Book Review – Nine Indian Women Poets, Eunice De Souza

Well, I am torn between giving this book an OK-ish 3-star rating and the approving 4-stars. This anthology contains the poems by nine Indian women poets, arbitrarily chosen by the compiler Eunice De Souza, who happens to be one of those nine poets.

On the positive side, this anthology is a fair introduction to the works of the little known or unknown poetesses of India. Poetesses like Mamta Kalia, Smita Agarwal and Tara Patel, the names that aren’t even heard of in the Indian literary circles these days, are brought to fore in this book. The book begins with the works of Kamala Das, understandably one of those few female authors that could stand on their own in the Indian literary stage dominated by men. But the names that all follow are in no way secondary to Kamala Das, though, when compared in terms of works published, Kamala Das wins the race miles ahead. But each poetess – hardcore feminists please forgive me – adds a rich shade of her own to this little rainbow of nine colors. 

On the downside, editor Eunice could have done a better job in selecting the poems and poets. While many of them are poems of a lovely nature, easy to read, of high literary quality, capable of tugging at your heart’s strings, an equal number of them just manage to fly above your head. Some of them come across as mere obscure ramblings, muddled words and written with a purpose to impress than to convey. If you’re a person that believes that a poem shouldn’t sound like a lesson in Particle Physics, then you’ll find some of these poems quite dull and uninspiring. 

Some of these poems are really beautiful, like love, sunset and a baby’s smile. Some others, confusing and just make the count. Three stars, it is!