A slim anthology of soulful poems

Vijay Koganti is well known in the Telugu literary circles of both AP and Telangana. He is a lecturer by profession, a writer by choice, a translator by interest, a literary critic by avocation.

Creative writing is his first love and the anthology under review,"Oka Adivaram Sayantram"(On a Sunday Evening) just holds a mirror to his poetic skills, which have been well honed over a period of say 15 years.

The 50- odd poems in the collection are written at different times and published in different leading Telugu newspapers and magazines.

These poems present motley of themes and about 16 of them are written in the first person but the speaker in them is not necessarily the poet himself. In the rest of the poems, we come across sometimes a satirist, a lonely person longing for something, or a keen observer, commenting on something beautiful or the one he loved and lost.

In assessing the worth of a poem, the reader usually looks for the use of the idiom in it, the theme and its relevance and appeal. In many of his poems, Vijay showcases his love for the idiom as he dexterously uses it, creating lasting impressions.

The poems, "Ankela Password", and "Ee Tech Nagarikathalo Manam" make a tongue-in-cheek statement about the flip side of technology in our lives.

In the poem,"Maakem Kavalo Meeku Baaga Telusu", the poet makes a poignant statement about how our political system has failed us.

The poem, "Maataku Maata" runs like a playful dialogue between a person and his coy mistress. In the title poem,"Oka Adivaram Sayantram",the reader finds a middle class man along with his family indulge in window shopping. This one and the poem,"Maakem Kavalo Meeku Baaga Telusu" thematically have universal appeal as the predicament of the common man is the same everywhere.

As every poem here treats the reader with some beautiful and imaginative lines, this slim anthology is indeed like a Sunday evening, entertaining and leisurely enjoyable.