Memoir of a Mirror

I hold a memoir on the diaphanous surface. The quill of my soul scribbles the cryptic encrypted notes. The enclosed myriad secrets flutter, but it never reflects on the gossamer skin. The nuance of emotion is glum on its fragility. Though it never spills the quintessence fearing it may blur the mirror blocking the vision of entities.

My honesty and clarity, the virtues invite your blind faith on me. I venerate your penchant for me for which I gift a glimpse of you. As a sculpture’s brilliance I present the pristine carving of your physical self! Though the truth is not what you see or perceive but what my humble glassy skin show you. This awareness pricks me as a curse in recluse.

I have surrendered myself.  I acquiesce to be wholly holy to escape the labyrinth of illusion remain a desire as I am exposed to the truth that I am not required for anyone to see their inner self or the transparent beauty they behold in utter divinity. So what I reflect you is not YOU but ME as you. So I weep when I see you admire your transience the mere illusion of the beauty of your mortal flesh. The true grace and the glow of your eternal soul don’t reflect through my gossamer as your eyes are blind with earthy vision and prevent to see the real charisma that needs inner vision but not mirror.

Still, I relish the silent monologues, your absent mind let go off freely in front of my existentially absent presence. In spite of I secretly seek thy earnest attention to share my feeble melancholy. Rather your images vanish as you leave me forgetting even to acknowledge my silly deed. I am bound to remain as a memoir and the secret admiration and desperation of yours haunt me that swirl as guilty and produce tears that vaporise before anyone notice it. I am destined to be just a medium to introduce your physical self and any sort of lingering that is not in my help won’t serve me or others.

What you see at times is deceptive!

Memoir of a Mirror

Shimmering Chimes by Reviewed by Kumarendra Mallick

Poetry, says the legendary poet William Wordsworth, is an overflow of powerful feelings. I shall beg to differ from the master with due respect and say ‘Poetry is a shimmering Chime’, the music and the rhythm emanating from the heart. Poetry, it is said, one must enjoy before understanding it. I agree with this view point. All the sixty lovely poems in Shimmering Chime of Maaya Dev I have enjoyed before understanding the deep philosophical undercurrent of the sea she has created in it.

When Maaya asked me if I shall be interested to review her anthology Shimmering Chimes, I agreed for two reasons, first, I consider it an honour and second, I shall get a chance to read the works of an upcoming poet.

In order to review a book of verses one need to consider the poet to be a bundle of poems, for the moonlight that reaches the earth often pass through the cloud! The poet and the poems can’t be separated. The mind is just a bundle of thoughts.

Maaya’s canvas is very vast; her first poem, Hare Krishna, carries the shades of the blue sky. Her brush picks up the same tone again in Krishna, My Lord… (p.60) and Sat Chit Ananda … Bliss (p.62). With this I don’t conclude that the anthology is replete with devotional themes. Her pendulum swings between divine and sensual. Imagination builds images and the poet can view beyond the unseen.

Maaya wakes up to this reality in her poem, The Awakening and sings,
Embrace of the unknown
From the womb of mystery
Search for unseen from seen
And from finite to infinite

Even the silhouette of Maaya’s creation is enchanting. Her ‘smirk conceals on the curve of her lips.’ In Divine Silhouette the poet hears ‘melodies in nightingale’s cadence.’ In Love of My love the poet spills the secret,
I clasp your breath
under inner flame
that torches dimness
of unfamiliar sparks

The poet has an inner ear to hear the silence, ‘Under my saddled feelings/I stay as midnight silence (Escaping Ebony). She gets fearless while giving birth to her creation; in Birth of a Poem she confides,

Amid an intense silence
I embraced my desires slyly
swaying away fears aside

The poet glorifies womanhood. Her characters are charismatic, brave, mystic and forever a ‘smoking ember burning, giving and forgiving’ (A Living Enigma’. Maaya is very fond of this land, from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. She carries a positive vive and is ever hopeful of reaching the sky,
Beyond my reach
Lay a world of dreams.
My arms fall short.
Yet they try to reach
To grab those glitters

Yes Maaya, you shall one day win all the hearts, nationally and internationally.

 Shimmering Chimes Review

Shimmering Chimes - Reviewed by Padmaja Iyengar

It was Edgar Allan Poe who said, “Poetry is the rhythmical creation of beauty in words”.

