Life in My Dictionary
A Poetry Collection by Nawa Raj Subba
Life in My Dictionary is the first poetry collection by Nawa Raj Subba. The book contains forty-seven poems written between 1978/79 and 2005/06. These poems were composed over many years, in different places and under changing circumstances.
The collection reflects the poet’s personal journey as well as the changing social realities of Nepal. Memory, society, human relationships, and the meaning of life remain closely connected throughout the book.
Life as the Central Theme
Life is the central theme of Life in My Dictionary. However, the poet does not define life in a single way. Instead, life appears through different human experiences, including struggle, love, separation, uncertainty, journey, and hope.
Poems such as “Life in My Dictionary,” “The Value of Life,” “Awareness of Life,” “The Shape of Life,” “Journey,” and “Searching for Life” explore these experiences from different perspectives. Together, they show the poet’s continuing search for the meaning of human existence.
Society, Conflict, and Migration
The collection also reflects the social pain of its time. Several poems deal with conflict, violence, insecurity, migration, and the gradual emptying of villages.
The emotional effects of migration are especially visible in poems about elderly parents waiting for children who have left home. “The Market of Beni, Wherever I Look I See Sad Eyes,” “Do Not Fly Away Like a Bumblebee,” and “Parents’ Dream” connect individual experience with wider social change.
In this way, the poems move beyond personal reflection. They also record aspects of Nepal’s changing social life.
Love, Separation, and Memory
Love is another important theme in Life in My Dictionary. The poems explore union and separation, longing, trust, betrayal, and memory.
These emotions give many poems a lyrical quality. At the same time, the collection uses different literary forms, including prose poetry, short verse, muktak, and song. This variety creates changes in tone, rhythm, and expression throughout the book.
A Literary Record of Life and Time
Life in My Dictionary is more than a record of Nawa Raj Subba’s early literary journey. It also brings together memories of people, places, relationships, and social change across several decades.
The collection presents life as something that changes with time and experience. Through personal reflection and social observation, the poems offer a literary record of memory, place, society, and the continuing search for the meaning of life.
Citation:
Subba, N. R. (2026). Life in My Dictionary. In Life in My Dictionary (2nd ed., p. 101). Hamro Idea. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23116598
