Exulansis

"fundamentally," she said, "i think you have always been poet first." the last dregs of August sun were bleeding through a sky like tissue paper, and we were trapped in the yellow amber of fading light. i remembered a boy about whom it was so hard to write; and then it struck me the writing was slow not because i was stuck, but because i was using the wrong language. so now we go back. ,to the mother-tongue. "tell me the story, again; this time in poetry." 'Exulansis' is the story of a deeply personal ordeal, told chiefly through the language of poetry. The collection comprises seventy-five pieces of poetry and prose, and their corresponding artworks, birthed and pieced together over four years. The resulting patchwork depicts a journey of healing after loss, of growth, of forgiving; but most importantly, of self-realization through suffering. About the author In keeping with Oscar Wilde's cautions on the dangers of self-definition, Madri Kalugala has spent the latter years shedding layers of identity from herself. She has been writing since a very young age; but tries not to self-identify as a 'writer' or poet, though the nature of writing is at her very core. Her first collection of poetry, "An Almond Moon and The White Owl" was published in 2016, and 'Exulansis' is the second – a body of poetry and artwork accumulated over four years. Most of the poems in this collection blossomed parallel to their corresponding art; hence they are closely interrelated. Madri dabbles in many art forms, and thinks of herself as merely the vessel through which art finds its expression. She is currently working on a memoir, an illustrated storybook, several songs, and a novel in the works. The author finds the most daunting aspect of writing any book to be writing that one last paragraph about herself. You can find her on Instagram living quietly, creating art, and tending her plants at prodigal_goddess.