A sensual collection of romantic poetry | "Dearest Love"

‘Dearest Love’ might be the simple yet sensual collection of romantic poetry you might be looking for. Through the decades, love poems have carved a separate genre for themselves. Poets of all generations have shed their griefs of separation and heartbreak in their love poems, and have also made them shine in the vibrant ecstasies of romance and attraction.

Prachi Prangya Agasti brings to us a set of heartfelt poems that talk of her own expression of love. She perceives love to be enchanting and magical—that makes us feel blessed and alive. Love, to her, comes as a lifeline of survival, and she wants to submit and give in to it.

The poems teach us the value of empathy and love in our lives. It conveys how profound the effect of love is, and what it might do to us. It urges us to protect and accompany love, not abandon it like a used toy. It preserves the role of unconditional affection in our lives, and the desire to be loved and cared for.


“A masterpiece is like gold dust

But you are mine

An art that spills light

Into the dark canvas

Every time you look at me

As a stretch of my imagination

And the pastels cling to my skin

Like you are a part of me

You become my muse

And breathe life into the stubborn heart

I live like I matter….”

 

The aspect of love that gets portrayed in these poems is that of submissiveness. It is very sensual and retrospective, maybe that is why they are called ‘dearest’. Truly enough, a sense of affection and caressing lingers in the verses, giving the poems a very calm and soothing touch. The love here is not wild, neither is it too outgoing or free-spirited. To me, they got conveyed like the lovely, breezy fancies of an innocent soul, maybe dreamy reveries of it. Somehow, the poet always avoids the deeper, more wavering aspects of love. Instead, she strokes and showers affection on her lines—making them sheer serene and beautiful.

As we progress further into the book, the poet takes up a very subdued and defeated tone. She reminisces about the happy, warm times of her past and compares it with various components of nature and the universe. She perhaps knows that the feelings of love she portrays towards her companion won’t be reciprocated. But even then, she isn’t ready to give up on her love. She is open to forgiveness and flexibility. Thereby, the general notion that looms large from these poems is of inclusion, and not fragmentation or demarcation.

The quality of the diction is what makes the poems worthy of praise. The choice of words, the tying of phrases and the usage of the perfect amount of imageries—makes the poems such a delight to read. The metaphorical implications aren’t absurd or out of the place, rather they’re believable and concrete to the core. The poet hasn’t shied away from improvising on the intricacies of romantic emotions. This collection of poetry stands up with its originality.


“…While everything around is dead

I standing wrecked

With nameless, broken love

Tattooed on the wall

Waiting to repeat my favourite disaster….”

 

The thematic interpretation of this anthology is something that could have been more progressive. All throughout, the poet has taken up a very desolate and introspective tone—unaware of the disappointments that love also comes with. She has floated about in her self-made ocean of magic and daydreams, and meanwhile, has perhaps lost the track of reality. The ‘love’ portrayed in this book is truly very dear and intimate, but it also could have been more courageous and individualistic. A very broad feminine sentiment was shrouding the poems with a tone of forgiveness and unconditional support. Towards the very end, the poet is visibly hurt and weighed down—but she never strikes back. She never blames her destiny nor does she complain. She just drowns in her pains.

But is love always worth forgiving? Doesn’t it inflict us with unfathomable amounts of pain and anxiety which demand a strong retaliation? Strangely enough, this other fierce and brave ideology of love never came through clearly. A doubt that was constantly up in my mind regarding the poems was---is the poet repenting the loss of her love or merely asking for forgiveness from her companion? Is the mindset of the poet inflicted with such trails of remorse and regret for the storm that has passed? Read the poems to find out yourself!


➦Grab the book here
➦ Reach out to the poet here !

Disclaimer: This review is in lieu of a review copy. 


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