My House Is Burning

By Kannan Narayanan

Poetry is a craft which uses words and images to reach out to the world. These poems tell stories, some comic, others tragic, but all reflective. They capture moments of celebration and sorrow, confusion, and clarity. This is a quest to know others, oneself, and the God. We pass through a difficult time in history where technology has taken us to a future world with unlimited possibilities yet biologically we have not evolved to match these leading inventions. With a mind set of a megalithic period but with a technology of the future, man is confused and live in constand conflicts which are reflected in our frequent wars and ecological destruction. Man does not know that his only home is on fire. He is so ignorant that he assumes normalcy and conducts his business as usual. These poems mirror his errors and alert him. The author strongly believes that the solution to the modern day crisis comes only through self reflection, contemplation and a global outlook (system's perspective). A global awakening is urgent and a paradigm shift in human consciousness is the need of the hour. When you read, these poems will awaken you.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kannan Narayanan
• Release date: Dec 16, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005269074

Kannan Narayanan

An Indian born world citizen. He has lived in India, Japan, Germany, Korea, and Malaysia and is a naturalized citizen of Germany. He is multilingual and multicultural. He is a poet and an author of 15 books in Tamil, a poetry book in English, a non-fiction in English and he has edited a bilingual treatise. He is a digital humanist and co-founder of Tamil Heritage Foundation (www.tamilheritage.org). He is an internet savvy. An active blogger, FB content provider, social media activist, Pod caster and a YouTuber. His training as a scientist brings unique flavor to his creative writings whether it is a simple quote or a poetry or fictions. He prefers to write more of non-fiction these days. He often dwells in mythology and religious tradition of India and reinterpret them to give hopes in these troubled times. He writes often about the need of a paradigm shift for the future for mankind.

Book preview

My words

These poems made their way through me, during my stay in India, Germany, Japan, and Korea. While most of the poems were written for a 100 poems in 100 days literary initive at YourQuote.in., while others are translation from my Tamil poetry collection.

I have tried in many ways to define poetry in this collection. I realized I could not define it except by pointing out to the various possible origins. The origins are often mystical and intriguing. These poems reflect my fascination with the mysterious. The eternal philosophy of the east (India) has influenced me. Jiddu Krishnamurti’s influence is palpable as well.

Poetry has a reality of its own. I have taken you along my journey. I hope you will enjoy this collection.

I thank my wife Sumitra Kannan who has copy edited this manuscript. My children Sweta and Madhumangal have been a trigger and an inspiration. I thank Dr. Maria Apichella for those lovely sentiments in the foreword. Smashwords gave me the marketing tools for online publication. I am proud of the fact that this is entirely my production from writing to type setting, artwork, and publication. Internet is truly an expression of freedom.

N. Kannan PhD

Heikendorf, Germany

December 14, 2022.

Foreword

I first met Dr. Narayanan Kannan and his family in July 2011 at Aberystwyth University in Wales.

Sweta, his daughter, was graduating and about to start her Masters in Oxford. Sweta was one of my dearest friends and I was so excited for her new plans, but sorry to see her go. I was in the midst of a long-drawn out PhD in creative writing and would miss our coffees and chats and swapping of stories.

Sweta’s family were staying in student accommodation, which was a small, grey, boxy building in a housing estate sprawled across a hilly field. I always got lost in that maze of houses, so she came to find me. It was pouring with rain, and I remember her