A thoughtful compilation of works about inspiration and growing older.
Parihar presents a brief collection of poetry on the anxieties of time, creativity, and authenticity.This book of 13 poems opens with an empath’s lament. “The Tragedy of a Sensitive Heart” illustrates the burden of being “sad in anyone’s sorrow and happy in anyone’s joy.” This sets the conscious, sensitive tone of the rest of the collection, with its deep ruminations on time and its inevitable passing, and on how what’s behind us often distracts from what’s to come. In “A Preoccupied Man,” readers meet a man who’s “never available / He desired to live in the moment,” but “Moments passed as they always do, / There wasn’t much he can do.” However, in “The Past,” another man is willing to kick down a door and face the past, present, and future for a temporal do-over. The poems broadly address loss, often pondering existential questions instead of telling specific stories, yet several note the regrets of a creative person striving for motivation. “A Poem of Instructions” combines these themes: “How to pass the test of time? / ….one needs to…find new inspirations.” Other poems lament spending energy on the inauthentic and the accumulation of worldly things. Parihar’s stanzas make heavy use of repetition, driving home each entry’s point with little ambiguity. Combined with the book’s overall pithiness, these encores in verse make the already sparse collection feel light, approachable, and easy to revisit. The poems’ order is subtly impressive; although nearly all share the theme of time passing, there are smaller connections, as well: “Anxieties” and “The Autumn Leaves,” for instance, share a preoccupation with nature—in the former, it’s distracting; in the latter, it’s decaying. This approach keeps any single entry from feeling like a non sequitur. The lone exception to this, though, is stylistic, not thematic: The book’s finale, “Deep down in my heart,” abandons the free verse that dominates the collection for a lyrical, sprinting composition—a stark contrast to the poet’s more meditative approach.
A thoughtful compilation of works about inspiration and growing older.
BOOK REVIEW Reviewed by Asher Syed for Readers' Favorite
Five Star Review
The Poems of Everyday by Vikas Parihar is a collection of original poetry that is primarily in free verse. It navigates themes of temporal existence and the struggle to find permanence within transient emotions and experiences. Take, for instance, A Preoccupied Man, which dissects the paradox of wanting to live in the present while being ensnared by past regrets and future worries. It critiques societal pressures and the constant battle against time, ultimately painting a poignant picture of the human predicament. Conversely, Deep Down in My Heart utilizes the Pantoum style to explore the fleeting nature of inner qualities and a yearning for deeper, more enduring connections. Parihar's collection eloquently captures the shared pursuit of meaning and permanence in the ordinary moments of life.
The Poems of Everyday by Vikas Parihar may not look particularly long at first glance, but the amount of time spent rereading and reflecting certainly makes it more engrossing than many longer collections. The standout poem to me is The Past, a free verse poem that probes impermanence, longing for change, and rumination on human existence. Its work is wonderfully contemplative, and I loved the analogy between the cycles of life, using autumn leaves as a metaphor for the ephemeral nature of existence. Parihar creatively critiques human behaviors and societal patterns, emphasizing the repetition of desires, struggles, and biases. Parihar's wish to alter the past symbolizes a universal longing for change. Throughout, Parihar's compilation shows us a rare and raw honesty that feels personal and strikingly authentic. Very highly recommended.
