A New Poetry Collection - “Beneath the Dead Skin” by Neelam Saxena Chandra

New Delhi: “At times, the skin looks dead! No glow, no vibrations and no aura! But hey! The cells of the skin are going to be dead after every little while, only to give place to the newer cells – cells that shine, cells that smile and cells that dance! You don’t ever have to give up in life. You have to be a lighted wick of a candle that survives despite the winds and glows even more vividly than it ever did!”

Neelam Saxena Chandra a writer and poet by passion, writes intriguing novels, stories and poems on a variety of themes. “Light through Darkness” has been her favorite theme and she has written a lot on it, especially during Covid period to motivate people. 

“Beneath the Dead Skin”, is Neelam’s forty-first poetry collection, based on the subject light to Darkness.

Most of the poems in this collection were written during the dark days of Covid period when there was melancholy around. Neelam says , she too felt lost at times, felt that I was traveling dark lanes of life; but there was a light in my soul which would always make me finally smile. That light kept not only my own mind illuminated, but also forced me to write poems which signify my own journey from darkness to light.”

The poetry book’s beautiful cover page is based on a painting by Ekata Pattnaik, and it depicts the thoughts of the poets that when you do away with your own thoughts that speak only of glum, do you get an illuminating shine. The book is edited by Raksha Hegde. Each of the poems has a little picture that depicts the thoughts in the verses.

Neelam has dedicated this book to her mother, Smt Shashi Saxena, who has been a tower of strength for her, and who taught her that no situation is bad enough if you have dreams carefully lodged in your mind. 

Neelam, with several awards and accolades, is quite a well-known name in the world of poetry in the country. She has three Limca Book of Records in her name and was also mentioned as one of the popular authors in the country by Forbes.

One remarkable thing that was noticed in her poetry collection was the fact that her own soul, when she’s writing in first person, or the heart of her protagonist always has optimism hidden deep inside, which she discovers during the course of the poem.

Tools of a good poetry such as personification, metaphors etc have been cleverly used by Neelam in her poems. The beauty, pain and happiness in her poems have often enchanted the singers and trained dancers and they have often been performed upon. 

The poetry collection was in the bestseller list, like her majority of the books. After having written seventy-two books, one can carry on only if one receives the love of the readers, and Neelam continues to be a popular poet of India in English as well as Hindi.