Not Your Town by Khwampa — Book Review
NaPoWriMo got over five days ago and this year was definitely not a good one. Although I wrote poems every day, I couldn’t just connect myself to the words. But keeping this aside, I read quite a few poetry books which gave me some inspiration, time and again, to keep me going. The last one to join was Not Your Town which surprised me pleasantly.
Not Your Town by Khwampa is a collection of poems containing a remarkable portrayal of art mixed with acute observation. These poems are a testimony to the author’s ability to speak about the rawness of human life and its unending loop of flaws. This book essentially depicts the way a human perceives his reality which is bound to change, over time.
The book covers several themes which are both important and often ignored. It could be poverty, government, our self-centric mindset, introvertedness, modern human, corruption, family values, so on and so forth. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Khwampa’s poems which are closer to the revelation of the murky truth than the rhyme. The poems are more inclined toward speaking about the ugly reality rather than weaving webs of beautiful fantasy.
What I absolutely liked was the fact that the author disapproved of the conformity. He insisted on speaking his mind and that, perhaps, made his work of art truly incredible. Although I didn’t get the hang of a few verses, others won my heart instantly. Highlighting my favourite here:
individuality is ok. but there’s a different island
under everyne’s feet, no one is aware of another’s existence
and we dare to speak of love and harmony. every piece here
is a lie,
every piece screams alone, but the whole picture remains silent.
If you are open to reading unconventional literature and love poetry, you might definitely like this. And how can I forget to mention that the cover would, for sure, draw you into reading the book.