Some emotions are difficult to explain, even to ourselves. Love, heartbreak, loneliness, insecurity and the quiet desire to heal often exist somewhere beneath the surface of our everyday lives, waiting for the right words to bring them into the light. Poetry has a unique ability to give these emotions a voice, allowing readers to recognise fragments of their own experiences in someone else’s words. For Prasanna Subba, author of Sunflower and the Moon: The Circle of Life, poetry becomes a way to explore the complexities of the human heart and the unexplored territories of the mind.
Growing up in the beautiful hills of Darjeeling, Prasanna developed an appreciation for experiences, stories and the world around him. Although his professional life has taken him into the banking sector, where he has worked for more than a decade, his creative interests have remained an important part of his journey. His life reflects a balance between professional responsibilities and a continuing passion for writing, music, reading and discovering new places. Through poetry, he brings together observations, emotions and reflections that have accompanied him across different stages of life.
Prasanna’s Sunflower and the Moon: The Circle of Life is a poetry collection that explores the emotional experiences that connect people, even when their circumstances and individual journeys are different. Divided into four sections titled Love, Self, Lost and Restitution, the book follows an emotional progression that mirrors the many phases of human existence. These sections explore the experience of loving another person, understanding oneself, navigating loss and gradually finding a way towards emotional restoration. Together, they create a circle of life in which every experience becomes part of a larger journey of self-discovery.
The collection is rooted in the understanding that human emotions are rarely simple. Love can bring happiness, but it can also create vulnerability and longing. Self-discovery can offer clarity, yet it may require confronting insecurities and uncomfortable truths. Loss can leave behind an ache that is difficult to articulate, while healing often demands more patience than we initially expect. Through these emotional landscapes, Prasanna invites readers to pause and acknowledge the feelings they may have carried silently for years.
One of the distinctive aspects of Sunflower and the Moon: The Circle of Life is its connection with the passage of time. The poems in the collection have been carefully selected for publication, and some date back to 1998, when Prasanna was still a student. These early writings offer a glimpse into emotions and thoughts recorded during a different stage of life. Bringing them together in a single collection creates a connection between the person he was when he first wrote those poems and the person he has become over the years.
There is something meaningful about revisiting words written in the past. Emotions that once felt overwhelming may appear different with time, but they do not necessarily lose their significance. In some cases, they become easier to understand. The inclusion of poems written decades ago gives the collection a sense of emotional continuity, suggesting that the questions we ask ourselves in youth can remain relevant as we move through adulthood. The circumstances may change, but the need to understand love, belonging, identity and loss often remains.
The four sections of the book also reflect the ways people move through emotional experiences. Love represents the desire for connection and the feelings that make relationships meaningful. Self turns attention inward, towards the insecurities, questions and discoveries that shape personal identity. Lost explores the pain of separation, uncertainty and longing, while Restitution points towards the possibility of recovery and the gradual process of finding balance again. These experiences do not always occur in a fixed order. Life frequently brings them together, requiring people to revisit old feelings while learning to make sense of new ones.
For Prasanna, poetry does not necessarily promise to solve every problem or provide immediate answers. Instead, its value lies in the comfort of recognition. A poem may not remove heartbreak, erase loneliness or make a difficult experience disappear, but it can remind a reader that such feelings are part of the shared human experience. Sometimes, knowing that another person has felt something similar can make an otherwise isolating moment easier to bear. This quiet sense of companionship is central to the spirit of the collection.
His creative interests extend beyond poetry on the printed page. Prasanna has been associated with a small band, where his interest in music has allowed him to explore another form of artistic expression. One of the poems in his collection, titled “Destroyed and Broken,” has been turned into a song by his band, Octopus. This connection between poetry and music reflects the versatility of his creative pursuits. Words can be read privately, shared with others or transformed through melody, allowing the same emotions to reach audiences in different ways.
Writing also finds expression in his blog, where he shares his thoughts and experiences whenever time permits. His personal blog, available at muyeng.co.in/iamtheprasanna, offers another space connected to his writing journey. Alongside his professional commitments, these creative activities demonstrate his continued interest in recording ideas and expressing observations through words.
Travel is another important part of Prasanna’s life. The transferable nature of his banking profession has taken him to different places, introducing him to new environments and people. Rather than viewing these changes merely as professional circumstances, he has found opportunities to meet individuals, listen to their stories and experience unfamiliar places. He enjoys writing about his experiences and reading, interests that complement his approach to observing the world. His habit of never travelling without a book further reflects the place reading occupies in his everyday life.
Meeting new people and listening to their stories can offer valuable insights into the many ways human beings experience life. Each person carries memories, disappointments, hopes and private struggles that may never be visible to others. Such encounters can deepen an understanding of human nature, providing new perspectives on emotions that might otherwise seem familiar or individual. Prasanna’s interest in people, travel and storytelling forms a meaningful backdrop to a poetry collection concerned with the inner lives of its readers.
Sunflower and the Moon: The Circle of Life is especially suited to moments when the world becomes quieter and there is room for reflection. It can accompany a reader during a peaceful evening, a solitary break in a busy day or a moment when thoughts need space to settle. Rather than demanding that readers move quickly from one poem to another, the collection invites them to sit with individual lines and consider what those words bring to mind.
At a time when everyday life often encourages people to remain occupied and move constantly towards the next responsibility, poetry offers an opportunity to pause. It creates space for emotions that are frequently pushed aside and questions that may not have immediate answers. Prasanna’s collection embraces this purpose by exploring love, heartbreak, longing, insecurity, pain and the possibility of healing without suggesting that recovery is always easy or immediate.
Through Sunflower and the Moon: The Circle of Life, Prasanna Subba brings together poems shaped by different periods of his life and presents them as part of a shared emotional journey. His experience in banking, interest in music, love of reading, travels and curiosity about people form the wider context of a creative life that continues alongside his professional career.
Ultimately, the collection reminds readers that life is not a straight path from happiness to sorrow or from loss to recovery. It is a continuing movement through experiences that shape how we understand ourselves and others. Love, uncertainty, heartbreak and healing all have a place in this journey. Prasanna’s poetry offers readers an opportunity to recognise these experiences, reflect on their own stories and perhaps find comfort in the knowledge that they are not alone.
For those seeking poetry that speaks to the quieter corners of the human heart, Sunflower and the Moon: The Circle of Life offers a thoughtful invitation to pause, read and reflect. Its message is gentle but meaningful: healing takes time, understanding develops gradually, and sometimes a few carefully chosen words can make a difficult moment feel a little less lonely.
