Mary Kunte Interview – Come Rhyme With Me Book

Mary Kunte finished High School and after working with State Bank of India for 38 years she retired as Deputy Manager. Let us know more about her writing.

What inspired you to start writing?

My observation of people’s behaviour and my experience in life led me to put my thoughts and feelings into words. Although I would have liked to express myself in prose, I found that rhyme came easily to me and I was thus able to write the poems that are now in my book, Come Rhyme With Me.

What did you like to read when you were a girl?

As a schoolgirl I loved to read books. Enid Blyton was my favourite author, among others. My love for reading and thirst for knowledge led me to read newspapers, books, magazines and periodicals.

What is the greatest challenge in writing a book?

I did not face any challenge while writing my book of poems, as my thoughts just flowed into words that rhymed.

How much research do you do before writing the book?

I have written only a book of poems so far which did not need any research. I just put my thoughts into words.

What motivated you to write the book “Come Rhyme With Me”?

My book is a collection of poems written over a period of years. I felt like putting them all in a book.

Can you tell us more about your latest book “Come Rhyme With Me”?

My first poem was A Lullaby which I wrote for my granddaughter, followed by two poems inspired by nature: Nature’s Night Lamp and The Elements of Nature – Rain, Sun, and Wind.

Observing that money makes the world go round, gave me the idea of writing the poem The Lure of Wealth which brings out the dark side of wealth when there is a surfeit of it. The craze for wealth, which is avarice, prompts a person to accumulate wealth at any cost.

The poem Anger brings out the emotion of ire at its worst which leads to revenge that can go to extreme lengths, if not curbed.

The two poems on life – At Curtain Call and Life are about observing human nature.

The poem Baby was written watching my granddaughters grow up and my own experience as a mother.

The Truant Window Curtain is an unusual poem and it is about an incident in real life. I penned out the poem to quell the annoyance I felt at that time.

The Eye that Sees, the Hand that Saves brings out the saving hand of God that I felt was being revealed to me through the Power of Prayer.

A completely laughable contrast is in the poem the Spook which is purely imaginary and fictitious.

The poem Features on the Face gives a humorous description of each facial feature.

Reminiscing is a poem from my heart about my family.

Other styles of poetry also have a place in the book: Acrostic, Rictameter, Haiku and Onomatopoeia.

In an Acrostic poem the first letter of each new line when put together forms a word/name. These poems have also been written in rhyme.

The poem Scarlett was inspired by the movie Gone with the Wind with a pun on the word.

Cornucopia which means an abundance of good things is portrayed as an overflowing treasure of love.

In Rictameter style the poem is written in a certain number of syllables per line, in ascending and descending orders, giving the poem a diamond shaped look.

Haiku poetry is a thought or a scene expressed in just three lines.

Onomatopoeia is a poem in which sounds are expressed in words.

The Songs section includes a patriotic poem Jai Hind My India, and three children’s poems – A Lullaby, A Child’s Song and My Little Airplane.

How did you come up with the idea of writing poetry anthology genre book?

I enjoy writing poetry. I was keen on writing a book and poetry comes naturally to me.

Who are your favourite authors?

I like reading books in the fiction category. Books by A.J. Cronin and Jeffrey Archer are my first choice but I have also read books by other authors, Ernest Hemmingway, D.H. Lawrence, Sidney Sheldon, Ian Fleming being among them.