The First Word

by Husain Ali

Poetry is the language of romance and philosophy. It conveys the words of an angry breeze. It is written on the foundations of mountains. And it can be the voice of a silent man. Husain Ali brings you his collection of poetry, where the words sing happy songs on lush green hills under a yellow sun, waft across cafes in Paris, carry the aroma of cinnamon and coffee, lament over the loss of friends and lovers and take you across Mongolian landscapes. There are words that weave a world free of hatred and chaos, tensions and wars. There are words of dreams and intergalactic travels. These poems simply ask you to connect with your feelings and let your imagination run wild.

Genres: Poetry

155 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2017

Reviews

[Syed Yusuf Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dipping in murky, turbid waters, you come out reading this book feeling dazed with the innumerable tiny little disappointments surrounding your life. Nothing serious like a tragic cancer story or a poverty stricken woman destroyed by a male dominant society, no tearjerkers allowed in this collection of broken-hearted ballads. Rather the little things that happen to each one of us all the time are the highlights here, stuff that we overlook as being unfortunate, stuff that we get over by going for a crazy night out with friends and forgetting all of it by morning. Here the author records everything. Not the slightest detail gets overlooked and none of the painful moments get edited out or washed away. A desolate feeling of loneliness and profound disappointment surrounds you as you read poem after poem of unrequited love, relationships gone wrong, love interests showing indifference to their lovers and breakups tragically etched into the memories of a sensuous lover. "...I wrote a note/ The sprawling ink/ Was my blood/ The red flowing in my veins... ", painfully confesses the narrator as he is carelessly rejected by his beloved and the note burned to ashes at the end of the poem. 'Senses' is another poem where the poet achieves perfection, attempting a more lyrical and disciplined rhyme scheme and the coherence molds the strong material into a solid ballad that displays the talent the poet possesses when everything falls into place.

Of course there are some happy moments where the lovers do unite and there are some hopeful conclusions to the predicaments of poems that almost always start in a haunting, painful way. "...After years of living in a cold and dark room/ I'm finally free of it all." announces the narrator after a two page long description of his unbearable pain seeing the woman he fancied going out with another man. Not quite a happy ending one would hope for but the poet settles with the little ray of hope life gives him. 'The Lamp-post', another captivating poem, ends in a positive note too, where despite some hiccups, the lovers finally meet and its with a somewhat cautious tone that the narrator declares, "...love is blossoming under a useless lamp post", well aware of the transient nature of a euphoric moment. 'We Will Be the World', undoubtedly the most sensuous poem in the entire book, has a passionate and purely surreal touch to it as the narrator "...looses his tongue in his beloved's mouth/ Tasting the coffee they had that morning...". The poem ends at such a confidently hopeful note, it seems it has been taken from a completely different book.

But the general vibe suggests that the loneliness and the bothersome disappointments in the modern life of a person today are perpetual, nothing whatsoever one might try doing about it. The clear, simple and concise nature of the poems make the reading light and the vibe, though initially feels diluted, cuts through you as you delve deeper and deeper into the atmosphere the book creates.

Halfway through the book, you stop thinking these are poems written by somebody else as they start reminding you of trivial things that happened to you long ago, getting ignored by your crush, breaking up with a high school sweetheart and getting haunted by the hazy, seemingly beautiful memories of your teenage romance. That's where this book shines, its relatable to the young adult audience its aimed at and you feel safe in this world the author has put down into words. You feel as if you are not alone when feeling all of those confused emotions while growing up in an increasingly alienated world and even though the poems seldom offer plausible and satisfactory solutions to the modern era existential crisis, the isolation has been described well and in detail. A reader travels through the gloomy pages, seldom finding hope but almost always finding a subtle warmth and an ethereal companionship.

There is one particularly noteworthy attempt at writing a political poem at the end and though its commendable and describes the atrocities and war crimes being committed in the 21st century, you can feel the discomfort of the poet as he finds himself in uncharted waters. A poem called 'Grandpa' along with certain rare inclusions of social commentary on postmodern consumerism and the futility of the never ending materialistic desires, certainly provide variety to the collection of ideas included in this work. "...Why am I here in this traffic?/Why am I here in the crowd of all these faceless people waling so nonchalantly?...", implores the narrator, in a fantastical poem called 'Dreams' where surreal, chimeral images are crafted and revered. But the poet undoubtedly feels most at home in the heart-wrenching love songs he has so patiently and skillfully crafted throughout the 140+ pages and those fill the majority of the book. My only problem, some of the poems could have been excluded and reading the book could have been made a more taut and intense experience.

The overtly simple words woven throughout the poems sometimes create magical moments and some of the lines surprise the reader at their cleverness. Subtle brilliance pours through at these moments. Though, no doubt there are weak links to the poetic pieces, and many a times you feel completely detached as the magic fades away for limited portions of the text. But when it returns, you trust the poet again, and you close your eyes and let the rhythmic compositions wash over you. Your mind wanders to unfamiliar corners inside your brain and the heartache comes back. The yearning for a world where the subtle intricacies and challenges of life wont bother you comes back, and the book becomes a relic you want to keep forever with you, reading over and over again in moments of distress and disquiet.

