Gopikrishnan
Kottoor’s This Small Town: New Poems
Reviewed by
Dr. Geetha Nair,
Former Professor,
Department of English,
All Saints College,
Trivandrum. Kerala, India.
This Small Town:
New Poems | Poetry | Gopikrishnan Kottoor |
Tristoop
Books,
2025, INR 250, pp. 82
ISBN: 978-81-963006-5-4
"My
religion is love...," wrote John Keats, more than two centuries ago.
Here is another
poet who might well claim the same. As in almost all his numerous collections
of poetry, love is the theme of a sizeable number of poems in his latest
collection as well.
To Gopikrishnan,
the forms of Nature are most often metaphors for facets of romantic love or its
loss. The poet rides to the starry sky, makes the wind sough through the trees,
causes flowers to wilt and die, creates birdsong - all in the name of love.
Daringly
original figurative language is his forte. The Metaphysical Poets would have
welcomed him into their midst! He is a master of metaphor.
A notable
feature of his love poems is the dying fall at the close. It is startling,
often searing.
The later poems
in 'This Small Town' take us to many a small town. Here, other themes like
suffering, death and transience take over.
His poems about creatures big and small are
remarkable for their detailing and near- empathy.
A poem like
"The Back of the Crucifix" is sufficient to show that Gopikrishnan's
poetic powers are as strong as ever:
"No one can see the back of the Crucifix.
It is plain, where the bird droppings,
the lichen has long lain.
But that's where the nails have gone
deep, deep in."
It says little
while saying much as true poetry does.