Penned by technology entrepreneur, Kalpesh Desai, Jasmines in Her Hair: Poetry for the Soul is a poetry collection that covers the mixed and turbulent emotions typically associated with falling in and out of love, spread across 250 pages of content.

The collection itself is split across six chapters: Prelude, Yesterday's Embers, Resilience, Rediscovery, Memories, Serendipity, and Alchemy. Each chapter comes with a line drawing as the header image, and features poetry centred around the broad themes of lust, through to rejection and self-acceptance. Most of the poems are short and punchy, ranging from a few lines to half a page, and follow a traditional patterns in its layout and rhyming convention.

From the sheer amount of content alone, it is apparent this is a collection which Desai has put some effort into, and there are enjoyable elements deep within some of the lines here and there. Sometimes though, less is more, and there are a number of instances where poems come across as heavily graphic in nature, especially lost with a lustful leaning. Whether they are based on real events experienced by the author, or the work of pure fiction, poetic devices are best deployed when they twist the English language to convey subtle, but deeper, meaning. The lasting impression is significantly reduced when language is deployed as a blunt stick to drive home a point.

Reading through this collection several times it feels like there is countless examples of missed chances. Take "You Had Me At That Smile", a poem which spans three lines:

You had me at that smile,

You lost me

when you gave up on that last mile

As a standalone poem, this does not offer much to the reader beyond an observation of a broken relationship. It feels flat. Had this been used as a springboard to draw wider observations and comparisons of damaged love in the 21st century, then there could have been more potential.

At poetry collections go, Jasmines in Her Hair would have been a more likeable read if it were half the length, and more considered with which poems made the final cut. Less would have been more.

AEB Reviews