Book review: The Forest I Know, a gathering of tanka verses by Kala Ramesh

the forest i know, a gathering of tanka verses by Kala Ramesh. HarperCollins Books.

---

                     

                 

---

Tanka is a five-line lyrical form of poetry which originated in Japan, and Kala Ramesh peppers the pages of this book with evocative lines that you read with a sympathetic quirk of the lips or a soft sigh of empathy, and then read again for a deeper appreciation of the emotions contained therein. The brevity and simplicity of the lines are exquisitely deceptive, holding as they do a world of meaning in them.

The tankas touch on the inner self, the outer self, the forests, trees, streams, rivers, Olive Ridley turtles, love requited and unrequited, longing, pain, loss. And more, of course.

It`s a beautiful book to keep on your nightstand and dip into, often and on.