The Tiger Poet: New & Selected Poems (including “The Last Will of the Tiger” —by Amit Dahiyabadshah

 Nonfiction / Poetry

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09MGB232B

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8474639192

Poetry Playhouse Publications

December 1, 2021

127 pages

5 Stars

 

Thanks to modern technology, I have had the honor to hear Amit Dahiyabadshah read his poetry. It is amazing, both the words and the delivery. I was delighted when this, his first American-published book was released, and was truly chuffed when I held it, read it, lived it. It is one of the most powerful books I have ever read.

 

Perhaps one of his better-known poems to American audiences is The Last Will and Testament of The Tiger, “So take the sacred colour from my coat / and send it back to the maker of sunsets // Send my roar back to my maker…” 

 

The Tiger Poet is divided into five sections, 1. Meet the Tiger Poet, 2. A Rural Childhood, 3. Terror Poems Medley, 4. Pandemic Musings, and 5. Odes & Benedictions. The section titles explain the poems within. Amit Dahiyabadshah was born and raised in India where he currently resides, and reading his poems is a marvelous tour of that country and its people. If visiting India is on your Bucket List, be sure to read this book.

 

Window Shopping is a poignant love poem about a poor, homeless couple who peer through the windows of the closed market at night and give each other the gifts of their heart. “I give you that bright red dress…” he tells her, she gives him “…that fine leather wallet…” And in Why No One Chops Onions Faster Than Me you will learn the reason and you will smile.

 

The Indian culture is different than ours, not better, not worse, just different. When you read these poems, do so with your heart as well as your eyes. Read the “Terror” poems and cry. Read COVID Blessings and know your own. Yes, there are COVID Blessings. A Real Good Morning is a perfect morning where our Tiger Poet takes a morning walk and blesses and is blest by, those he meets along the way. We should all take our morning walk with the same eyes, the same gifts, the same heart.

 

If you buy no other book this year, buy The Tiger Poet, even if you think you don’t like poetry, read these as stories in poetic form.