Misfits, Mystics – Love & Life

Raminder Bajwa presents poetry that captures the American spirit in Misfits. Mystics, Love and Life while also establishing his ability to develop and execute rhyme and meter. Bajwa starts with the topic “American Triumphs and Tragedies,” where he salutes the troops and recognizes some of our adversities like the Texas church shooting of 2017, ISIS, 9/11. He tackles the classic topics: love, friendship, God and life. Finally, Bajwa explores more obscure thought in “Misfits and Mystics.”

Generally speaking, Americans have a tradition of pride and patriotism, even though we don’t always agree. Like Bajwa, we express our grievances and mourn our tragedies because we love our country. Americans, like most humans, also long to understand and express ideas about age-old subjects like life, love, friendship, and God. Let’s face it, no collection of poetry is complete without approaching these. Today, there is an ever-rising trend of mystical thought in America. Inserting the “Mystics and Misfits” section after pieces that examine traditional American ideas indicates that Bajwa realizes the integration of mysticism in this country. I can almost hear Bajwa singing the lines from on of his poems, “It’s the fall of pretense, the ability to see… Enlightenment is being true.”

The “Mystics and Misfits” portion is my favorite. In “Monk’s Secret Knowledge,” the monk tells the reader that “[we] all carry the image of God in the mirror of [our] heart.” He goes on to say “yet most are lost or hacking each other apart.” These lines resonated with me; they preached that no man is higher than the other, but sometimes we let stereotypes and status tell us something different. In “Wizard of the East,” Bajwa explores the duality of man. “I’m a saint, I’m a sinner… I’m the beauty, I’m the beast.” We often categorized things as black and white, but human beings are immensely complex.

I enjoyed this book of poems and would recommend it to anyone who digs poetry. My only complaint: at times, Bajwa’s poetry seems “too-rhymey” and forced. Expressing the idea and affecting the reader on a deeper level are more important than rhyming, in my opinion. In some poems, it seems obvious that rhyming was the priority. For instance, in “As Long as I Live,” the poem reads “You may use me, abuse me, enslave. Or just free me and wave.” Instead of forcing a rhyme, I believe that simply expressing lifelong dedication to this person would have been more authentic. Nevertheless, I will savor several poems from the book—especially in “Misfits and Mystics;” they have greatly touched me.