Poet-diplomat Abhay K’s latest collection, Stray Poems, defies categorisation

From travel to Partition to the functioning of the bureaucracy, the poems touch upon multiple issues

Written by: Jonaki Ray

4 min readDec 3, 2022 02:00 PM IST

Stray Poems by Abhay K; Paperwall Publishing; 106 pages; Rs 400 (Photo: Amazon.in)

Poet-diplomat Abhay K’s latest collection, Stray Poems, cannot be categorised into a single theme. There are poems that are descriptions of places, like the ancient Nalanda and the traveller Hiuen Tsang’s journey to it and its modern resurgence, as well as the Tiger’s Nest Monastery in Bhutan. Along with these, there are poems that are odes to all the planets and more “earthly” matters, such as work and even love.

The Partition of the Indian subcontinent and the accession of Kashmir into India is described in The Partitioned Land, inspired by TS Eliot’s, The Waste Land (1922). The poem begins with: “August is the deadliest month, bringing/ hatred out of the ancient land, mixing/ partition memories and hope, stirring/ passion with monsoon rains…”

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The poem, Bureaucrab, is particularly biting in its humorous satire and descriptions of the power hierarchy that will be familiar to anyone who has dealt with official-babudom in any manner. (Photo: Amazon.in)

It also describes the history and strategy of “the shrewdest politician in the British Empire, Lord Mountbatten”, and ends with the topical — given that this year is the 75th anniversary of the cataclysmic Partition that remains a traumatic and divisive memory even today — lines: “Oh! the colonial masters, they are not your friends,/ don’t keep them forever, with their beaks/ they will partition the ancient land again/ chanting — Mea culpa, Mea Culpa!”

Abhay continues with the repercussions of conflict and war with two other poems, The Fire Sermon and Diplomacy, that are inspired by Eliot as well, yet brings his unique style of adapting current surroundings to the poems through the power of his imagery. Additionally, the fact that life goes on and people go about with their mundane lives despite the tragedies happening in other parts of the world is brought out in The Fire Sermon and reminds one of WH Auden’s Musée de Beaux Arts (1939).

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The other unique set of poems is about the working life of a bureaucrat — an officer babu, a topic usually not found in poetry! The poem, Bureaucrab, is particularly biting in its humorous satire and descriptions of the power hierarchy that will be familiar to anyone who has dealt with official-babudom in any manner. Consider these lines: “Here comes the bureaucrab/ through the betel-stained corridors of power/ of Kama-Bhawan/ wearing his well-groomed smile…/…Bare Saheb enters office/ (the first kind act of the morning)/ Salam saheb, the lowly peon greets meekly/ good morning Sir, knights the personal assistant/ Sir…Sir…Sir… parrot subordinates…”

Another poem that describes the work routine but with a shift of tone is Work. Dedicated to the American poet, Natasha Trethewey, it describes the routine drudgery of a 9-5 job, somewhat like her collection, Domestic Work (2000), and its titular poem that describes the life of women as domestic workers.

All in all, the collection makes for an interesting read, and one is glad that these ‘strays’ got a home after all!

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Jonaki Ray is a poet, writer, and editor based in New Delhi. Her poetry collection, Firefly Memories (Copper Coin Publishing) and chapbook, Lessons in Bending (Sundress Publications) are forthcoming in 2023