As I read the poems in ‘Shimmering Chimes’ by Poet Maaya Dev, I was also reminded of another quote by Plutarch who said “Painting is silent poetry and poetry is painting that speaks”. With each poem, Poet Maaya Dev has sketched such a beautiful word picture that all that an artist has to do, is to fill in the colours and create a painting. Sample this:

There, I see a lucid reflection
smiling at me from inner mirror.
There I see You ! I see me!
Ah! I see me in You!
Hare Krishna!!
(‘Hare Krishna’ - Page 25)

As I read the above lines, an ethereal image of Lord Krishna with His many-splendoured “Maaya” formed in my mind effortlessly. It was not difficult to fathom what the Poet Maaya Dev is trying to communicate!

And ‘Hare Krishna’ is the very first poem in this collection! Every poem in ‘Shimmering Chimes’ amply demonstrates that Poet Maaya Dev had a clear image in her mind of the word pictures she intended to create and imprint them in the readers’ mind. Not an easy task. But the poet has done this with much aplomb and remarkable felicity. Yet, these word pictures are not simple …

The entire book is a reflection of Poet Maaya Dev’s inner quest, as she looks deep within herself to search for answers to an elusive spiritual bliss, illusory tranquility and the ultimate peace or Nirvana! For this, she has used various themes as tools in her poems – divinity, love, yearning, romance, nature and so on…yet somewhere in each poem, her deep spirituality is invariably reflected, embedded in some sensitively penned lines here and intelligent wordplay there ..

Picture this in the poem ‘Awakening’ (Page 29)

Beyond space and time
through the celestial veil
an enigmatic sojourn unfolds
a path paving towards salvation.
….
Galore of awareness explode
Capturing moments of rhapsody
Herald of golden bliss sparkles
as soul rejoices to the awakening.

As I read this poem, I felt something stir within me, as if I too am with the poet on a quest for “salvation”… And this is the beauty of Maaya Dev’s poetry! While each poem in the book is a soulful narration of her own quest, the reader too is involuntarily drawn into her quest, as the poem progresses… The poet has this amazing ability to make the reader own each of her poems and identify something of one’s own inner being in them!

‘Shimmering Chimes’ clearly shows that it is not Poet Maaya Dev who found words for her poems; it is the words that found their way into her poems and permeated them with their beauty and fragrance… and this is so well expressed in these lines:

With an inborn quest, I devoured for an indulgence
to chase for precise words to embellish my emotions.
In the musing I compose you to gift a mystic guise.
But loquacious silence conveyed irony with a smirk.

… and I with a dalliance of my dreams
of the‘Unwritten Poetry’ is yet to be born …

(‘Unwritten Poetry – Page 81-82)

At one level, it would seem easy to club the poems in ‘Shimmering Chimes’ into categories eg.:

‘Hare Krishna’ (Page 25), ‘Uncertainty!’ (Page 55), ‘Krishna, My Lord …!!’(Page 60), ‘Cosmic Play’ (Page 61), ‘Sat Chit Ananda – Bliss’(Page 62), ‘Oh Master ! Accept my Last Salute’ (Page 64), ‘Divine Transformation’ (Page 65), ‘Luncheon with God …!’ (Page 83) – Page 25 as poet’s engagement and conversations with her God

Certain is thy uncertainty!
Uncertainty though speak
Certainty of Heisenberg

(‘Uncertainty!’- Page 55 – the poet’s intelligent reference in this poem to the well-known Haisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle of Quantum Mechanics is truly commendable!)

‘Beacon of Enlightenment‘(Page 26), Awakening’ (Page 29), ‘Desert Rose’, (Page 31), ‘A Walk to Remember …!’ (Page 44), ‘Unrealistic Glimpses’ (Page 45), ‘Life’s Quest’ (Page 56), ‘Holy Bath’ (Page 58), ‘Wake Up Call’ (Page 63), ‘Aurora and Avalanche’ (Page 84), ‘Beyond’ (Page 88), ‘How Far Will I Go?’ (Page 89) and quite a few other poems as poet’s quest for spirituality

A tireless struggle
looks for an answer
to analyze all strives
everywhere, every second.

('Life's Quest' - Page 56)

‘Birth of a Poem’ (Page 28), ‘Divine Silhouette’(Page 32), ‘Scattered Verses’ (Page 47), ‘World of Words’ (Page 77-78), ‘Twinkle Twinkle my Little Poems’ (Page 79-80) and a few others as the Poet’s life-long affair with poetry at different levels.

Yet, few more rejections
He dares to face as strives
on every submission
which assures to surpass until
he embraces his due acceptance
as a writer’s resurrection.

