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First Contact
The mind’s ear turns its face,
witnesses the sputter of a rickshaw,
the din from the neighbour’s kitchen,
a child’s tapering wail, an aquarium breathing
to keep a lone fish alive.
A narrative spanning four-and-a-half decades, Soni Somarajan’s First Contact is a memoir in verse — an illuminating arc of autobiographical imagery rendered in a voice fresh and transcending. From the earliest years to the present, across times and places lived in, the collection dwells on a riveting mosaic of joy, triumph, love, loss, anguish, and angst, embodying the poet’s indomitable spirit in the face of tremendous odds.
This fine collection of poems records a life’s experience, from the first poem, the birth of a relationship, through poems of memory, childhood in a military family, connections, rain in all its moods and colours, all with the grace of word-music and a poet’s way of seeing.
— Gillian Clarke
Soni Somarajan’s poems have — to use a phrase from one of his poems — the ‘vapour of stories’. That is his aesthetic — being caught unaware by the moment, catching the moment unaware.
— Sumana Roy
SONI SOMARAJAN is a poet, copywriter, editor, and content consultant. His poetry and writings have featured in anthologies, magazines, and newspapers, including Muse India, North East Review, Kitaab, The Bangalore Review, New Indian Express, Marie Claire, The Four Quarters Magazine, The Alipore Post, Bengaluru Review, and is forthcoming in The Bombay Literary Magazine. An alumnus of the University of Iowa’s IWP Advanced Poetry Seminar 2013, Soni is the Creative Head at The Quarantine Train, a poetry collective, and lives in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. First Contact is his debut collection of poetry.
witnesses the sputter of a rickshaw,
the din from the neighbour’s kitchen,
a child’s tapering wail, an aquarium breathing
to keep a lone fish alive.
A narrative spanning four-and-a-half decades, Soni Somarajan’s First Contact is a memoir in verse — an illuminating arc of autobiographical imagery rendered in a voice fresh and transcending. From the earliest years to the present, across times and places lived in, the collection dwells on a riveting mosaic of joy, triumph, love, loss, anguish, and angst, embodying the poet’s indomitable spirit in the face of tremendous odds.
This fine collection of poems records a life’s experience, from the first poem, the birth of a relationship, through poems of memory, childhood in a military family, connections, rain in all its moods and colours, all with the grace of word-music and a poet’s way of seeing.
— Gillian Clarke
Soni Somarajan’s poems have — to use a phrase from one of his poems — the ‘vapour of stories’. That is his aesthetic — being caught unaware by the moment, catching the moment unaware.
— Sumana Roy
SONI SOMARAJAN is a poet, copywriter, editor, and content consultant. His poetry and writings have featured in anthologies, magazines, and newspapers, including Muse India, North East Review, Kitaab, The Bangalore Review, New Indian Express, Marie Claire, The Four Quarters Magazine, The Alipore Post, Bengaluru Review, and is forthcoming in The Bombay Literary Magazine. An alumnus of the University of Iowa’s IWP Advanced Poetry Seminar 2013, Soni is the Creative Head at The Quarantine Train, a poetry collective, and lives in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. First Contact is his debut collection of poetry.
- GenresPoetry
104 pages, Paperback
Published September 1, 2020
15 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 4, 2020
The book has so many gems and memories. Highly recommend!
November 18, 2020
A warm and very accessible memoir in verse. I met Soni at the Hay Festival in 2010 and when he showed me the poem he'd handwritten about the festival on its final morning, I thought oh, wow, okay. This guy is the real deal. Ten years later, that poem is in this collection, which was worth the wait. He clearly enjoys the sound of words and takes pleasure in their connection - to each other, to the places and objects of his life, and to the reader. I hope there are a few more volumes of stories and moments in Soni's head. Favourite: The Black Trunk I: his inheritance the absence of certainty.
October 30, 2020
The collection of poems encapsulates the author’s exploration of life in a nutshell. The beauty lies in capturing each moment in a brief and relatable poem. The way the narrative takes you through the nostalgic elements of childhood to adulthood is truly mesmerizing. The author was successful in taking me through my childhood memories.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews