Goddess & Whore  (English, Paperback, Madhurima Duttagupta)

Goddess & Whore is a collection of poems that weaves into a vivid narrative of a womans journey, as she steps out of her various social identities and abuses, to discover the true meaning to her existence. What begins as a nagging sense of disquiet and discontent eventually transforms into a quest for inner peace. During her journey she draws inspiration from nature and finally begins to disentangle herself from all those relationships and resentments that she once carried, to discover the real indestructible self and only then does she make the crossover that signifies the transformation of a being.

The poet traces every floating cloud in the sky, she gazes in wonder at the tiny raindrop that slides across her windowpane and at the blade of grass that swings gently in the breeze. She marvels at the crawling ant on the weathered wall of the hut and the birds flying in the sky and sees glimpses of the divine in the seemingly mundane objects around her. She takes us along with her on her journey and the reader laughs and cries with her as she wonders childlike at the marvels of creation and through subtle allusions and rich visual imagery, carries us above the everyday experiences of life towards the realisation of the Supreme. The collection celebrates the joys of womanhood even as it addresses certain social issues specific and general like the Malala incident, the Nirbhaya rape case, position of women, rejection of the girl child, violence against women, traditions of fasting, dated customs and rituals, among others i.e. collection touches upon other relevant issues pertaining to nature, environment, love and death and all these concerns culminate into a single question, ultimately what matters?