Beyond the Scent of Sorrow [Paperback]

Sweta Srivastava Vikram (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 5, 2011

Sweta Srivastava Vikram is an award-winning writer, poet, novelist, author, essayist, columnist, blogger, and educator whose musings have translated into four chapbooks of poetry, two collaborative collections of poetry, a fiction novel, and an upcoming nonfiction book of prose and poems. Her work has appeared in several anthologies, literary journals, and online publications across six countries in three continents. A graduate of Columbia University, Sweta reads her work across the United States, Europe, and Asia. She also teaches creative writing workshops. Sweta lives in New York City with her husband. She has been nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize.

About this chapbook
Beyond the Scent of Sorrow delves into the challenges faced by women on a global level. The eucalyptus trees in southwest Portugal are used as an archetype to symbolically elicit the challenges women face in today's world. Boldly, the poems which are lyrical, literal, short, and succinct, profess the unkind capabilities of mankind.

Poets and Critics praise Beyond the Scent of Sorrow
"Sweta's poetic voice flows like water smoothing and shaping stones. With great skill she uncovers, sometimes tenderly and other times more forcefully, the shroud of fog surrounding the feminine archetype... she has created and nurtured a garden, a wordscape, in which trust and healing can flourish."
--Nick Purdon, author of The Road-shaped Heart

"Sweta Srivastava Vikram holds her work close. Fold it one way, a poem of loss appears. Fold it yet again for a poem of longing. Her work is as structurally sound as the elements. It soars with anticipation. Vikram reveals lovely and powerful poems that will long linger."
--Doug Mathewson, Editor Blink-Ink

Learn more at www.SwetaVikram.com

From the World Voices Series at Modern History Press www.ModernHistoryPress.com

POE005060 Poetry : American - Asian American
SOC028000 Social Science : Women's Studies - General
SOC010000 Social Science : Feminism & Feminist Theory

Product Details

• Paperback: 38 pages
• Publisher: Modern History Press (September 5, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1615990976
• ISBN-13: 978-1615990979
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,329,449 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #46 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Nonfiction > Women's Studies > Feminist Theory

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Effervesent poetry!, December 17, 2011

By 

Smita Singh - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beyond the Scent of Sorrow (Paperback)

Sweta Srivastava Vikram has once again proven that poetry that touches your heart is not necessarily love drenched. Beyond the Scent of Sorrow is a ground breaking collection of Sweta Srivastava Vikram's latest poetry collection that delves deep into the psyche and the challenges faced by women all over the world.

The very first poem in the part 1 of the collection hammers down the harsh reality softened only by the sweet muslin lyrical flow of words.

"the same eucalyptus trees that bled rivers

until oil grew wings and flowed with fragrance.

The flowers sang a eulogy

as the rain muted the pains - the birth of paper."

The struggle of a working woman is beautifully described in these line below:

"But something burns a river - my silence

and your abandoned conversations with honesty

because I am a person with gentle feet

and no cigar to perk up your ego"

The part 2 of the collection is completely different than part one, while the first part philosophies the second goes deep into the urn of sorrow and picks up the various muted bruises buried long ago.

It would be really hard to pick up one to site as an example where all the poems one after another tells a heart wrenching story.

But the author has aptly summed up the story of mourning in her last poem titled "Standing alone like the Eucalyptus tree"

"The breeze strips me naked,

the sun bares me whole.

Leaves scattered on my breast

as orphans on the streets of Mumbai."

As the name of the chapbook is evocative so is each and every poem in the collection and their scent reaches out and touches the sensibilities of every human being.

Overall an outstanding collection suitable for all those who love poetry and the magic of this collection won't leave even the poetry virgin reader untouched.

A Book Review by Smita Singh

4.0 out of 5 stars Ecofeminism in verse, November 22, 2011

By 

S. Agusto-Cox "Savvy Verse & Wit" (Germantown, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beyond the Scent of Sorrow (Paperback)

Beyond the Scent of Sorrow by Sweta Srivastava Vikram is a small collection of poems that draw parallels between nature and women. Reminiscent of Ecofeminism, a political and social combination of feminism and deep ecology that draws parallels between women and nature and calls attention to the misuse of both by patriarchy, Vikram develops a dialogue about the harm done to nature and women across the globe. Dominance of both by outside constructs -- whether it is capitalism or man -- has belittled the importance and strengths of both. Rather than wallow in the pain and repression, Vikram's verse strives to cultivate women and nature's strengths to demonstrate there is a way to overcome the oppression.

Read the full review: [...]

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful Poetry, November 16, 2011

By 

Suko (Southern CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beyond the Scent of Sorrow (Paperback)

Beyond the Scent of Sorrow is the latest collection of poetry by award-winning writer Sweta Srivastava Vikram, published in October of 2011 as part of the World Voices Series. In this book, the author draws an interesting connection between nature and women. In the Alejandaro region of southwest Portugal, countless old eucalyptus trees--once considered protectors of the forest--are being removed and replaced by oak trees, depicting the unjust (sometimes violent) treatment of women, who are treated poorly in many parts of the world, merely because of their gender. Using the eucalyptus tree as a symbol, this poet creates many brilliant and powerful poems depicting the plight of women, as well as their strength and ability to endure. Sweta Srivastava Vikram's bold and vivacious style captured me as quickly and as completely as it has on previous occasions. Here are some lines from one of the author's favorite poems in this collection, Unholy Men.

"Like the cork oak

selectively stripped of their bark

every ten years of their lives

to quench a lover's thirst

for wine in Evoramonte, Portugal,

I am undressed

night after night

until my wounds mock

the myth of one thousand years--"

~Sweta Srivastava Vikram

While the author may be pro-woman, she is not anti-male, as she states in the Acknowledgements section of the book, where she specifically thanks her husband for understanding her position. I also think it's important to note that better treatment of women and more equality benefits everyone--not just women. And while the poems in this book are decidedly serious, they are not without glimmers of hope, mist that awakens and enables us to "walk away from the nightmare". I relished this collection of poems that features intense emotion and vivid images.