The Gift of Words: Crimson Skins – Devika Mathur

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Indian poet Devika Mathur’s acute obsession with the use of confessional lyricism lends her writing a sumptuous sensibility. Finding fantasy a way to escape inner trauma, Mathur’s haunting, visual work speaks of imagined journeys and freedoms, through imagistic and richly textured poetry. Mathur’s work challenges the accepted notions of the female, and illustrates the intensity and eloquence of her life. Crimson Skins will make you want to inhabit Mathur’s hypnotic handling of words and sink into her flowered world of blood and joy, pain and ecstasy.

“Devika Mathur is loved and known for her celebration of the abstract and surreal; she plays with words like toys and bites into them like ripe fruit. Everything Mathur yields is original and unique. Even when her voice is so reminiscent of Sylvia Plath, she remains a woman and poet unto herself, through and through. Crimson Skins is a testament to Mathur’s talent; through poetry and prose her brilliance is depicted again and again.”

-Kristiana Reed, Flowers on the Wall

“Devika Mathur knows how to romance words. The poetries here are as insane and wild as they are raw and robust. Her metaphors and the imagery that she attaches to her pieces are unique and flow like music.”

-Moushmi Radhanpara.

“Firstly, I would be amiss if I did not state how honored I was to be asked to review this wondrous work by Devika Mathur. From what I have come to know of the writer, she is steadfast in her talent, dives into the raw and gritty surfaces of her feelings, and has no trouble sharing them with the world. With a style not akin to many writers I have read, Devika expresses herself with poetically sound language.

I will be so bold as to say many of the pieces featured in it has the staying power of words by a few greats such as Sylvia Plath, Adrienne Rich, and Virginia Woolf. It ends just as it began, with an intense piece of writing showcasing the writer’s talent.

Devika Mathur shows that she is no novice to the world of writing.”

-Tremaine Loadholt-Tremaine Loadholt

Crimson Skins is available for purchase at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, IndieBound, Waterstones, Book Depository, and from other major online retailers.

ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1951724030

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About the Author

Devika Mathur is a bilingual poet who resides in India.  Her work has been published in Madras Courier, Kitaab.org, Selcouth Station, Modern Literature, Indian Review, Whisper and the Roar, and Sudden Denouement Literary Collective, to name a few. She has written for more than 40 journals and loves to share similar thoughts through her initiative; Olive skins- a virtual platform for all surrealist writers.

She was recently a part of the ‘Best of Mad Swirl’ anthology and has work included in the astounding anthology BymePoetica vol 2., as well as, All the Lonely People. She is a curator for the Sudden Denouement and Whisper and the Roar writing collectives and loves to express her thoughts through her blog. Find Devika’s work at My Valiant Soul.