Winter Blossoms: And Other Poems

By Mamata Misra

Winter Blossoms represents a cross cultural journey that not only explores the experiences of South Asian women, but also reflects all women's connection with everything and everyone around them. From arranged marriages to a mother's delight for her unborn children, Mamata Misra's clear, compassionate voice echoes the bittersweet quality of women's lives. Like her poem "Rollercoaster," she takes us on an adventure filled with the complexities of living and dying. I recommend that readers fasten their seat belts. You're in for one amazing ride.
-K.J. Wilson, Ed.D, author of When Violence Begins at Home: A Comprehensive Guide to Understanding and Ending Domestic Abuse.

Winter Blossoms is a bouquet of poems that would touch every soul. With a voice that is tender and assertive, and clear as a bell, Mamata Misra calls us to interrogate human indignity, hostility, and domination and then she whispers in our ear: 'change, change, change.' She takes us gently by the hand and leads us to hope. Winter Blossoms is courageous and bold, not unlike the buds that dare to bloom in the dead of a freezing season. The truths in Winter Blossoms go beyond the limitations of a particular community and reach the universal.
-Shamita Das Dasgupta, co-founder of Manavi, Inc. and editor of A Patchwork Shawl: Chronicles of South Asian Women in America and Body Evidence: Intimate Violence against South Asian Women in America.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0595443729
• ISBN13: 9780595443727
• Release Date: June 2007
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Length: 92 Pages
• Weight: 0.32 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Amazing cross-cultural insight

Reviewed by Richard R. Blake for Reader Views (10/07) "Winter Blossoms" is a collection of poems depicting the inequity faced by women who are caught in a cross-cultural journey. These women are destined by society to experience the complexities of indignity, hostility, and domination. Mamata Misra has captured a yearning for change, and a call for understanding. In a courageous bold voice she uses her poetry to speak loudly with a message of hope to these courageous women. The illustrations by Indira Chakravorty vividly reinforce the message of the poetry. These poignant words and pictures tell the story of the restlessness of communal violence, offer a prayer for peace, describe the loving presence of a mother, and relate the bravery of Seetha walking into fire to prove her chastity to prove her worthiness to be queen. The book is arranged in a topical format. Pen and ink drawings coinciding with the words of the poem impact and enhance the message conveyed through the written word. The topics include "Mother and Child," "War and Peace," "Questions and Answers," "Hope and Despair," and "Sound and Silence." The final chapter entitled "Poems and People," includes a brief background on each of the poems, the time and circumstances of its origin, and a brief comment or two regarding the message being conveyed. A biographical sketch of the author and the illustrator are also included. The poems in "Winter Blossoms" reveal the amazing insight, of the author, into the nature of the struggles faced by South Asian women. Mamata Misra brings to the forefront the need to speak out against the reality of family violence, and abuse. She faces squarely the incongruity of the power struggle of war in the guise of establishing peace. I was deeply moved by the poem, "Despair."

An unique window to an unexplored world

This anthology is a soft touch to the soul and a gentle nudge to the mind from a very observant poet. The poems bring forth a point of view that pleads, prods and persuades you to pause for a moment and step into the shoes of a mother, a new bride, a wife, a single mother or a divorced woman - a world normally unexplored and often ignored! Mamata Mishra is a well known advocate for battered women and children in central Texas. She questions the society's stereotypical attitudes toward women. She implores all to walk alongside, in stead of running past, to appreciate a lonely world full of love, hope and strength, yet mostly neglected due to historical and social reasons. Through the quandary of mud shoes, she brings out excellently the helplessness of one who faces impossible demands in a situation created by purported well-wishers. In the Letter from exile, she complains how a mother looks askance at her daughter's misery for fear of what people may say. She derides the insensitive husband, who gets out of marriage by saying "it was a simple mistake" as if it were a child's play, or like dialing a wrong number! The shackles that an arranged marriage imposes on an unsuspecting girl, or the poverty that she faces among apparent wealth, come out in lucid words in the hope and despair section. She even offers simple solutions for such situations in medicines for him to cure her depression. There are gems of poetry that leave you with a lingering thought in puzzle, goodbye fear, Maya, a mother's plea, woman, etc. The poems are very nicely written, and a pleasure to read. It is a must-read to get a glimpse of beautiful blossoms that are so rare to find, let alone appreciate, from an unspoken world of hope and wintry despair.