Mazhar Nisar’s maiden book of English verses all set to hit bookstalls

Islamabad: Better recognised as a decorated newscaster, health education adviser, and director in the Ministry of National Health Services, the one hidden dimension of Mazhar Nisar’s personality has finally become public with the unveiling of ‘The Mahogany Junction,’ his maiden book of English verse, which is being celebrated as a “new voice in the currently depleted scene of English language poetry in Pakistan.”

The book, which represents a confluence of romance and reverence, offers selected poems on themes as diverse as wakefulness of the soul, yearning for love, ambivalence of emotions, cruelty to animals, the magic and colours of autumn and spring, and the dancing rain. The compilation has been aesthetically laid out, with colour illustrations by Myra Nasir accompanying each poem.

Sharing a copy of the publication with this scribe, Mazhar described ‘The Mahogany Junction’ as reflecting his “final surrender to the inner voice, a submission to turbulence of the soul muted for long, yet always alive.” Mazhar stated that even though poetry has lived with him all his life, the idea of compiling his poetical work attained fruition when he started sharing his works with fellow poets in a small literary circle initiated by Islamabad-based English language poets. The instant feedback that he received served as a major catalyst for compilation of his first book.

In reviewing the book, eminent writer and intellectual Harris Khalique compliments Mazhar for “adding his own spells to the magic of poetry,” for deeply enriching “our corpus of literature with this volume of exquisite verse,” and for contributing to the “ongoing process of liberating the (English) language itself from its oriental and colonial past.”

“Mazhar’s metaphors take you from ordinary to the sublime. There is a softness that you can touch. There is a desire to capture the moment and then set it free. There is wish to mix rain with moonlight and create a new sky,” Harris further states in his analysis of the publication.

Former federal minister and Cabinet secretary Ejaz Rahim, who is himself an outstanding and prolific writer and poet, describes the book as “a creative work of excellent merit in terms of expression as well as the thoughts and emotions that spur an outpouring in the poetical realm.” Terming the poet as both a painter and a thinker, Ejaz Rahim makes a special mention of the metaphysical intensity and freshness of the imagery employed by Mazhar. “There is a certain courage reflected in the way he describes, dissects and drives the language through sunlight and shade,” he adds.

Ejaz Rahim sees ‘The Mahogany Junction’ as being a book of verse that has introduced a new voice in the currently depleted scene of English language poetry in Pakistan. He believes this decline has come about because of the in-country de-prioritization of English language, and the gradual disappearance of public school culture, which produced students who exhibited competence in the use of English language.

Ejaz Rahim categorizes Mazhar’s poems into three central themes namely, life, and time, which run like streams through many of the poems; love as a spiritual power and passionate need in life; and the relationship of life, time, and love with art, which has a way of bringing together time and memory, the past and the present, and the sun and the moon. “Mazhar emerges as a truly creative poet and as a genuine new voice displaying creative depth and range and aesthetic charm,” he states.

Iftikhar Arif one of the most respected literary figures of our times sees Mazhar as a poet who is modern in nature, very fresh, highly sensitive and full of creative energies. “He has good grasp over modern English idiom and understands the dynamics of its appropriate usage,” he adds.

Shabnam Riaz describes Mazhar’s poems as “enticing” and having the ability to “flood the senses with questions left unanswered and submission to the will of the unknown.”

In commenting on individual poems, one is again tempted to revert to Ejaz Rahim’s insightful analyses. He reads the first poem ‘Rohtas Fort’ as “presenting a telling image of the tenuousness of might and the eternity of love.” The poem, in Ejaz Rahim’s view, “contrasts the roughness of the fort wearing the looks of an ‘arrogant emperor’ with the tenderness of ‘a hazel-eyed princess’ who was poisoned for falling in love with a slave. Ejaz Rahim notices Mazhar fusing abstract thought with concrete imagery in the poem ‘The Rain God.’ The poet’s reflections on life and time are evident in in poems like ‘Moments,’ ‘The Ace,’ ‘On a Starry Winter Night,’ ‘A Conference with the Stars,’ and ‘Coincidences.’

Both in terms of the compelling content and the visually appealing layout, ‘The Mahogany Junction’ is a book that one is tempted to read from cover to cover in a single sitting. It is priced Rs. 700 and should hit bookstalls across the country within a weeks’ time.