Late Rains - Mohankumar

Book Review
Mohan Kumar
Late RainsThiruvananthapuram : Folio Publishers-Distributors. 2009.
Pages – 88. Price - Rs.160.


Endearing anthology from a seasoned poet
Mohankumar’s ‘Late Rains’ is a collection of 63 poems, his sixth. The collection is rich in its emotive content, appealing narrative and forceful expression. Reading this anthology and may be a careful study, ‘…..sitting by the window of your book-lined study, read on, over a steaming cup of tea, now looking out on the gently falling rain, ….’ (Late Rains p.9)

will, without doubt, prove rewarding, refreshing and enjoyable. Even though Mohankumar feels that the black clouds have drifted away, throughout the entire length of this anthology, one can still discern the intense personal grief that drives the poet to move his pen. As the poet puts it, 

‘Beneath the solid crust,
a seething molten core’

(This Earth p.10) 

is concealed, deep within. ‘That was not to be’ (p.15) is simple in narration, but portrays a vivid picture of an event, highly saturated with its emotive content Here is a poem that makes the reader vibe exactly the same way as the poet would have wanted. 

‘You too thought so.
You did, I know.

But that was not to be.’

(That was not to be p.15) 

These are words that convey more than their meanings, situations that churn you, emotions that eat away your very consciousness. ‘The Leaving’ (p.16) is again a canvas, accurate in details, poignant in its presentation and highly charged meshing into simple, down to earth sentimentality of the living – the overflowing pain born out of her leaving.

‘I call to her,
‘Aye, where are you?
It’s getting late.’
No response.
I look around, see her
in the now-bare bedroom,
weeping.

Years later,
lying on the cranked-up hospital bed,
between bouts of spasms,
she said to me with a smile,
‘This morning, the doctor said,
“Don’t worry; you’ll get well soon.”

‘There was something about it,
about that smile,
something enigmatic.
Do the dying know
when death is only a few hours away?’

‘The Jewels’ (p.18) is yet another one, extremely powerful both in its emotive and semantic content and profundity of expression. The poet has fully succeeded in translating the intensity of his reaction to the nostalgia that he experiences on the sight of those jewels and handing it over to his readers. In ‘Loneliness’ (p.20) he concludes: 

‘and it sits heavy on your unquiet chest
and you are short of breath.’ 

Turning a little philosophical he confesses, 

‘…………………..The wise,
he knew, do not grieve; but he was not wise,
that way. Grief ate into his vitals.’ 

But as time drifted away, 

‘in the morning, he stood out in the sun, felt
the first touch of spring creep into his bones.’

(The Harbinger.p.24)

It is this realisation that there is warm sunshine outside (p.24) and the fact of his having ‘felt a new strength pouring in’ (p.88) that prompted him, that urged him to write many of the poems that appear in this anthology – and it is this very process of pain, withdrawal and coming back that make them powerful and invigorating to read. Even so, the poet’s mind, resting beside the blooming rose-bush is still in a state of subdued hallucination and refuses to accept the finality of the loss. 

‘For deep in my heart,
I know this for sure:
before the rains come,

you will be with me,
never to part again.’

(Before the Rains Come. p.30) 

‘A Few Tricks of Magic’, (p.34) speaks perhaps of an uneasy official tenure, if he had one, and of which I beg to know nothing. ‘There was a Time’ (p.37) is a beautifully constructed poem, rich in its semantic content and conveyed with a force that penetrates.

Beautiful (p.69) is a piece of well-crafted satire at its best. Bonsai with a Difference (p.67) again looks like a piece of fine satire aimed at our present day education system – we emphasise in plucking them young and turn them out, shrunk and diminutive, unfit even for firewood. Mohankumar is able to metaphorize simple, observed facts of life into generalities with meanings within the apparent with ease and in a beautifully appealing manner. Little Blue Flower (p.56) is a very short poem of just three lines, but highly expressive, eloquently states his approach to his fellow beings. ‘Reading Poetry with Ayyappa Paniker’ (p.22) is his personal reminiscence of the well-known Malayalam poet and an insight into what Paniker, the person was. Words seem to follow him, tag themselves behind every little movement in his mind rather than his looking for words. The morphological arrangement of words, the word to word bonding in these poems are of a superior order and place Mohankumar’s poems in this anthology on par with those of the most acknowledged, anywhere.

Mohankumar’s anthology ‘Late Rains’ is good reading material and is undoubtedly the best of all his published works. From a critical one is tempted to rate the present volume as excellent – perfect syntax, morphology, rich in semantic and emotive content, rich in picturesque canvassing and metaphorizing, all that goes to make them endearing to the reader.

M.Mohankumar is a familiar name in the world of contemporary Indian English Poetry. This is his sixth book of poems, others being ‘Pearl Diver,’ 1988, ‘Half Opened Door,’ 2000, ‘Nightmares and Daydreams,’ 2002, ‘The Moon Has Two Faces,’ 2004 and ‘The Diwan’s Discomfiture and Other Poems,’ 2007. Mr.Mohankumar retired as Chief Secretary, Govt.of Kerala and resides at Thiruvananthapuram.