Misfits, Mystics – Love & Life

Misfits, Mystics — Love & Lifeby Raminder Bajwa is a class of poetry that defies classification, featuring personal and intimate thoughts and musings, capturing moments when life unveils itself and stares at us, at times defiantly, at times invitingly, with resonant themes of love, friendship, and spirituality. Bajwa seems to have culled musings and thoughts from many years of ponderings on the human condition, on what defines the human spirit, and the secret joy of encounter. The poems are tender, and the poet’s deceptively naive voice adds a unique beauty to his lyrical utterances, plunging the reader, layer by layer, into the mystery of love and life.

There is a strong sense of humanity that comes out in these poems, and then there is this emotional, sometimes-wrenching exposition of how lines of poetry can reflect the reality of human experience. The theme of humanity is dominant in Bajwa’s work and the poetry identifies qualities that make us more human:

“Lest we forget:
The manners that make us a man or woman;
The compassion that makes us more human.”

The poet is human, and so his poetry is a resonance of the pulse of humanity, echoing the feats of patriotic soldiers, bemoaning the ills that fall upon humanity like hunger in the Congo and the violence of terrorist groups like the Isis. This collection is a surprising tour de force for poetry buffs and the variety in style and the clarity in expression make it an enjoyable read. The playfulness when it comes to rhyme can’t get unnoticed and then the mirth that accompanies the sounds, the music of each stanza, the cuteness of the poems — short and concise — and the hidden imports of seemingly simple lines are elements of style that prove the poet’s ingenuity. There is a poem, at least a poem, in this collection that will appeal to any kind of reader.