Book Review- City Times and Other Poems by Vihang A. Naik

Book Name- City Times And Other Poems
Author- Vihang Naik
Genre- Poetry/ Anthology
Publisher- Author House
Pages- 83
Price- ₹224

BLURB- Vihang A. Naik throws light on the life of a city in all its shades, glory and misery in his City Times and Other Poems. It is an anthology of his intuitive and philosophical poems. The Poems are divided in 6 segmentsi.e. 'Love Song of a Journey Man' is more or less an inner travelogue, The segments, for instance, 'Mirrored Man' is about the other chimeras in the city .The people in the city are capricious like the walk of a crab or the colours of a chameleon. While, ‘The Path of Wisdom' is about the beginning of meditation and knowledge. 'At the Shore' records the poet's sense of futility, memory, pain, exile and alienation at the shore of life. The title of this collection is also the heading for the last of its six sections, in which the city is unfolded as a market place, as a heaven for underdogs, and as a seed bed of change and is observed at evening, at mid-night, by moon light and through fog and haze

REVIEW- City Times and Other Poems is a poetry book written by Vihang A. Naik.It is easily one of the best poetry book of 2016. Vihang uses 'City' as the central motif of the book and uses many metaphors to describe the various emotions. All the poems are written in a way that readers can easily connect with the book and hence, the city.

Language used by author is expressive yet connecting. Vihang has succeeded in creating emotions by blending various emotions. All the poems are crisp and short with deep meaning.

My best picks for this collection are :
‘You revealed the edge’
‘Time’
‘Man as he is, folly’
‘He is different behind’
‘Say what all you can’
‘Illusion’
‘At the shore’
‘After Innocence’
‘City voice’
‘Midnight city’

From the first poem itself, Vihang gives an insight on his flavor and charm. His representation of city life coupled with different experiences is worth spending your time upon.

All in all, City Times And Other Poems is a beautiful work in poetry section and one of the few anthologies which you should not miss.