“Music is my weakness.
And you are…
The Music of my Life!”

If I am Born Again, Lord Please… this collection of poetry seems to be a tribute to the souls who have been in love at any occasion in their lives… I feel that the poet, Shopone, has tried to send a message to his beloved, who did not have that much interest in him, a message of some kind. However, Shopone is the pseudonym and the beloved will never get to know it! Oh, love!

A collection of seven long poems, this book is more or less like an inward journey which takes place and the poet realises his actions, learns various things and feels the corn and thorn of life along the way.

There are portraits in the book which date back almost two and a half decades ago. There is a sense of urgency and as a reader, a serious one, it did not take me long in realising that the poet’s recalling of those ‘sweet’ and ‘sour’ moments must have been instigated by an event or maybe by a series of events ‘recently’.

Talking about the poetic skills of Shopone, there is not much to talk but to experience and relish. If you try to find the lustre, you might not find in the words but in the emotions which ooze out of the chosen words by the poet. I read it not like reading a collection of poems but like reading a love story in verse and I enjoyed it far more! Poetry is freedom and so, the verse is free! It needs not to be the perfect but sensible and communicating. And all that is found in the poems in the collection with a long and reaching title – If I am Born Again, Lord Please…

On the critical side, reading the poems and looking at the portraits and images next to them, one can easily understand that the poet tries to hint out. He tries to let the readers know that he has moved on, eventually, and realised that love is something different from getting what you ‘desire’.

“And I thought
There was no Life
After Death…
Now I can flirt
…in true spirit!!!”

Though I do not agree with the modern style of perpetuating the exclamation by adding more than one marks, I can feel with the poet’s heart.

So, the readers who are free this Saturday and would love to read some romantic verse with thrilling and warm memories and looking back – maybe a ‘someone’ will arise in their hearts too – there is the book for you by Shopone from West Bengal! Go ahead and get yourselves the copies and begin this wonderful journey on the broken verse to a whole world!

Get the book – Click here to buy from Amazon India

review by Amit for Indian Book Critics