Book review 'Nine': Poetic allure of the number nine

For Anupama Raju, inspiration can sprout from anywhere, even something as mundane and tiresome as a pothole on the road. “The human imagination is incredible in the way it finds inspiration,” begins the Kerala-based poet, who recently launched her debut book of poems, Nine. A curious title, one would think, but Raju reveals that the number holds a certain significance and its contents make the book more than just an anthology of poems. “In the book, the number surfaces several times. I would want the readers to discover the significance for themselves,” she says mysteriously.

A marketing communications professional during the day, Raju has a strong inclination towards performance art that involves music and dance, apart from painting. “I come from a family of musicians. My parents and grandmother were all singers,” she says, explaining her interest in song and movement.

It also helps that her husband is a writer, giving her an immediate surrounding that is wholesome and conducive to her creative pursuits. However, not too forthcoming about what got her into poetry, she states that “it was poetry that got into her.” Published by Speaking Tiger, the verses are woven around human emotions and experiences with love being a recurring theme. A collection of her works over a decade, the book showcases a number of traditional forms of poetry from haikus to ghazals to sestinas. “The poems in the book have been collected over a decade and therefore allude to different phases.

A few like Nightless Night and The Last Supper, were written as part of my collaboration with a French photographer. Supported by the Alliance Francaise (of Pondichery and Trivandrum respectively) we worked on two projects that explored Pondichery and La Rochelle (a port city in France) through poetry and photography. So, the photographs are also included in the book. There is a also a series of nine triolets (8-line poems with a specific structure) which look at the navarasas, that is particularly interesting,” explains the poet, who is also a literary journalist contributing to a leading national daily.

While she’s currently tied up with promoting her debut book, she aims to collaborate with other artistes and incorporate music and dance into her writing, and try her hand at photography, when she gets the time.