A RIVER IN MY HEART

Parihar praises the natural world and contemplates the self in this poetry collection.

There’s an art to assembling a poetry collection. Parihar addresses this topic in a poem entitled, appropriately, “A Poetry Collection,” musing how poems on different topics work together to form a whole: “Each poem a window to a different world, / Where emotions unfurl and truths are unfurled. / From the depths of despair to the heights of love, / The collection resonates, like a dove.” Parihar does indeed offer many windows on disparate subjects, from the grandeur of nature to the ghostlike anxieties that creep up on him at night and even the particular struggles of the American middle class. The poet’s chosen form overwhelms the content of the poems, however. All 71 entries are composed of four-line stanzas with mostly AABB rhyme schemes. The effect is demonstrated by this trio of sequential offerings that celebrate three American cities: “The Manhattan” begins, “In the heart of a city that never sleeps, / Where dreams take flight and secrets keep, / Stands Manhattan, a beacon of light, / A skyline of wonder, a mesmerizing sight.” Next, “Los Angeles” starts with “In the land where sunshine reigns supreme, / Amidst the palm trees and silver screen, / There lies a city of dreams untold, / Where stories unfold, and legends behold.” And finally, “Chicago”: “In the city by the lake, where the wind whispers tales, / Chicago stands proud, where ambition prevails. / A skyline of steel, rising tall and bold, / In the heart of the Midwest, a story unfolds.” The repetition of this structure flattens all that it touches, blending poems together so that all differentiation dissolves. It would be one thing if the lines rang out, but the rhymes often feel forced. To revisit the stanza about poetry collections: Emotions unfurl, but truths are unfurled? Why? Does a dove resonate? Parihar has clearly enjoyed composing these poems, but he’ll need to try a bit harder—and maybe even vary his form—if he expects others to enjoy them as much as he does.

A monotone collection of high-minded poems.