(‘Few More Rejections – Page 35)

And so on…

However, at another level, Poet Maaya Dev’s poems are so multi-layered that each reading would throw up myriad interpretations. The poems in ‘Shimmering Chimes’ resonate with multiple meanings – testing and challenging the reader’s comprehension. Such is Poet Maaya Dev’s thought process that it functions at different levels to use poetic devices and tools to come up with poetry that is at once spiritual, metaphysical, philosophical, romantic, mystical and at times seemingly obvious …

My personal favorites are these three because in one I found the kind of rhyming scheme I follow in my own poetry, another appealed to my ever-present sense of humour (though the poem, as usual, goes beyond this genre) and the third because I could identify with it totally.

Riddle of a vague maze
On the pathway of haze
An ironic style of gaze.

(‘Transient…!-Page 87)

Silly, such a silly word! 
Yes, it sounds silly too 
I write silly, often I feel

(‘How Silly!-Page 51)

As phoenix risen from hopeless life
They sail through invisible wings with a will
to win infinite impossibilities of life

(‘Ability beyond Disability-Page 33)

Poem after poem in this slim collection of 60 poems, leads you deeper and deeper into Poet Maaya Dev’s world – her world of spirituality as she sees it and tries to achieve it… It is said that there are many paths to heaven and each one charters one’s own course to attain it…some of us falter, some of us stumble, and some of us have a clear vision of how they have to reach it!

Poet Maaya Dev’s poetry impacts us at two levels – as human beings having a spiritual experience and as spiritual beings having a human experience. Get what I mean?

As I began reading ‘Shimmering Chimes’, it seemed as if I was hearing some chimes from a great distance – shimmering and beckoning me! With each poem I seemed to move closer to those chimes …!

My recommendation to all lovers of poetry would be to not miss the multi-layered poetry experience called ‘Shimmering Chimes’ by the highly talented and expressive wordsmith Poet Maaya Dev.

I would like to conclude this review with a quote of the great Paulo Coelho:

‘The spiritual path can only be travelled through the daily experience of love”

And ‘Shimmering Chimes’ is a fine demonstration of this

Shimmering Chimes by Maaya Dev
Author Press
Pages93 ISBN978-93-5207-110-4 PriceRs. 195/- USD 10/-

'Shimmering Chimes' by Maaya Dev by Padmaja Iyengar - Paddy

Shimmering Chimes Reviewed by Dr A V Koshy

On Maaya Dev's Shimmering Chimes.

I was honoured to be given a complimentary copy of this book by this magnanimous lady who is also an incredibly gritty and admirable fighter against the tides of life. It is her first collection of poems. The publisher has to be congratulated on coming up with a memorable front cover that encapsulates its inside beautifully. 

She has become a presence on the Indian Writing in English scene, having made a mark on her fb wall, in Rejected Stuff, Destiny Poets, Story Mirror, Kaafiyana and in anthologies like The Significant Anthology. Praised by writers of the calibre of Santosh Bakaya, Reena Prasad and even Vihang Naik in a comment, she does not need my recommendation.

Yet, I still feel like saying a few words. Her poems are passionate, intense and full of emotional longing and just to get a glimpse of these feelings that are volcanic and simmering, waiting to erupt, underneath the calm exterior of her spiritual poetry, it is worth reading her.

I look forward to her next collection. In the hands of a classy editor, she will become not only a keen lover of poetry and a much loved poet who is an exciting talent and debutante on the stage of world poetry, but also a remarkable one who writes great poems and I, for one, plan to follow her flight to higher realms in her art.

Wishing her the very best in her future journey as one who is rapidly evolving into a world-class poet. 

Dr Koshy A.V.

Poet, Editor, Critic, Essayist

SHIMMERING CHIMES Reviewed by Elizabeth Kuriakose

My debut review of a wonderful collection of poems by dear friend and accomplished poetess Maaya.

Sitting up late with “Shimmering Chimes” was a real treat – a shimmering, glittering one. Maaya Dev's poetry ensured the transition to the next day, without my noticing it – such was her mastery over language and the poesy of her words.

Her poems evoke images and feeling in equal measure. She comes across as a warm, tender, sometimes tad lonely writer who is passionate about words.

Her complete devotion to Lord Krishna is evident in the many poems this book contains, in his praise -

“There I see You! I see me
Ah! I see me in you!
Hare Krishna!!” she surmises in “ Hare Krishna”, the very first poem in her collection. “Krishna my Lord....!!”.
“Sat Chit Ananda-Bliss” and “Divine Transformation” are the other Krishna-centric poems where she sings praise to her favourite deity.

That nothing can quell her spirit is evident in her words ,

"Though the destined journey can't be impeded /
when ability beyond disability reigns” in her poem “Ability beyond Disability”.