[Tavleen Kaur (Travelling Through Words) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

The First Word by Husain Ali is a collection of poems about love, loss, friendship, the destruction in the world and many other aspects of life.

These were not some of the best poems but they simple and powerful. Many of them were written with deep emotion. I highly enjoyed this collection.

[Pretty Little Bibliophile · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let me first talk about how beautiful the cover of the book is! Had I not got it as a review copy, I most probably would have bought it simply as a cover buy! Getting into the review, I found this collection of poetry very diverse, and delightfully so.
It is important to realize that poetry is something that everyone interprets differently, so kindly do understand if my understanding is different from yours. The difference need to not imply that one is right and the other wrong.
The First Word was an enjoyable experience, and it’s a book that I shall pick up again soon. There is a recurring theme of death, loss and coping with it, throughout the book, however, so keep that in mind if it is something that upsets you. Memories and dreams also play a significant role in this collection of poems. Nonetheless, it also celebrates and counteracts all these sad facts of life through the indomitable human spirit, interspersed with hope, faith, and love.
Although there are a vast number of themes in the poem, we often see those of separation, isolation, the inevitable human end, as the poet ponders over our degenerate human situation as we move towards destruction through wars.
The one significant thing that really put me off as a reader is the utter absence of punctuation in the poems. The enjambments were too much for me and it is something that surprised me and kind of was a sore point for me. Despite that, overlooking that fact, this is a collection I love. Some poems that I liked were- Winters of Wait, Judgement Day, Celestial Nights, Hang Around, Lost Cause, Reticence, Gift Wrapped, My Empire of Dirt, Something Strange, among a few.
This anthology was one that I truly enjoyed and will be picking up soon again. I also rate this a 4/5 stars!

[Mugdha Mahajan · Rating 3 out of 5]

" A little here and a little there

we are scattered everywhere

Dropping shit bombs on life is what we do

screwing up relationships and friendships too

so caught up in petty politics

we have forgotten how to dream

This is a sad small little word

A world that I want to leave"

My second attempt at reviewing the poetry genre. First of all I was attracted to the cover of the book - It's truly beautiful. When I started reading the poems, I did feel connected to some but some of them disappointed me. The poet has written the poems on topics like heartbreak,family,love,hatred,world etc which may leave a deep impact on you in some cases. The poems are beautifully composed but the only thing the book lacks is punctuation's which form a basic part of poetry. Also I did find some spelling grammatical errors. Overall it was a satisfactory read for me.

[Kinjal Parekh · Rating 3 out of 5]

• The one thing I loved in this book is the use of vocabulary. I learnt many new words and it somewhere helped me improve mine in a way. Apart from vocabulary, the story in the poems are beautifully crafted.
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• Through the book lacks in editing which was a bit turn off. The punctuations were missing and their were grammatical errors. Along with it, the font used was consistent yet didn't appeal my eyes.
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• But if these back logs are to be ignored, you will find yourself in another world written in an amazing way by the Husain Ali. Each and every poem was relatable and unique in it's own way.

[John Trident · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book is beautifully composed and there are moments when you close your eyes, picture the words of the poem in your head
and let the rhythmic compositions wash over you.
Yet he could have done justice to the book by composing a beautiful collection.
But still the poet has done a good job portraying those emotions.
I love this collection. Some poems are just so deep. Some touched my heart. There are so many poems, on love,
heart break and much more. I loved the cover page, it's so attractive.
The title is unique as well.
The only thing the book lacks is punctuation's which form a basic part of poetry. I don't know how being a poet he missed those aspects.

[Pari · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a beautiful book, inside and out. The poet conveys varied themes and emotions through his words. Sometimes the mood goes dreamy and then, we are pulled back to a realistic platform. It was a great experience altogether.

Although all the poems had their own beauty, "Our Song" really touched my heart. Anyone trying to explore this genre, can surely enjoy this book of poems.

[Kshitij · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite an enjoyable experience.

[Sohini · Rating 3 out of 5]

I completed it a few days back and for a change I liked all the poems.The subject matters of the poems ranged from love to loss. Love for the beloved, destruction of the world. As if they were all written with a heavy heart and realization of the reality. Nonetheless ,it was a fine read. I was skeptical at first or whether I would enjoy it. But I did end up loving a few like "lost cause", "growing imagination" and "ink blots". The poems did resonate with me.
However, there were a few grammatical errors. And the part that I didn't like was the font. Seemed as if not much thought was put into it. Though it is very apparent that the poems were written over a period of time (seems so to me).
But overall a really good collection of an amalgamation of emotions.