Book explores historical and spiritual landscape of communities in Northeast

A new poetry book, written by Nagaland BJP MLA and poet Mmhonlumo Kikon, explores the historical and spiritual landscape of the indigenous communities in Northeast India.The book, Slingstones, is published by Rupa Publications.

A new poetry book, written by Nagaland BJP MLA and poet Mmhonlumo Kikon, explores the historical and spiritual landscape of the indigenous communities in Northeast India.

The book, ''Slingstones'', is published by Rupa Publications. The collection of over 100 poems is a searing portrayal of the ''innate and native desire to revive a cultural ethos that has been drowning in a vortex of complex and systemic institutions''.

''I wrote 'Slingstones' during the frequent anxious moments of the pandemic immediately as we started to grapple with the new challenges of the lockdown. I started to examine the past from the prism of the present, and investigated both the historical and the cultural background of the region,'' said Kikon about the book.

''The poems try to capture the essence of the daily mundane human activities which delineates the effortless fusion of the indigenous culture and the modern material culture,'' he added.

From the habits of culture to the distinct quandary that communities have to face; or from the struggle to come to terms with the evolving world to the rush to educate the so-called ''savage'', the collection claims to be an ''intimate and brave review of lives lived in the wide expanse of nature and their interactions with the outside world''.

According to the publishers, Kikon's poems isolate and examine the unchanging nature of space and time, the past and the present, the here and now.

''He takes a penetrating look at the banalities of daily life that actually shape and define the contours of identity, both within communities and outside,'' they said in a statement.

The author's previous books on poetry are ''The Penmi Poems'' (2018) and ''The Village Empire'' (2019).

''Slingstones'' is presently available for sale on online and offline stores.

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