Bearings

This debut collection of poems heralds the arrival of an exceptionally talented poet whose work is marked by a rigorous yet delightful experimentation with forms and techniques without ever losing out on the lyricism that is the hallmark of great poetry. In the words of the poet herself, ‘Bearings began as the only tangible signs of an attempt to stay connected to a language that felt most intimately my own, and yet did not figure in my landscape any more.’ Through its three sections, Virga, Damaged Goods and Terra Infirma, Karthika Nair meditates on the intertwined themes of directions, moorings and disclosures, with the multiple meanings and connections inherent in the title itself. Bereavement and absences, the loss of memory and love, concerns about home and identity, find eloquent expression in these evocative poems which the poet likens to a logbook of journeys without any particular destination in mind, with language as shape-shifting map, and the desire to express, to share as the sole, somewhat unreliable, compass.