The Clarity of Distance

Someone once asked Ayesha Chatterjee what idiom she wrote in. She still doesn’t know what the answer to that is, but the poems in this collection attempt to address the issue behind that question: that of belonging versus the universality of experience. Written in spare language and often using metaphors drawn from both Eastern and Western sources, these poems pare down the complexity of existence in today’s global world into simple moments of truth. Much of her poetry is very short, ten lines or less, some of it is photographic and all of it is approachable. Chatterjee believes that the power of poetry is in its accessibility and this is reflected in the simplicity of her writing. Her poetry is intended to pry her readers out of complacency into looking at the world differently, perhaps even into thinking of their place in it. There is a soft thread of violence running thinly through this collection juxtaposed against the imagery in much the same way as the intention of her approach.