Thursday, August 21, 2008

A Reader’s Response to A Hudson View(Poetry Digest) International Collection Spring 2008.Volume 3 Number 2, ISSN 1540-5036. By Shaleen Kumar Singh

The latest issue Spring ~ April- May 2008 edited by Amitabh Mitra and Phaedra Valentine has again come like a spring of fresh thoughts and feelings. After passing the span of over five spring Skyline publishing literary community has proved that in the age of materialism and bestial regressions, if anyone lits the lamp of emotions, it will not be not an entire wild-goose-chase rather it will grow as saplings if it has firm roots. Skyline publishing is both for emerging and established authors that help them ‘attain their literary and artistic goals.
T he present issue is adorned with the paintings of Maria Zeldis, a Mexican artist and carries twenty three poems and two book reviews. The very first poem by Amitabh Mitra creates a nostalgia and make one sit and ruminate a while: I can remember/The colour of hurts/Breastshadows of a runaway kite/Your smile/That resisted/So long. (8)
And the nostalgia again turns darker when the poet Freddy Frenkel says in the poem ‘Taxiride in Boston’: The station agent did’nt have a ticket for him/At the whites only counter-/The platform for the non whites was out of the bounds to me. (15)
Besides the poems of David Trane are fumed with hue of Nature(The Garden), G K Naicker’s poem ‘My Africa’ is replete with patriotic fervor, Kabus Moolman’s poems are emotive as well as meditative, Jan Osker Hanson’s poems are full of romance, Ashok Gupta’s ‘Father’ and ‘The Mad Beggar’ are full of warm personal feelings. Especially the short poems of Geoffrey Jackson are fine pieces of poetry. For example: When you’re used to the dark/ Your feet walk by themselves/The moon casts shadows of night Unseen where sure feet walk. (57) However, there are other poets in the issue which have not been discussed by me but they are equally poetic and sensitive.
To sum up, the magazine is charming from both the viewpoints of form (look) and content. The cover designed by Amanda R T Tucker is charming and the poems selected by the editors have made the magazine worth-reading for which they deserve high accolades.

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