Suresh G – Winner of the 21st Century Emily Dickinson Award

“Oblivion” – Poetry from the Threshold of Memory and Time

In the quiet coastal village of Aroor, nestled within the backwaters of Alappuzha, India, poet Suresh G has spent decades listening to the murmurs of life—its aches, silences, and fleeting joys. His debut poetry collection, Oblivion, published by BookLeaf Publishing and recipient of the 21st Century Emily Dickinson Award, is a soul-deep dive into the nature of being, forgetting, and the relentless passage of time.

Oblivion is not a casual collection—it is an emotional and philosophical journey crafted over years of introspection, written first into private notebooks and diaries, long before the idea of publication ever surfaced. The poems are haunted by time and illuminated by its touch. They explore themes such as love, grief, memory, solitude, and the search for meaning in a world that constantly slips away from our grasp.

“There’s something both tragic and beautiful about time,” Suresh writes. “Everything, even life itself, slips by, afloat in the tide.” His poems seek to catch those moments before they vanish.

The title poem “Oblivion” is a masterful pantoum—a rare, looping poetic form whose lines echo back on themselves, just as memories and regrets do. It opens and closes with the same lines, reinforcing the cyclic nature of forgetting and remembering. The structure becomes a metaphor itself, embodying the rhythms of loss, as if chanting away the pain of impermanence.

Elsewhere in the book, readers will encounter the poignant “The Boy in the Mirror,” where childhood is a dream lost to time, marked by the imagery of burnt paper boats. Another poem situates us in a crowded café—two strangers whose orbits cross briefly, never to intersect again:
 “Not a word spoken. Not even a farewell bow.
 Strangers we come. Strangers we go.”

Love, in Oblivion, is felt deeply but remains elusive—“a widening sensation before you see the sea.” Suresh writes with the heart of someone who has loved, longed, and learned that desire, like time, is both nourishing and ungraspable.

Each poem stands alone yet speaks to a universal experience. The collection feels as though it was whispered from a place where the soul dwells when all else is stripped away. It is both intensely personal and resonantly collective.

A lifelong reader and literature enthusiast, Suresh G has drawn inspiration from a rich tapestry of global poetry—Rilke, Whitman, Walcott, the Russian greats, European and North American poets, Latin American magic, and the lyrical traditions of East Asia. His love for poetry stretches across languages and continents, and he carries this global spirit into his work.

Now retired from his job, Suresh lives with his mother, wife, and daughter in a small village not far from the sea. The poet, once content to let his words remain in the shadows of his notebooks, has stepped into the light with Oblivion—a collection that offers readers a map through grief, memory, and the quiet resilience of the human spirit.

📖 Book Title: Oblivion
🏆 Award: 21st Century Emily Dickinson Award
📍 From: Alappuzha, India
📷 Instagram: @sureshg65423