shwetahitesh. Her poems are deep and sonorous, yet have the ability to strike a discord, shaking up our souls. When I first read her poem ‘Touch’, brought tear to my eyes. From there on, the reticent poet shared her poems with me, and I found myself holding pearls of wisdom in my hands.

Shweta with a copy of Verses of the Universe

b) This is the first time I have worked with a publisher. My previous works are self published. But given that I choose to work with another poet, the quality had to be highest, since I was putting together the poems, I realised that publishing is an art. I had seen some work of Highbrow Scribes in LinkedIn and decided to check them out. It turned out to be a simple yet significant decision, and the result was a great work of art in our hands.

Publisher Vandana holding a copy of the book

c) This is the first time that I collaborated with artists. Sridhar Ramachandran is a sketcher and painter — he works during night hours, and has produced interesting paintings. Divya Mahesh is an illustrator who has showcased her art in exhibitions. Lastly, Anirudh Narayanan is a photographer and video editor, who has an eye with a difference. I wrote poems inspired by their art work, which I call as my first ‘Ekphrasis project’.

Book Cover:

The Book Cover itself was designed by Anirudh Narayanan, a young Visual Communication student with the advise from Vandana Bhatia Palli, the publisher. A man staring at a clear sky, which reveals the universe is a stunning picture reflecting the essence of the book. The man is staring in wonder yet is introspecting; the sky is clear, but the universe is asking questions. The powerful image reflects the dual nature of the poems — pondering while wondering.

The Title:

‘Verses of this Universe’ — the title reflects the collection, as the poems themselves originated in tough times of the pandemic, yet go beyond it, exploring the universe from the outside, and also within. The word ‘this’ points towards ‘our’ universe.

Words are not words, but verses that are crafted by two poets who searching for answers while expressing their feelings.

The Topics:

We shortlisted 61 poems written by both poets, and classified them into five ‘themes’. The themes reflect the nature of the poems, so that the reader can easily slide into experiencing synchrony, rather than jumping into different themes which we felt, might be discordant.

The themes are as follows:

a) Deep Inside the Human : They say the answers lie within us. The poems under these themes take the reader on a journey of inner discovery to understand themselves, a wee bit more.

b) Matters of the Heart : Love is the most powerful of them all, and it evokes joy and ecstasy, pain and sorrow, anger and fear. The poems are romantic in nature, bringing in the joy and pain of being in love.

c) Conversations with the Universe: We are social animals, and our interactions with the world, the universe can be daunting to most of us. Some of the conversations are searching and makes us introspect about the way things happen in this world.

d) Arts meets Art: An Ekphrasis Journey : A picture can tell a thousands words. Why not a few lines of verse? This is an attempt to appreciate paintings and photography through poetry. The poets enjoyed this project, why not the readers too?

e) In the Lap of Nature: No poet can skip nature, as nature is the mother of poetry. This symbiosis is the foundation of the poems under this theme, and brings out the poets allure to nature.