Impressions on Mukul Kumar's poetry collection "Catharsis" by Naheed Akhtar

Impressions on Mukul Kumar's poetry collection Catharsis

Naheed Akhtar

The ingredients that flow in the blood are rarely soluble. Mukul Kumar's poetry is miraculous in its fashion, flowing through the reader’s veins like O+ blood, healing universally. While I mark his poetry as an encapsulation for every aching soul on earth, I do not waver in my assurance of the personal touch it renders to an individual. His poetry reminds me of Chaucer, the father of English poetry, who classifies the classes through individuals. This particular poetry collection "Catharsis" nourishes the oceanic sensibility, fluttering like currents in the abyss of your soul.

While I endeavor to sum up Mukul Kumar's Catharsis in my words, I am reminded of the Classics, Romantics Modernists, and Revolutionaries simultaneously, as his poetry is royal, subjective, contemporary and specific. By doing so, I am pretty aware that I am attempting to bear the ocean into an ounce.

For instance, his poem "Mr. Das" pluralizes the typicality of the types by depicting the singularity. This poem is unapologetically susceptible to comprehension by all means of one's understanding. The elements of "Mr. Das" attribute the characteristics of Chaucerian characters of the "Canterbury Tales", such as the Merchant, the Lawyer, the Clerk, etc

"Mortgaged identity" (Mr. Das, Catharsis, P. 2).

"Mr. Das stands squeezed

Into the stillness of the racing train,

His refuge calling him aloud;" (Mr. Das, Catharsis, P. 2).

His poetry invites the readers to access the depths of the symbolism that resembles to John Donne's remote and isolated imagery, that widens the intellectual ability of imagining the farthest. A normal reader might fail to reach the vast lengths and breadths beneath the surfacial canvas of comprehension.

"The silvery hue from

The radiant moon!

But it no longer dispels the

Darkness over inner horizon.

Alas, if my moon were

Not blown out by

One ambitious head, and

Two strong feet!" (My Moon is Lost, Catharsis, P. 36)

His poetry invariably speaks to his melancholy that exists with him with every sigh of him.

"The clouds of an overcast self

Will never rain;

They are torn asunder by the

Ever-expanding skies of..." (My Pitiable Pity, Catharsis, p. 49)

"The census conveys concern

Over the declining

Female to Male ratio;

Between the conception of

An exalted existence,

And he reality of

The social marginalization,

Lie a few missing women, or

A few missing men?" (Missing Men, Catharsis, P. 54)

His poetry is an eternally aching soul for the fact that it is alive. And it will be alive for the generations to come as it breathes universality.

He says, "I am the volume,

Transfigured out of the ether,

To thrive in this garb." (Catharsis, P. 10)

Mukul Kumar is a civil servant, novelist and poet. He belongs to the 1997 batch of Indian Railway Traffic Service. Presently he is working in the Railway Board, Ministry of Railways. His published works include three novels, ‘As Boys Become Men', ‘Seduction by Truth' and ‘Lost in the Love Maze', and two poetry anthologies, ‘The Irrepressible Echoes' and ‘Rhythm of the Ruins'. Mukul has made a foray into Hindi writing as well by translating his debut English fiction “As Boys Become Men”. It has been published as “Aarohi”.

Mukul has been honoured with the National award for outstanding service to the Indian Railways, Bharat Nirman award for literary excellence by Bharat Nirman Foundation, and Poorvanchal Gaurav samman for his contributions to society as a bureaucrat and writer. His latest poetry collection “Rhythm of the Ruins” achieved the distinction of being recommended for Sahitya Akademi Award, 2024. This third poetry collection “Catharsis”, which was published earlier, has now been published in a new avatar.