‘The Mantra of Curiosity’ book review: An insightful poetry book

Imaginative ink renders something significant in us by stirring our thoughts and expanding our understanding. In the face of time, hope arises and so we weave dreams. These two tools ‘imagination’ and ‘hope’ make us alive. Imagination creates subjectivity through creativity and even during the period of romanticism, the weight of the world must have been placed on the shoulders of subjectivity.

English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge defined poetry as the best words in the best order. This collection of poems by Shiva Neupane fits perfectly with this definition.

Now let’s look at the modern or postmodern sense. The turning of pain to poetry is like golden metamorphosis. The human condition carries bags of struggle and can find a ground of consolation to rejuvenate the tiredness through poetry because expression is a consoling catharsis. Poetry sets a journey. Illusions get destroyed. Poets tend to love life.

Neupane’s poem is a pause from the rush of the modern world. Although time passes quickly and no one can be left out of it, poetry captures the moments. Readers can gain mental and nascent emotional photographs from these poems.

Neupane who lives in Australia tries to pick the fruits of truth through his poems in this collection. I like his subjectivity plus the analysis of the world around him. He is blessed with awareness of the world around him, and readers are lucky to gain insights and emotional satisfaction.

Making a chum is like wearing a T-shirt.

On a first day it looks awesome,

the following day it gets dilapidated. (I am my friend)

In the above lines from the poem entitled ‘I am my friend’ a very suitable comparison has been made, that making a new friend is only good in the initial days. The weight of the matter lies in the fact that a true friend of a person is his own self. If we are dissatisfied with ourselves we cannot be liberated by any one. A person needs to be a true friend of oneself. In these hard times one should befriend oneself and not lie to oneself.

If we were to die

what is the significance of being alive.

I wondered about this tantric saga

because it created the maze of curiosity. (What is Life?)

Here the poet muses about life. He calls life a tantric saga. Some mysterious nature of life is in question. Fathoming a life is a guess. The poet is curious about life.

Curiosity is a mantra,

an inexplicable tool if you will.

It drills through the boulder of ignorance,

and notoriously finds its way out. (The Fuel of curiosity)

The title of this book is ‘The Mantra of Curiosity’. Curiosity ignites sparks of knowledge. Mantra can mean the constant repetition of prayers in a literary way. If curiosity is of utmost importance like the mantras then we will see a way out of ignorance. To chant mantras, we need to be focused. If we are always curious our understanding will improve as the focus increases. 

I thank Neupane for this pure mantra which he has offered. I am sure readers will find their way to devotion and gateway to knowledge through this collection. Welcome to the tribe of poetry with this curious mantra Poet Shiva. 

Neupane has already introduced the Falang English Dictionary and he is also well known for his Falang Food Dictionary. This poetry collection proves that apart from being a lexicographer he is also a good poet. 

English Poetry

The Mantra of Curiosity 

Shiva Neupane

Price: Rs 200

Published by: Sneha Design and Print, Kathmandu