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Wednesday 20 January 2021

Lost The Art of Staying Lost Book Two by Sakshi Narula Review


"Feelings of bleak euphoria, building on a high with so much emotion conveyed in every word.  Then falling  down to earth with a realistic thud."  - My words.

Lost The Art of Staying Lost Book Two transcends all the words and expressions you have ever read in other poetry. Conveyed with so much depth and feeling there's a real sense of loss, futile love that burned with golden embers.  Then fizzled out with a break up.  Parting, suddenly, going away.  Not so much as losing someone to death, or bereavement.  Although it could well be, but more betrayal. Betrayed by love, a lover.  Building up hope,of fulfillment and promise. A risky beginning, lasting for eternity only to have it shattered into a thousand shards.  

Uns demonstrates being love sick, the body behaving and mimicking the symptoms of bodily ailments which feel akin to having all your emotions and heart ripped. Replaced with emptiness.  Watching the world from the inside out whilst others are oblivious.  Seen also in Chenab "Nerves, skin, heart tongue and bones that ached for more so bad that I had forgotten I exist.  My jaws have been in pain..."

Love comes in all shapes, love of parents, love of children, loss too.  As well as a soul mate. That one true, pure love who will have the same feelings and love for you.  Then suddenly it's gone. Was it ever real.  

Healing poem made me think of loss, the loss of losing a father, mine.  Perhaps that wasn't the intention, being about a lover; but to me it spoke of heartfelt grief when life is cheated by unexpected death.  In many ways akin to the passing of love and all the enrichment it brings to our lives.  Providing a semblance, a brief segment of closure.

Octopus asks if those we have lost feel the same pain, or are we just a distant memory, a passing phase of the moon.  Do lovers just move on, carefree?  Questions not asked by me.  Since most of us don't want to waste our time on someone we can't have.  

Sakshi Narula writes from the heart, that much is true and has the marvellous and creative ability to paint pictures with her words.  You feel you are there in the moment of each impossible heartbeat and you can't do anything to rescue yourself  the inevitable.  

Interspersed with excellent artwork by that spatters the page akin to the ink from an octopus; with the vividness of a bleeding heart and mind.  A talented poet with a natural artistry to convey anguish with every sentence. Personal experiences and growing up in India give a sense of belonging.  As shown by To Bury A Love Story. 

Take a breath for more roller coaster rides. Interspersed with written notes providing a break from the deepness of each poem and a reprieve of being a solid, continuous chunk, with drawings, mirroring hope and darkness. In ink, ink blobs maybe to decipher our own darkness and limits to overcome.

I was mesmerized and absorbed in such beautiful and eloquent sentiments that I read in one sitting.  I'm sure everytime I re-read it will spark and invoke more reactions.  I enjoyed how the poems interweave into one another with vivid pictures of being so lost, heartbroken and having everything ripped, affecting the mind, body and soul equally.  The personification of love's misfortune is immensely lifelike.


Lost The Art of Staying Lost releases 25th January Amazon 


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