Description
A tree unboxes its leaves as seasons change, gently.
Sensing what’s coming, it stops the supply of nutrients.
The leaf, in turn, sends its last reserves to the roots.
Starving even as it blazes in scarlet gold.
The mother ship lets go and the brilliant leaf wafts to the earth,
nourishing as it lands — gently, indistinguishably.
In The Art of Unboxing, Neera Kashyap merges worlds — inner and outer. This is a collection of meditative attention, one that illuminates the ‘illusory silver’ of ephemeral moments. Kashyap has a keen eye for nature and the way it unboxes mystery, life and livingness itself. The Himalayas, in particular, seem to have made a home within her. She takes her readers on a whirlwind of journeys, external but also deeply intimate. As I read the poems in The Art of Unboxing, I found myself stepping into multiple realms and terrains with graceful poise. Above all, this is a book of quests; the earnest poetic voice is that of a seeker, one searching not merely for things lost, but for meanings to be deciphered from the wind and fire, for inner seeing. — Bhaswati Ghosh
Neera Kashyap’s poems are a gentle yet insistent reminder of how deeply connected we are to the natural world. Her work moves through nature and human emotion as if the two were not separate at all, but part of the same breath. These poems quietly affirm that nature is not something out there, distant or decorative, but something that lives through us, and with us. — Semeen Ali
Neera Kashyap has worked in newspaper and environmental journalism, specialising in social and health communications. Her early literary writings were dedicated to stories for children (prize-winning anthologies from Children’s Book Trust) and a book for young adults (Daring to Dream, Rupa & Co., 2004). Later, her poetry, short fiction, essays and book reviews appeared in various Indian and international literary journals and anthologies of both poetry and short fiction. Her brush with haikai poetry, published in several international journals, taught her the value of minimalist writing that could cut across all forms — poetry, fiction and non-fiction. The Art of Unboxing is a debut collection drawn from a decade of reading, writing and reviewing poetry. Cracks in the Wall, her debut collection of short fiction has recently been published by Niyogi Books (2025). Writing has been a quest for self-understanding, and reading other writers a unitive experience.
Reviews
Read an excerpt from the book in Scroll.in
Neera Kashyap in conversation with Kavita Ezekiel Mendonca in Verse-Virtual
“While living in the hills of Ranikhet, I have felt both the beauty and difficulties of Nature. A forest fire can snake swiftly upwards towards one’s cottage. As swiftly things change; there is rain and the blue hills look damp beneath rolling mist. The beauty one experiences, say of a flaming sunset after rain, induces a certain stillness in one, as if it is reflecting the stillness and joy of something deeper, something timeless. The sages point to this something as our real Nature which is unchanging, permanent, joyful and utterly peaceful in its completeness. It is without time or space and in its omniscience, untouched by the sufferings of the world bound by time and space. The world, in fact, appears to shroud it, so the quest is to find it by piercing through the shroud, so we can rest in its silence and peace. Sometimes, our poems spring from this source, if only we pause the world to allow it!”
Chitra Gopalakrishnan in Scroll
While each image in her poems accurately reflects physicality – sensations, movement, and colour – they ultimately dissolve into the restful, achromatic realm of abstraction, a space liberated from tumultuous and clear references, yet one that captures the essence of existence. Her poems guide readers from sensory perception to symbolism, from the vital force inherent in life to its intangible, yet actual realities, from the certainty of knowing to its suspension, and from earthly connections to the elevated domain of the Source, the crucible of all that is. The cover aptly encapsulates these poems: the shades of green reflect botanical vibrancy and convey the warmth, nurturing qualities, and groundedness of nature and life, the indistinctness in the background evokes a sense of the beyond, representing the inscrutable and timeless nature of existence’s reality.
Agni Barathi in Muse India, Jan-Feb 2026
In conclusion, the box that Neera wants us to unbox is a bountiful one. If you throw aside the few not so great eggs, what hatches is a strong collection of observant expressive poems with intense images. I would like to unbox more of Neera’s work, especially if she filled one with her lovely haibun.
