Clouds
Thoughts are magical things. They are unique and entirely ephemeral; dewdrops that disappear the moment you try to catch them. These elusive thoughts come to me, at times, jarring me with their suddenness and their eccentricity. I had one such thought a little while back: all these thoughts will be greeted by oblivion as soon as I forget them! And hence I thought about recording them, for prolonging their life, and delaying the inevitable.
Words are funny little things: clear, yet ambiguous; straightforward, yet nuanced; dry, yet full of emotions. And so I decided to record my thoughts in the form of words. But again words don’t come so easy, they take time. To get around this, I started on the path of poetry. Rambles and broken strings of words didn’t matter in poetry; instead, they enriched the entire thing. Thence came this little collection of little fragments of my wistful thoughts.
Life is a domino, I’ve realized, and this did not come overnight. Painstakingly laying the domino pieces of my life, my parents are the ones who have had a huge hand in directing me, helping me and supporting me. They are the ones who spurred my interest in most things, they are the ones who helped me see the world as it truly is: beautiful and flawed. For that, and everything else, they have my deepest gratitude.
In a similar vein, I would like to thank my uncle Dr. Govinda Raj Bhattarai for bringing clarity in this rocky journey by helping me decide what I want to do, what I need to do, and providing encouragement for the same. Similarly, Dr. Mostafa Vaziri and Dr. Abhi Subedi have my sincere thanks for going through my poems and providing positive and motivating remarks of the same.
Of course, this book would not be what it is if not for Shangrila Books and the publishing team. Their excellent work is certainly, to be lauded.
Aayam Basnet
Aayam Basnet’s poems compiled in this collection evince the young poet’s creative ability through the impressive use of language and the choice of a wide range of motifs and fresh metaphors. Each poem is woven round some images that give the poem coherence. Another feature of these poems written by this young poet is the quality of subtle argument and reasoning that comes through simplicity, images and poetic rhythm.
Abhi Subedi, Professor of English, TU
Aayam Basnet is an emerging architect of human imagination and hidden visions. His youth and his masterful use of foreign language in his lucid poetry indicate that he is embarking on a great unfolding path in this century.
Mostafa Vaziri, MD, PhD, Lecturer, University of Innsbruck, Austria
Aayam is a young prodigy, a visionary poet blessed with great creative strength whose poems read perfect though he exercises the art spontaneously. He follows his own model of artistic creation. CLOUDS is its evidence I know he will be categorized, very shortly, among a very original and successful English poet in Nepal.
Govinda Raj Bhattarai, Professor of English, TU