A Turban Imaginary
Year of publication: 2024
Pages: 180
Size: 11.5 x 18.5cm
Price: £15
Review: Rajinder Singh’s The Turban Imaginary is an intricate meditation on the symbolism, ritual, and cultural significance of the turban, weaving poetic imagery and philosophical insights into a profound exploration of identity, tradition, and spirituality. This work moves seamlessly across personal narrative, historical reflection, and philosophical musings, offering readers a richly textured experience.
Singh transforms the act of tying a turban into an evocative ritual of world-making, imbuing each fold of fabric with weighty layers of tradition, memory, and imagination. Poems like "A Magical Dress" and essays such as "The Turban as Paradox" reveal the turban as a living symbol that spans the personal and universal, the sacred and the mundane. His reflections extend into cultural critique in sections like "Diaspora and Decolonisation," where the turban becomes a site of resistance and reclamation.
The language throughout is both lyrical and precise, presenting the turban as a bridge between history and contemporary identity, a crown that carries the weight of ancestral heritage while adapting to the wearer’s present. Singh’s ability to interlace sensory descriptions—of fabric’s texture, its weight, and its interaction with the body—with abstract concepts like time and identity is remarkable. The book’s structure mirrors the act of turban-tying itself, inviting the reader to unfold and refold its meanings with each reading.
This collection is an indispensable work for those interested in cultural studies, spirituality, and the poetry of materiality. The Turban Imaginary is not just a book—it is a living artifact, much like the turban it celebrates, creating a bridge between the intimate and the infinite.
‘Melding together copious evocative strands of personal stories, philosophical musings, and timely social commentaries in between poetry and drawings, Rajinder Singh’s The Turban Imaginary has managed to creatively convey a multi-faceted intimacy in the wearing of a turban, in order to return to the reader an unforgettable intellectual and poetic experience of what living and loving fully in this imperfect world can be like, lest we forget.’ - Lawrence Chin (Singapore)
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Pale in Saffron Year of publication: 2024
Pages: 70
Size: A5
Price: £10
Review: Pale in Saffron by Rajinder Singh is an evocative collection that interweaves poetry, memory, and cultural introspection. The work is structured into two sections—Saffron Songs and Trapping Silence—each resonating with themes of identity, history, and the enduring weight of colonial legacies. Singh's language is both lyrical and piercing, using vivid imagery and rhythm to explore the intersections of personal and collective histories.
The poems navigate landscapes of diaspora and displacement, capturing intimate moments from childhood and familial bonds, such as the tender rituals in "Coconut Braid," juxtaposed against the broader societal and political contexts that shape and haunt those experiences. The poet’s reflections on colonialism, as in "AI as a Colonial Vector" and "Lootlight," critique imperialist influences with a sharp, unflinching eye. Singh’s engagement with partition in works like "Impossible Maps" adds a historical depth that underscores the lingering scars of arbitrary borders and cultural ruptures.
What stands out is Singh's ability to blend the personal with the philosophical. Pieces like "Mimosa Pudica" and "Meditation" delve into existential musings while grounding themselves in sensory details and natural imagery. The poet’s skill in evoking silence—both as an oppressive void and a space for reflection—is central to the collection's impact, particularly in the second section, where silence becomes a motif of resistance, mourning, and transformation.
The collection also pays homage to Sikh traditions and practices, including poignant moments in "My Father's Last Turbans" and the instructional yet symbolic "Pale in Saffron (A Guide to Turban Tying)." These works not only celebrate cultural heritage but also interrogate the fraught dynamics of assimilation and identity.
Overall, Pale in Saffron is a powerful meditation on memory, identity, and resilience. Singh’s poetry challenges and enchants, offering readers a textured and multi-dimensional exploration of what it means to belong in fractured worlds. This collection is a must-read for anyone seeking a poetic journey through history, self, and the enduring shadows of colonialism.
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Trapping Silence
Year of publication: 2021
Pages: 34
Size A5
Price: £10
Review: Rajinder Singh’s Trapping Silence is a compelling exploration of silence as both a concept and an experience, weaving personal memories with cultural reflections and philosophical musings. Singh’s work transcends traditional boundaries of poetry, offering readers a lyrical yet deeply introspective journey into the essence of soundlessness and its resonance in life and society.
The poems in this collection are richly textured, filled with vivid imagery and emotional depth. Pieces like “Coconut Braid” and “Sarong Moments” evoke nostalgia through sensory detail, presenting intimate snapshots of familial rituals and cultural heritage. Meanwhile, works such as “Trapping Silence” and “The Danger of Frost” delve into the profound and often haunting aspects of silence, portraying it as a space for reflection, grief, and unspoken truths.
Singh’s exploration of history and identity is striking. Poems like “rÅmusha” and “Saint Luka” confront the weight of historical trauma and cultural displacement, using silence as a metaphor for suffering and resilience. The recurring themes of colonialism, memory, and loss are handled with a delicate yet incisive touch, making the collection both deeply personal and universally resonant.
What makes Trapping Silence particularly remarkable is Singh’s ability to make silence audible. He crafts a soundscape of absence, drawing attention to the spaces between words and the weight of what is left unsaid. His reflections on family, history, and selfhood are amplified by this deliberate use of quiet, inviting readers to listen more closely to their own silences.
This collection is a profound meditation on the role of silence in our lives. Singh masterfully bridges the gap between the personal and the philosophical, offering a work that is as thought-provoking as it is beautiful. Trapping Silence is an essential read for those who seek to understand the eloquence of the unspoken.
