The Rise Insight: What inspired you to write “Broke, Healed and Loved,” and how did you decide on the unique approach of presenting poems without titles?
Devangshree Saini: As I always say, my life itself is my greatest inspiration behind the book. Other than that there were several other people who are a great inspiration to me. However, the purpose behind not giving any title to the poems is that if I would give a title to the poem it’ll become relatable to only a particular group of people or a particular idea. On the other hand if I wouldn’t provide any, it can be interpreted in many ways and can be felt by many people rather than having only a particular meaning.
The Rise Insight: In the book, you explore themes of love, breaking, and healing. Could you share some personal experiences or sources of inspiration that influenced these themes in your poetry?
Devangshree Saini: It wasn’t pre decided that I will write and publish this – this – this theme. It just formed itself naturally as I wrote daily in the past months and years. Then when I read them all together, one day, I found they’re majorly expressing such feelings and so when I decided to publish them, I divided them on the bases of the themes. I wrote when I saw those situations and faced those emotions by myself in my life and what impact they did leave on me. The feeling of loving someone unconditionally and then getting broken by them. But through writing I made my healing from the pain and loss.
The Rise Insight: The poems in your collection flow seamlessly into each other, creating a continuous stream of consciousness. Can you tell us about the creative process behind organizing the poems in this manner?
Devangshree Saini: I have put poems in a manner which are automatically leading from one idea to another as we read them one – by – one. For instance, when the theme of Love starts in the poem, the first poem you read is about self-love and then it talks about romantic love. Which is what we think (and if you don’t then you should) when we hear the word “love” because it’s what we’re living for and because of. If you don’t learn to love yourself first then you’ll never be able to love anyone with your entire heart in this world. Similarly, every aspect or emotion we encounter is arranged in a step-by-step manner in the book as it occurs in our lives.
The Rise Insight: Emotional turbulence is a prominent aspect of your work. How do you manage to convey such intense emotions through your poetry?
Devangshree Saini: I believe that not only poetry but whatever creative writing you’re practicing should be writtenon one’s own personal experiences and with honesty without any extra spice to it. Readers do like and relate to the work which is based on real or raw emotions. Also there’s this thing I have shared on one of my blog post’s too that poetry can be written on anything or anybody but what makes your work on fleek is to immerse yourself completely into that emotion(s) with which you are writing that poem. This is what I practice. I “let the emotions overtake me entirely”. Whether it’s anger, sadness, love, hope, dejection, joy…anything, I just let it take me with itself.
The Rise Insight: “Broke, Healed and Loved” showcases both painful emotions and hope. How do you find a balance between exploring the depths of emotions and offering a sense of optimism to readers?
Devangshree Saini: As I have already mentioned, how I let the emotions take me with themselves, it is important to note that I do let it take me entirely with itself but those emotions which are negative (such as anger, dejection, sadness), I only let them occupy my mind when I’m writing about it or related to it and then immediately after penning it down and handling it to the universe via. pages, I replace them with the positive ones. If I would not replace them with the positive ones they might replace my writing talent to nothing. Because as we all know negative emotions destroy us from inside if we don’t allow ourselves to let them go after a certain period of time.
The Rise Insight: As a writer, how do you approach vulnerability in your poetry, especially when delving into personal experiences and emotions?
Devangshree Saini: Those events or encounters of my life which shake me from head to toe and leave me wounded, don’t leave my mind and my heart until I write them out somewhere. So it’s not like I choose to write about a particular idea like ‘oh, today I should try to write something depressing or gloomy.’ No, Instead I write what I feel in that particular moment. This not only gives the poems a raw form but provides them the actual essence of that particular emotion or idea.
The Rise Insight: Your book contains both short and long poems. Could you share how the length of a poem affects its impact on the reader and the message you want to convey?
Devangshree Saini: It’s not that long poems are boring or that short poems are thrilling. If we see how lives are getting developed day – by – day, we can find that as the human is heading forward to the future s/he is getting less time for her/himself. And I feel this is why nowadays people prefer short poems more than the long ones. Poems that in a few words explains the reader the entire story or emotion. Also if you see that when you’re really dejected or in a mentally worst condition and going through very hard times of your life, you won’t feel like writing much or explaining it in detail and thus the poets try to keep it in a length which they feel is enough to express their pain or idea.
The Rise Insight: Are there any specific poets or authors who have influenced your writing style or themes in “Broke, Healed and Loved”?
Devangshree Saini: Yeah there is this Indian Poet Ashish Bagrecha and the internationally acknowledged poetess Rupi Kaur’s poems and books have greatly influenced my writing style.
The Rise Insight: How has the process of writing and compiling this collection impacted you personally and as a writer?
Devangshree Saini: First of all, it gave me a substitute to pour my heart out to somewhere. Also it gave many other ways and perspectives to see my life as. Now I know my purpose and my goals and dreams in life. Most importantly it makes me feel that yes, I’m worth it too, if not millions of people in the world then at least there would be one person whose life I might impact in a positive and loving way and that’s why I feel joy and happiness from the core of my heart whenever someone texts me or mails me about how greatly they liked my writings and how they inspired them.
The Rise Insight: Lastly, what do you hope readers take away from “Broke, Healed and Loved” and how do you envision your poetry resonating with your audience?
Devangshree Saini: After reading my poems I hope people realise that we might be different or separated from each other in the sense of gender, behaviour, likes, dislikes, culture, nationality or beliefs, etc. but there’s one thing that unites us all into one and i.e. love and pain. We all feel the same joy and sorrow when we encounter these two. No matter who you are and from where you are. And in this similar way I would like my poetries to resonate with the readers.