Sheer imagery runs through “Confessions of a leaf”. Travails of a writer are brought out in “Few More Rejections”. Her loneliness shyly peeps through in “Symphonies of Soliloquy”, wherein she says:

“You are my eternal desire
When you look and smile
I catch myself jealous
A tear drop falls and says
You don’t belong to me”.

A poet’s tryst with the illusory comes to the fore in “Unrealistic Glimpses”that states ;

“I am surrendering
my reality for a lie
I am in love with”

That writing is her life is evident in several poems– “Birth of a Poem”, “World of Words”, “Twinkle Twinkle My Little poems”.

She plays with rhymes in “Transient” –

“Memories may ruffle
Tragedies do muffle
Few hopes go shuffle”

By definition, a poem expresses what language cannot—whether it is hope, despair, success, failure, alienation or love . All sixty poems in “Shimmering Chimes” bear testimony to this. . I read the whole book in one sitting, and found that the end came too soon. I look forward to future projects by Maaya. I highly recommend this book. Grab a copy of this inspiring collection today.

Elizabeth Kuriakose

SHIMMERING CHIMES @ AMAZON

SHIMMERING CHIMES @ FLIPKART

HAT- TRICK @ DESTINY POETS UK CRITIC AWARDS- ICOP ROLL OF HONOUR 2015

So glad and excited to get the Hat-Trick Critic Award @ Destiny Poets UK, ICOP: Roll in the months June, July August 2015. 


Destiny Poets’ International Community of Poets ( ICOP ) are pleased to announce that for June 2015 , the following works have been chosen in the categories of Poem of the Month and Highly Commended . Poem of the Month ..*** Living in the Shadows – John Anthony Fingleton***…..In the Category of Highly Commended ( tabulated alphabetically ) are the following… ** An End Must Come – Joel Ogunjimi **…..** (The) Dungeon – Rashmi Malapur **…..** Father,what is the color of your affection ? – Sangeeta Suneja **…..** Freedom – Diwakar Pokhriyal **…..** Hospice – Rahul Aithal **…..** Journey of Clouds – Rakesh Ramachandran **…..** Little Birdie – Fatima Afshan **…..** Long and short – Gopal Lahiri **…..** My Boy of Nine – Nalini Srivastava **…..** (The) Promised Oasis – Sana Rose **…..** Spaces of Faith – Marieta Maglas **…..** You’re my inspiration – Ramesh Rai…..** and the ICOP CRITIC Award for June goes to… Gopal Lahiri & Maaya Dev.

Destiny Poets’ International Community of Poets ( ICOP ) are pleased to announce that for July 2015 , the following works have been chosen in the categories of Poem of the Month and Highly Commended . Poem of the Month ..*** The Last Whistle – Rekha Moothedath ***…..In the Category of Highly Commended ( tabulated alphabetically ) are the following… ** Chakkakuru – Sarala Ramkamal **…..** (The) Change – Fathima Manal **…..** Forever Torn – Elizabeth Hexberg **…..** Kernel of Danger – Witty Fay **…..** Lonely Luna – Elizabeth Kuriakose **…..** Masters of Quill – Ankita Chaturvedi **…..** Nightscape – Vineetha Mekkoth **…..** (The) Power of Words – Pramila Khadun **…..** Ragakhamaj – Kuchibhotla Sarada **…..** True Nature – Sunila Kamal **…..** We Rang Her Bell – Iulia Gherghei **…..** Yearning For A Smile – Fatima Afshan **…….and the ICOP CRITIC award for July goes to..Elizabeth Kuriakose AND Maaya Dev.

Destiny Poets’ International Community of Poets ( ICOP ) are pleased to announce that for August 2015 , the following works have been chosen in the categories of Poem of the Month and Highly Commended . Poem of the Month ..*** New Delhi 1966 – Vijay Nair ***…..In the Category of Highly Commended ( tabulated alphabetically ) are the following… ** Apotheosis – Jan Christian Sorensen **…** Bless Us Together – Smitha Bharathan **…** Denial – Sana Rose **…** Eternal Bond – Ramesh Rai **…** Freedom – Joel Ogunjimi **…** Hectares of Land – Tapeshwar Prasad **…** It’s Your soul – Jan Phillips **…** Love and Self – Rakesh Ramachandran **…** Now and Then – Gopal Lahiri **…** Pangong Lake – Rahul Aithal **…** The Tree that She Planted – Santosh Bakaya **…** The Uninhibited – Nalini Srivastava **… And the Award for ICOP CRITIC for the month goes to.. Pramila Khadun AND Sarala Ramkamal AND Maaya Dev..

ICOP Rll of Honour Destiny Poets