Review of 'Efflorescence 2022' published by Chennai Poets' Circle

Review of 'Efflorescence 2022' published by Chennai Poets' Circle OMG! Around 120 poems ! 113 poets of various age groups! But only two on romantic bonding of male and female and none erotic. And more than a dozen poets gazing at the cosmos. Why? Has contemporary life's challenges and stress dried up everything romantic within and (horrible) life on earth makes us all look up for help or escape? Anyway, it is the poets' domain and their freedom to choose the topics and themes. A reviewer is a reader who records his feedback or humble understanding of a work. But he is basically looking for, like any other reader, something new and something engrossing and in poetry something sharp and disturbing. With a disclaimer that I write this immediately after my first read, I list out the following poems with what makes each one impressive: 1.'Chudail' opens windows on the grey spots within. 2. Liked the following lines of 'Window wanderings': 'To drink a rose, no more do eyes pause for in beauty's mask, presumed are thorns' 3.Pessimistically alright' is well woven. 4.'How I wish' - I liked its flow. 5. 'Ode to Canadian Spring' & 6. 'Butterfly crash' for the depiction of nature. 7. 'IT' impresses with abstractness. 8.The visualization in 'Dream' is poetic. 9.The rebellion tone in 'Images' is striking. Because the anthology carries a dozen or more poems simply acknowledging karma and fate. 10.'Modern Haiku' shows the poet has understood the genre very well. 11.The expression is the strength of 'Just a phone call'. 12.The choice and use of metaphor in 'Counter illumination' is impressive. 13. The classical expression of love in 'An existentialist's love' touches the heart. 14.'In dialogue with the timeless' stands out for the poet's wonderful imagination. 15.'The fundamental pyre' highlights a contemporary human rights issue. Well done. 16.In 'Oneiric' the poet has taken pains to find the right words. 17. "Pyro technicalities' is modern. This is certainly the first impression and not the best. There is so much creativity and expression in Chennai! More heartening is about one third of the poems were on ecology and green initiatives. This awareness gives me hope for the future generations. The anthology is well edited. The professionalism is evident. I congratulate the editor Ms.Hema for this achievement. I can gauge how much hard work and perseverance are needed to communicate with 113 poets and bring out an anthology that is certainly bound to inspire many budding poets. I conclude this with a request (to all the contributors to this anthology) to read poems giving priority to the ones in magazines and collections and anthologies, but be wary of poems of repetitive ideas and expressions on social media. The Chennai Poets' Circle's mail ID is chennaipoetscircle@gmail.com . Priced at INR 300 the collection can be purchased by sending them a mail.