If you are a poet, occasional or frequent doesn’t matter, you must understand that ramifications of poetry might be different for every unique individual. However, in general, poetry is a way to express your emotions in the unique form of words – rhyme and reason may vary. It is one of the classical arts that is still relevant in contemporary society. As a reader, however, poetry might connote many different ideas and yet we keep looking for something that could justly fit into the tight space of meanings and beauty. Recently, I have gone through a beautiful poetry collection titled ‘Rays of Reverie by Rosy and Jones’ written by Rosy Lidia Alosious and Jones S. Rosy is an Assistant Professor of English and Jones is a pilot and this interesting combination of poets did strike my curiosity to a further height and I could not stop myself from getting into the depths of this collection sooner than it usually happens with other books. Moreover, they both are keenly interested in poetry that’s why they have composed a beautiful collection.

The poetry collection, Rays of Reverie, consists of 50 poems where 30 has been composed by Rosy and 20 by Jones. The first section is named Rosy Lidia’s Reverie and later named Jones’ Reverie. The poems are basically written in the style we know as free verse or no verse. Lyrical qualities or attributes, in modern English poetry, seldom saddle the flow or transfer of thoughts from the poets to the readers. And it is witnessed here as well. The poems, nevertheless, display or connote multiple meanings and a reader can indulge in interpretation and also enjoy it, I believe. 

The collection follows vivid themes but the central ideas are based on existentialism, life cycle, passion for life and many more philosophical ideas. Towards A Better Me, Mask The Truth, Solitude and many more poems will give many things to think and the readers will certainly enjoy the same. The idea of living life and at the same time, the idea to explore beyond life have been wonderfully painted by both poets. For example, the ideals of life have been wonderfully explored and related to modern lifestyle issues in the poem titled ‘Exceeding Birthdays’ and anyone who reads this poem will certainly get to think many things, all of a sudden, about life and its major concerns.

The poets discuss the ideas of forgiveness, kindness and also expound on the ideas of miseries, anxieties and the true state of happiness. The poetry collection has certainly many things that will lead people to go deep into the meaning of life and life in general that they go through the experience of daily life. However, at the same time, being a critic is a cynical job and it has a major conundrum – to find out the follies even if you find things to be generally outstanding and clear. So, there are a few instances or lines that the readers will find to be empty or rather perplexing in isolation as well as in the grand scheme of a poem or the entire collection itself. A few instances might be called editorial mistakes or simple ones that could have been avoided. For instance: 

“Not the reach,

but the travel

that brings joy

to the living.”

It could easily have been transformed into something more meaningful, as well as more comprehensive, than it currently is. Well, about editorial inputs in poetry, there can be an entirely different debate that I will put for some other day. 

To cut things short, the poetry collection has been a wonderful experience, overall and I would recommend it as a refreshing wind of change for the readers who have been too occupied reading clumsy or too evident novels or non-fiction. Rays of Reverie will offer fresh perspectives and a few well-established ideals in free verse and it is surely enjoyable to read poetry, any day! 

You can get a copy of this poetry collection from Amazon India. Click the link below and you can get a copy right now.

Buy the book – Amazon India link

Review by Sarthak M for Indian Book Critics