In the maddening crowd of Sarojini Nagar market, a small boy plays by himself he begs to steal from his childhood, his life. Shadows of the Realis K.K. Srivastava's third volume of poetry. Rich with meaning and fragmentary in form, the poems depict the confusing realities and anxieties which characterize contemporary life. The themes are varied, but an undertone of darkness runs through all the poems, revealing the deeper hollowness that lies beneath everyday existence. The poems evoke a plurality of ambivalent images, attempting to explore the relationship between the real and the ephemeral. The poet has also summed up his art in a long preface to the book, where he talks about the need to write poetry and why he 'loves to talk of darkness'.