‘… with a touch, I harvest red
notification blossoms on green whatsapp boughs’From touchscream, Ajay Kumar, The Bombay Literary Magazine
It was this image that first got me hooked to the magic of Ajay Kumar’s writing a couple of years ago. Honestly, I had not seen anybody use language the way Ajay does. It is so refreshing to find a young poet whose loyalty to the word and the poetic image does not slip into self-indulgent flamboyance, or crafty riddles that compromise thematic nuance. I have been reading Ajay’s writing for some time now. We have shared poems and discussed ideas about the creative pursuit of poetry, and I cannot be more certain of recommending a fellow poet’s work to serious readers. It is an absolute joy to have gotten the chance to write a blurb for his debut chapbook, and share what I have felt with others.
I share with you below, a poem from balancing acts, along with my words on the collection. You can also read poet Kunjana Parashar’s luminescent recommendation of the book.
The cover image is by Shloka Shankar.
You could get yourself a copy of balancing acts at Yavanika Press’s Poetry section.
Ajay’s poem touchscream, has been featured on Poetly before here, and his guest post on a Wallace Stevens poem can be found here.
I hope you are finding the time to write.
If you feel like responding, you can write back to poetly@pm.me.
I will write back, when I find the time, and the space.
If you like what you read, do consider ‘buying me a coffee’.
Wow!
Beautiful