Sailing through memories

Young poet Ravikiran Kasula takes a trip down memory lane with his anthology of poems in ‘Oceanic Sail’

‘Oceanic sail’ is an anthology of poems brilliantly penned by a young poet Ravikiran Kasula. The book has 94 poems and are connected with nostalgia, experience from his life as they do, two central issues: the illusion and unexpected consequences of love in life and the stark realities of life.

His first poem reveals the cultural shock he faced in a new world. The isolation and a sense of loss make him yearn for his roots. To sail smoothly in the life, one has to compromise or try to overcome the unfavourable situations to meet the ruthless demands of life.

“One day at heaven, 12 at hell,
what earth we are on,
that it takes 13 days to go around the sun.”

In his second poem, he tried to explain how a salty nostalgia becomes a part of the vanishing past. The poet tried to recollect old memories, when time thrashed the essence of past.

‘Writer’s block’ and ‘Forgotten memories’ are the poems which explain the traumatic state of the poet. When he lost his words to oblivion, he just kept writing the name of his beloved over and over again filling all pages. But when he was trapped between real and the surreal crippled by the amputation of the language, he could not cross the distances.
“Emotions unable to be expressed though,
the world is marvellous, yet life so cruel.”

A lover always describes his love, opening up like floral petals and speaking in a fragrance language. The poet's creation has often been a continuous engagement with harks and nostalgia in the past. He will fall asleep when his angels are crying. There is a stream of mourning and sadness, which tells the entire tune of poetic creativity. Ravi Kiran attracts an emotional equation with the world around him. We have found a manual response moving from him.

The premature death of the poet's brother is a shock to him. He desperately asks God to give a rebirth to his lost brother. He asks for a wish if God really exists. He wants another chance to bid goodbye to his brother as he could not play his part as a true brother.

“Brother! Please come back to me, I want to trade my lifefor yours.”

He unveils himself in different angles. At times 'he is a lost sailor' in the sea of life, a wayward wanderer in a vast wide world. 'His dreams in his shirt pocket' as a wounded warrior of love, he never accepts defeat. The poet exhibited his remarkable skills of observation, description apart from an extraordinary command of the language. Ravikiran’s vast sweep and mastery over language skills make him a prospective poet in the near future.

Despite the diversity in the writings, the richness of the content along with clarity and expression are harmonised to a great extent.

By: Dr G Balakrishna