Jesal has always been drawn to making beautiful connections with seemingly disparate ideas. When a haiku juxtaposes two disparate images, out of the synergy jumps a new, nuanced meaning.

If we look at urban existence, it is fraught with dissonance: the push and pull of expectations, the contradictions within roles, and also-- unexpected, raw beauty. So, haiku and tanka seem to Jesal as perfect forms for expressing this fractured, beautiful ordinary life.

Written from the perspective of a young woman, the poems in Tanpura's Strum draw from the themes of love, heartbreak, loss, motherhood, the progression of time and nature. Set on a wide-ranging canvas of the natural world --beaches, forests and urban flora-- as well as the domestic --cafes, homes and street life, the poems rest on nectar-like moments that make us feel most alive, impassioned and at other times soul-crushingly human.

Guavas pop-up here as do sunflowers, nieces and lovers. Playful and brooding, heart-breaking and exultant, these poems strobed in watercolor art, revel as much in the lushness of nature as the depth of feelings found within a human heart.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Global Collective Publishers
Published: 08/10/2021
ISBN: 9781954021327
Pages: 224