Review: Bhutanese writers and readers have lamented the loss of the art of poetry, the way a poem starts a fire in a person’s heart, changing the way we see others, the world and ourselves.

Like music, poetry feeds one’s soul. We need it in little doses everyday. Sonam Choden Dorji’s History In A Pebble, a collection of poems, provides just that.

Sonam Choden Dorji’s poems are simple and easy to understand, written mostly in free verse. Each poem carries a profound meaning and is deeply philosophical.

The author welcomes the reader into her world and her thoughts through three sections of the book. First section, titled ‘white jade’, touch upon the spiritual, while in second and third sections, ‘coral’ and ‘turquoise’, poems are about love, relationships and nature as the ultimate muse.

The book is a visual feast with a beautiful cover, gold-lined pages and art by the author accompanying the poems.

There are 90 poems spanning 185 pages.

Sonam Choden Dorji writes in the beginning of the book that poetry is the immediate offering of truth to the simple, yet complex art of writing.  “We are no longer required to write within the iron clad rules of rhyme and meter; we merely express ourselves as artist do, and because the words are real and immediate, they resonate. This is the rebirth of poetry.”

Sonam Choden Dorji lives in Thimphu with her husband and three children. Pablo Neruda and Rumi are her favourite poets.

History In A Pebble is available in all bookstores in Thimphu.

Thinley Zangmo