chronicles of entering my body

by Rupam Baoni

A collection of astonishingly sublime work that lets the reader into quiet intimacies whilst revelling in a poetic expansion of natural force.

These thirty poems erupt and dance into our consciousness, sequenced within five chapters – each with one of the author's own paintings at its mouth.

The title poem, also represented as a chapter title, comes to us with its remarkable lines and questions such as: 'I’m made of fire now and you’re wind; but still, tell me the chronicles of your entering my body, tell me how your entering is silent as non-entering in all its entirety'. Such profound and philosophical inquiries continue through the collection along with explorations of the body and the natural world. One's journey through the work brings encounters with love, death, tightrope walkers, the vulnerability of flesh, dementia, dialogues with trees, the bonds between mothers and daughters, Beethoven's symphonies, prayers to the earth and more.

Rupam Baoni is a poet of eloquent power, delivering her potency into your hands.

95 pages, Paperback

Published July 29, 2021

Reviews

[Marcus Smith]

The "chronicles of entering my body" is a book I've read three times over and every time each poem touches a pulse that I never knew existed. The poems have a way of reaching out and quietly grabbing the gut then stirring emotions – deep human emotions that resonate long after. It is a flight one embarks on that begins on the earth and takes off into the subliminal planes and then brings one back with a thump to the ground again. I had my heart racing reading about the tightrope walker and was moved to tears by dementia, the science behind the deadness of pain, enigma, burial ground and so many others. The poems bone journey and bone island are visionary. The poems in the dragon wisdom section chasten one and purify the human spirit; the vitruvian woman begins on an operation table and works towards a crescendo to finally leave you breathless and hanging on by a thread to an edge of a cliff – its lyricism. musicality, vision, artistry, essence, just blew my mind away. Despite the profundity of the poems and their lines that are epigrammatic and stay with one, there is that warmth and love for humanity and the earth that runs through the works. Rupam Baoni is magician, weaving her words and her thoughts with utmost simplicity and sophistication. She is an an artist of extraordinary talents and sublime in her writing. I look forward to reading many more of her works.

[Jenna Morgan]

The "chronicles of entering my body" has blown my mind away. I've read a few short stories and poems by the author earlier and I am a huge fan of not just her writings but also her artworks. She is amazing in her vision and execution. Her writings, paintings and sculptures are priceless contributions to the intellect and to human emotions and our understanding of human nature. I am delighted that this book has her poems as well as her artworks in it. Every poem in here is the story of my life. I am moved to tears by 'the enigma of being stillborn', the 'bedroom...', 'dementia....' and so so many others that say so beautifully what each one of us is struggling with every day. Each one is a gem and it reverberates in your mind long after you have read it, urging you to come back a re-read. They are like journals of daily living but written with such sensitivity and panache. She is a true artist in every sense of the term. A rare combination of many talents. I loved the artworks accompanying the poems and I loved all the videos on Youtube that give an insight into what is in store for you. Yet again, a huge round of applause to her and to Hypatia for their magnificent work. This book is certainly a prize-winner! Congratulations!

[Everest]

Brilliant foray into sublime and the mundane and how inextricably connected the two are in our daily human existence. I love how the poet explores the common experiences of domesticity or of relationships, of love in the most tender, sensuous as well as sensual manner and opens an intuitive doorway into a startling and different understanding. I loved all the poems. A must read! Beautiful language and executed with sophistication, simplicity and soul.