Several years ago I reviewed David Byrne’s How Music Works. One of the most interesting things in Byrne’s book is how differently we experience music today than we did prior to the phonograph. Until that time, music was localized and live by necessity. Every version of a song you heard was likely an interpretation, a cover; there was no “definitive” album version of a song. Additionally, musical styles were also more local because it wasn’t feasible to keep up with artists or a favorite genre outside of where you lived. And vice versa. After reading that book, I became much more interested in local music, food, alcohol, business, etc. Those things are only here, and they should be celebrated. Their creators’ bravery should be rewarded. 
All that to say this: The local library has a county authors shelf, and I found Dr. Amiyo Basu’s poetry collection on that shelf. So, I checked it out, read it, and loved it.
I’m so thankful our library has a county authors shelf, because it’s so affirming to know that a local author can make a life here as my neighbor, think profound things, and share that art with us locally. It makes our community that much richer, and we’re all better off for it.
Now, to the poetry itself.
Basu was an engineer by trade, and that surely has influenced the poetry. The love of crafting, the interest in how things work and how they relate to one another – all of those things are here, whether the subject is the spirit of nature (“Nature’s Secrecy”) or in how a sweet kid can light up a room for a bunch of strangers (“A Sonnet”). My personal favorite poem, “Mobile”, is about the wonderment parenthood, and how “The feeling of that first day would be everyday / For the rest of my days.”
These poems are free verse, accessible, and moving. The book is also pretty short if you’re just trying to get some poems in before National Poetry Month ends!