On Friday, the 19th of February I was told that our book had won the award for ‘Best Debut Poetry,’ book in the English category at the Asian Literary Society, a group of 15,000 members. It was a more than welcome news considering that ‘Roads’ was published in July 2019 when I could do nothing but promote the book online because of my children’s exams. I had decided to promote the book in 2020 but, thanks to Corona it couldn’t happen and the book in my opinion was dying a slow death. Fortunately, I was wrong. 2020 was not death but a period of hibernation for ‘Roads’ like it was for many of us in the world. While Corona continues and maybe here to stay, 2021 marks the beginning of a new year, new hopes and renewed strength.

On hearing the news of the award, the below poem ‘They said, I’ve won,’ wrote itself out.

They said, I’ve won

I wondered what I had done

Different

that I hadn’t done before

I saw nothing changed but, that you were no more

I wished to tell you about the win, I felt sure you’d want to know

You’d asked when you were around and I had said, ‘Let it go–

It’s over.’ You never asked after

I assumed you forgot

But, it’s obvious now, you had not

For they said I’ve won

So soon after you’d gone

I wondered how you would feel

If you knew–

But, something tells me, you do

For they say I’ve won

And there’s nothing I’ve done

The poem is a tribute to my father who I lost end of November last year.

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Last but not the least, I want to thank all those who took the time to read ‘Roads’ and post a review of the book. Thank you!

For those of you who haven’t read the book yet, I’ve shared the link below. In case you wish to pick it up, you can do so by clicking the below link:

https://www.amazon.com/ROADS-Journey-Verses

The book is available free on Kindle if you are a subscriber.

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