An Illusion of Escape: Recent Episodes
Shivani Gautam
Hi, this is Shivani Gautam and welcome to An Illusion of Escape, the audio sample series of my first ever poetry collection by the same name. In this series, I will take you on a personal journey of these few selected poems from the book; describing the context, narrating the verses and explaining central themes and ideas. If you like, you can get your copy of the book too. The link is down below - https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07V43JQ78/ref=cm_sw_r_wa_apa_i_iPPMEbFCE16TJ
Happy listening!
The natural beauty of the glorious migratory birds in the fictional plane of Cassedara remind you of the harmony that should have existed between man and it's environment, as was intended. Based on real life tragedies of animal hunting, poaching, wild life habitat encroachment and climate change, this poem questions the frozen soul of humanity. Listen to the poem or read it at https://linktr.ee/merakixmusings/ to know more.
The first love, the innocent naive and unadulterated imagination and emotion followed by a tragic fall out. A chance meeting is a beautiful narrative piece that writes about two people who were in love, meet years later and revisit their ups and downs, which is seemingly frozen in time. Derived from a heart to heart a conversation with an old friend, this poem captures everything naive and fragile about love and heartbreaks.
Talking about dreams, aspirations, chasing wild passion; this poem is the crux of An Illusion of Escape. It summarizes the themes of wandering beyond and returning back, it talk about guilt, it talks about fame, creativity, curiosity, day dreaming and is heavy with illustrious metaphors. Hear the episode to agonize upon teenage values and reflect on the meaning of chase. If you like the episode, and other poems in the series, do check out the book An Illusion of Escape at the link below. https://linktr.ee/merakixmusings
Exploring the themes of an estranged mother daughter relationship, this poem is a layered narrative of a daughters feelings towards her mother who she lately discovers is a sex worker or prostitute. She questions her mother's anger, hatred for herself and fears through a growing up teenager's perspective. Dealing with complicated emotions, this poem is a heart wrenching and eye-opening read in many ways. Listen to the poem to know more yourself or you can grab the book at www.merakiandmusings.com/order/
The episode talks about the two things. The apocalyptic destruction of city due to terror attacks. First is an eye witness's narration, ofcourse from the imaginary standpoint, but the agony, pain and excruciating helplessness is described here. Second is the longing for home, the happy place, where Hope resides. See what this narrator has to speak to Hope about. Listen to the poem on this episode, or read it at https://merakiandmusings.com/ The Amazon link for the pdf of the book An Illusion of Escape is also available https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07V43JQ78/ref=cm_sw_r_wa_apa_i_iPPMEbFCE16TJ
A very visually stimulating poem that attempts to define the relationship between a writer and his/get words. The vivid recapitulation of all the places it takes a person and the visuals it paints. A bold play on your imagination, this poem challenges the way we all interact with our thoughts, trying to contain them and make sense of them. Listen to the episode to find out more and to get ahead and read the poem and many others, you can check out the book right now! https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07V43JQ78/ref=cm_sw_r_wa_apa_i_iPPMEbFCE16TJ
Hi, thsi episode is all about a dense poetic narration of a character in the very last moments of his life. Talking about the case of celebrity suicides, this episode is an alternative take on the catchphrase, "The show must go on." We're pausing today to ask the question, "At what cost?". You may listen tk the episode for more or grab the ebook of An lusion of Escape - right here in the links below. https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07V43JQ78/ref=cm_sw_r_wa_apa_i_iPPMEbFCE16TJ
A fun filled rant about the extremely gratifying world of day dreams and imaginations, this episode is all you need to understand the lunatic cycles of hysteria that circle a creative's head. Give this episode a listen to reconnect with your own childish foolries and who knows what you might stumble upon again? And if you'd like to get ahead and read the poems on your your own, grab the book at this link : https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07V43JQ78/ref=cm_sw_r_wa_apa_i_iPPMEbFCE16TJ
Talking about the miserable plight of Child Labour in our country, this poem provides an alternate perspective on the world of these kids - their indestructible spirit, their enthusiasm for life, their obliviousness to their own misery and pain. Listen to the podcast to know more and you can grab the book "An Illusion of Escape" for more! The link for the book is here: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07V43JQ78/ref=cm_sw_r_wa_apa_i_iPPMEbFCE16TJ
We're diving into the depths of teenage dreams and fantasies, viewing the wonders of the wide world with the eyes of a vivid dreamy adolescent. It's confessional, it's relatable, it's about exploring oneself and the world and how these two processes are related. It's about the misery of being tied to real life, the aches of having an imagination and above all about the liberation of this journey once you say: "Bon Voyage!" Listen to the episode to know more and if you want to read, please get yourself a copy of An Illusion of Escape! It's available on Amazon and Kindle! https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07V43JQ78/ref=cm_sw_r_wa_apa_i_iPPMEbFCE16TJ . Thank you for listening and please show your support by sharing this podcasts with your friends and family!
This episode talks about my poem, "A Flame that was Afraid to be". Personifying the dying flame of a candle, I've tried to create an alternate reality for the one which is known to us all as a symbol of light and hope. I've tried to re-visit it's martyrdom in the same light, as one would of a soldier. Seeing their pain and sufferings as an act of losing themselves to their purpose, I've talked about how the candle live a similar life. Read the poem in the book or listen to the episode, to know more. The link is here : https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07V43JQ78/ref=cm_sw_r_wa_apa_i_iPPMEbFCE16TJ and please remember to subscribe and share. Your support means everything to me. Thank you for listening!
This episode is about the time I zoned out while staring out of the window of a school bus, only to later hit upon a weird hypothesis of how human thoughts might work within different layers of our consciousness. Using visual imagery, nature inspired metaphors and parallelism, I have tried to put my thoughts down for you to recieve and comprehend. Hope you have fun listening! And it you want to grab a copy of the book, here is the link : https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07V43JQ78/ref=cm_sw_r_wa_apa_i_iPPMEbFCE16TJ
Hi, this is Shivani Gautam and this episode is the introduction to my first podcast series An Illusion of Escape. Here, I've talked about my motivation to start a podcast, my idea of poetry and the style and format of upcoming episodes. Hope you enjoy listening! And if you want to get ahead and grab a copy of the book where all the upcoming poems are many more, here is the link : https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07V43JQ78/ref=cm_sw_r_wa_apa_i_iPPMEbFCE16TJ