Helicon by Santosh Kumar, Cyberwit.net, India 2006 pp. 62 $9 Paperback, ISBN: 81-901366-8-2 Reviewed by Janet K. Brennan

Dr. Santosh Kumar leaves no doubt in the minds of his readers that he is praying for a better world... a world without the evils of war is it possible?

In the same spirit reminiscent of Kalil Gibran’s, “The Prophet, as well as Dante Alighieri’s, The Divine Comedy,” Dr Santosh Kumar expounds in this brilliant book, “Helicon, ” on the evils of war, the deception of government, and the wholeness of God.

In this manifesto for peace, we are taken into the bowels of Hell and shown what can become of a world in the not so distant future, should humankind continue on its destructive path of self-destruction. In his quest to find an answer to the follies of a deteriorating world of immorality and war mongering, he has come upon what he feels to be the only answer for salvation. His usage of Satan versus God brings the reader to a thoughtful idle of just what it means to know good vs. evil in a world destined to fall away from its own beauty due to ignorance and apathy. The omnipresent question is forthcoming in all of his poetry…”Will the world succumb to evil and forever live in its pathetic aftermath, or is there a better way?

Dr Kumar’s first poem in his book Helicon, entitle “Celestial Voice, ” declare how it is time for the poets of the world, indeed all who have a voice, to go forth and help others to understand what the horrors of war mongering and weapons of mass destruction can do. His obvious love for our world and all of its inhabitants is never more obvious than the lines within this poem.

    “I heard the voice celestial

    Go thou among the illiterate have-nots in India

    And preach God’s kingdom”

In the startling, “The Hermit of Ganga,” he takes us through the evils of oppression inflicted on the saintly people of the world, and in, “Great Reality,” he prays that the world will come to the conclusion that the only real answer lies in Non-violent Democracy

    “God is not He

    Not She

    But We”

Maria Cristina Azcona, a well-known researcher in peace education through literature, poet and author from Buenos Aires, Argentina has aptly described Santosh Kumar as one of the most brilliant post-modern realists and writer of social poetry.

This book is an inspirational journey written by one of the best poets of our time.

About the author:

Dr. Santosh Kumar is a poet, short-story writer and an editor from UP India; Head of the English Department in A.D. College, Allahabad: DPhil in English; Chief Editor of an international literary journal Taj Hahal Review; He has edited fifteen World Poetry Anthologies, and four books of World’s Literature at the university level.