Random Chemicals and Snotty Love Poems (Paperback)
The poems and short stories in "Random Chemicals and Snotty Love Poems" capture youthful expressions of wonder at the world, the hunt for self-truth, and finding a place in it while experiencing the strong emotions of a maturing, young adult. The search for identity, the longings to fall in love, striving hard for accomplishments, and all the other explorations of the young adult horizons are maybe some things today's youth can relate to and older adults can be charmed in remembering fondly of. As the stars in the sky seem an impenetrable constant, this is not the case with stars in outer space similar to the life of human beings. All the water droplets in the ocean could not sum up the entire breath of human existence. The familiar and unfamiliar are vast terrains to be ventured into and rediscovered on the journey of the heart. Life's ups and downs are expressed in seeking refuge behind fairy tales, by the desire to disappear, by capturing phases of moon, by the depiction of unseen worlds, and so on in this varied poetic and prose collection.
Pupola was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Her mother is Shayla S. Ali and father is Dr. Ashraf Ali. Her first year was spent in Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) campus in teachers' quarters. She immigrated to USA with her parents when she was two years old. Her parents moved around quite a bit within continental USA. Pupola completed her high school, which is equivalent to college (12th grade) in Bangladesh, from Bethel Park High School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her parents moved again, this time all the way to West Coast, where Pupola completed her Bachelor's degree in Political Science from University of Washington in Seattle. The poems and short stories of this collection were written in Pittsburgh and Seattle.