Monoreena Acharjee Majumdar

A tribute to a beloved writer and artist.

I have experienced a silence as of late. A kind of quiet in which something is stirring. Part of what has been forming is a response to a beloved artist and poet that I have been corresponding with on Medium and I know, many of you admire. Opening the Medium app, the April prompt for Promptly Written to write an essay about an admired Medium writer was the top article on my Reading list. As I was actively thinking about what I wanted to say to Monoreena, I took it as serendipity.

First, let me address her directly.

Dear Monoreena:

I hope that the arrival of Spring has brought you some relief and as you were hoping, your mojo has returned. From a brief peruse of your Medium profile I see you are writing so I am assuming you are on a much-needed respite from the winter doldrums.

Our most recent correspondence centered around your poem, The Place, which moved me so deeply that I was compelled to question and react. As is true with a poet of such a high caliber, the words spawned a delightful journey of imagery and feeling. Sharing your words with my sister gave me a deeper understanding as she manages a chronic health condition as well.

I am confident, that many can relate to finding one’s self in a place of wanting to “dump the antsy” only to realize that the “promise of the bloom” and the “evaporating dew” are not for us to control but only for us to accept. As we come to understand our shared humanness we reflect on our birthright to live from a place of such delicious freedom while trapped within limitations of body and mind.

The cloud-man dumps the bundle of antsy in the air, Parachuting as glistening dews, Scatters on blooms… God lies in its sudden death

Your beautiful words remind me that regardless of limitations, our spirit, our essence soars.

I want to thank you for such a beautiful friendship. I am honored to receive your well wishes and encouragement. As you said in The Letter Poem, “…often not finding what we want to find is in a way finding what we ought to find or what is waiting for us to be found.” I am grateful for finding you and other Medium writers as we may share this wonderful journey of words, encouragement, and connection.

In highest regard,

Denise

Secondly, let me share with you my admiration for Monoreena.

It is hard to say why some poems stop you in your tracks and demand that you decipher and digest them. This has happened to me on more than one occasion when reading Monoreena.

The first time was her piece, Wetting My Sole. The poem is accompanied by the graphite sketch pictured above, which I described as evoking an ache in Writing Poetry. She challenged a few writers, including me, to react as she had to the piece, the I-told-you-so-ers, by Anthi Psomiadou. I was gobsmacked by her words and invitation.

In Wetting My Sole, her description and the notion of an external observation touching something deep within opened a gateway to understanding. I felt a connection and Medium offered an intrinsic way of interacting. This was the beginning of friendship and correspondence.

The Place is another such poem of hers’. This poem caused a quickening in me. I felt a rush like a need to know it. I read it many times following its words while describing to myself the imagery it conjured. I could feel the “antsy”, the tension between worlds she laid out in words. She questions herself not quite sure of what she was witnessing and I know those questions as I am sure many do.

I shared The Place with my sister who also has a chronic condition that colors her daily life and she brought an even deeper understanding to Monoreena’s words. She felt my enthusiasm and together we joyously rode the wave of introspection she had created. It is wondrous how we took different paths to understand “the place” Monoreena was bringing us.

I could wax on about Monoreena Acharjee Majumdar but I will leave you with a painting by her that was chosen for a challenge called When Painting and Words Combine by the publication, Literary Impulse. The fact that Monoreena has reached from behind the veil of a debilitating, chronic illness to bring forth such inspiring and wonderful works of art both visually and literarily leaves me in awe of her.

I hope you find a fraction of the joy that I have in her words and art.

Here is a link to a list with our correspondences:

Works by Monoreena Acharjee Majumdar referenced:

Thank you for your time and attention.