The Boatman of Murshidabad-Madhu Kailas

Book: The Boatman of Murshidabad
Author: Madhu Kailas
Publisher: Aleph Book Co.

Do you like to read free verse?

The Boatman of Murshidabad is a collection of poems by Madhu Kailas that cover a range of topics from a boatman’s story in the titular poem or the story of travelers to return to pick up new faced for rebirth in “The Day a Song Dared to Soar”. In ‘Keys Made of Sunshine’, a child grows up and learns to listen to silence; in ‘Silence of Butterflies’, golden silk strands cascade on to the green forest floor; and in ‘The Forest Sings’, the breeze preserves an arrangement of leaves and flowers in a secret language. Deeply felt and packed with original insights into the human condition, The Boatman of Murshidabad is a dazzling collection of poems by an accomplished poet.

A collection of 50 poems written in free verse, each of them is unique in the manner in which it focuses on the various emotions and aspects of human life. Whether it is pain, love or longing, there is a deep emotion that jumps out through the words that the poet has woven together. The poems are written in free verse, so at times it seems like a prose written like a poem in a few cases, however there are some absolutely brilliant poems that will help you connect with the emotions of the poet. The language used is simple and no complicated words are used, helping the reader spending the time to understand and comprehend the metaphors and wordplay that the poet has used.

It is a short book, which can typically be read in a single day. The rhyme scheme in some of the poems was excellent and the meter is maintained for a particular poem across in most of the cases, making the familiarity of the style better. I would have loved if the poems that dealt with a specific emotion be grouped together rather than random orders. It would have helped enhance the reading experience. A few of the poems are dedicated to certain initials and I loved how the poet keeps them into the book so that the message is understood. My personal favorite would be “My Joys”, a poem dedicated to the City of Joy, Kolkata and I loved how he describes the city, and having lived there for a better part of my life, it was reliving the experience.

Overall, a good book that scores a 4.25/5 for me.

Get a copy of the book here.