Easterine Kire is a renowned Naga poet
and novelist who currently lives in Norway. In 2015, her novel When the River Sleeps was awarded The
Hindu Literary Prize. Her novel Son of
the Thundercloud was awarded Bal Sahitya Puraskar by Sahitya Academy in
2018. In 2011, Easterine Kire was awarded the Governor's Medal for excellence
in Naga literature. She was also awarded the Free Voice Award by Catalan PEN
Barcelona. Her novel Bitter Wormwood
was shortlisted for The Hindu Prize in 2013. Her novel Spirit Nights won The Sahitya Akademy Award in 2024.
Freerain
is Easterine Kire’s latest collection of poetry which comprises of 60 poems.
The collection also consists of 8 poems previously published in Jazz Poetry and
Other Poems in 2012, 4 poems from Kelhoukevira published in 1982 and 2 poems
from The Windhover Collection
published in 2001. Freerain consists
of 74 poems in total which deal with themes of nostalgia, loss and hope. This
collection of poetry was published by Penguin Random House in 2024. Kire writes
of the many places she’s visited including Norway, Calcutta, Nagaland and
Aizawl and the people she met in her various travels.
In her poems, we find a serene depiction
of the presence of nature and in some poems there is a personification of
nature. In ‘Wilding’, Kire gives a peaceful picture of the lives of living
things in the midst of forces of nature and in ‘Tree in July’ we find the narrator’s
brotherhood with nature. ‘Song of the Wind’ also depicts the bond the narrator
has with nature as she feels and understands the mournful song of a tree whose
branches are to be cut down. Her poem ‘Wind in Autumn’ speaks of the powerful
wind which carries the ocean and brings about the cycles of life by bringing
forth rain. The poet beautifully expresses how the innocent purity of feathered
creatures, how the mere sight of them in “pure flight” freely roaming is able
to dispel all despair. Kire’s poems give a simple description of the power of
nature and the bond nature has with all living things. The poet also
personifies the wind in ‘March’, referring it to a“he”, a person who loves
you.The titular poem ‘Freerain’ speaks
of the radiance of rain, beautiful and fragile, yet free for all. This radiant
rain makes one long for home. Rain is also depicted as “life-like” in ‘Summer
Shower’. The poet writes of a people who have a Wordsworthian relationship and
bond with nature as they “speak to the trees every day”. In child-like innocence,
moon is described as “egg-shaped” and clouds as having “a hand with two eyes”
that turned into a “giant feather”, and dogs that turned into a cloud that went
away to live in heaven.
Easterine Kire writes elaborately on
the places and the people she met in life, of her various experiences. She
writes about connections made through small talk, life and settling down. She
writes of short-lived winter lights and of a person’s reluctance to face people
without a “mask”. A city is depicted as a leafless tree where people’s hearts
need to be protected with “fences”. Kire writes of childhood innocence and the
simple joys found in life in her poem ‘Aizawl, February 2017’. Kire takes her
readers back to a time when people relied on the knowledge of hunters, whose
knowledge was more accurate than “maps”. She speaks of a time when spirits
roamed free on the land, of a time when nature protected humans from harm. The
reader is brought back to the times when people relied solely on the hunters as
they knew the land best as they had wedded the land in her depths. In
‘Scarecrow’, the poet evokes a keen sense of emotion in her description of the
features of the straw-like arms of a fisherman, “ossified by poverty”.
Easterine Kire writes of loss, change,
nostalgia and the impermanence of life. In ‘Mother’s Earthleavingness’, she
gives a poignant description of “mother’s” slowly deteriorating body yet
somewhat with a light-hearted note of acceptance as she describes her mother’s
weak steps as “light as a dancer’s”. The poet, with only a slight hint of
bittersweet sorrow, accepts the fact that her mother is ready to leave her
earthly body for her “long flight home”. In ‘Sparrows’, Kire writes about the
loss of her mother as she longs for her presence as she listens to the sparrows’
song. Parental love is emphatically depicted in her poems as she describes “the
cradle” of a father’s hands as a safe place, a place of refuge. In her
depiction of parental love, she writes about life and of peacefully letting go.
Easterine Kire evocatively writes about
human relationships, of bonds made, of births, deaths and the many lessons
learnt in life through the love we give and the love we receive. The fleetingness
of air travel is emphasised as it is “unnatural” and a hurried form of travel.
In order to build relationships, one must linger, to know, to trust and to
endear. Kire writes of the hardships of life, where one is abruptly pulled away
from things they love and are forced to go on without their loved ones. She
writes about long gone years, of memories being brought back by the wind. The
poet dreams of a time long gone, of their younger years when she played with
her brother when they were very little. She also writes of a child’s growth
into maturity, of a mother’s dilemma when she thinks of the time when she will
not be able to answer all the queries of her child. Looking back at her
relationships and the loss of her loved ones, the poet is at peace and submits
wholly and sits still and peacefully watches the ongoings of life.
Easterine Kire, a brilliant wordsmith,
writes of the turn of events in one’s life, of something good happening to
someone who feels that they do not deserve it. She writes about love and
protection from harm, of a love where one submits oneself wholly without fear.
She writes that love is equivalent to giving and that love will be acquired
after giving to those who have none to feed them. God’s love is written as
“white”, as beautiful and good. God’s call is heard in the midst of the demands
of life that beats repeatedly like a “log drum”.
Easterine Kire, a keeper of stories for
her people, the Nagas, knows of the importance of putting words in print. She
writes about how stories are made, how at times, some are even “begged” to
write. Her poem ‘Words’ speaks of a woman who used words that submerged into
one’s conscience, “like pebbles dropped into a still pool of water”. In this
collection of poetry, the readers are submerged into a realm of love, memory
and nature with a sense of peace and acceptance.
