Amlanjyoti Goswami
Issue: Vol. IV, No. 2, August-October, 2025
Because it is there, as George Mallory had said of Everest.
Because it tells tales dressed as poems, or poems dressed as tales.
Because I gave my heart to it, and god knows where it is hiding now.
Because it is 250 pages of heart mind and soul, and no one knows what I was thinking.
Because you ask me.
Because it is not easy to dream and make your dreams come true.
Because the cover is beautiful
The pages exquisite. Try them
The way you tastedelicate maasor tenga on a summer afternoon
When the pages weave with a monsoon breeze.
Have your thoughts already wandered outside the window?
But these poems are patient.
They know what it takes to move feeling
One word at a time.
Take it with a cup of tea, keep some biscuits free.
There is love and grief here, anger and laughter
There is wonder, and there is fear
There is compassion, courage and peace.
That sums it up.
But let’s begin, where we are.One rasa at a time.
Why did I write this book?
I didn’t. I simply wrote poems.
The book came together, like reconciled kin
Now eager to live together with each other.
My job was to make them meet
As if preparing for a wedding.
Then the poems became guests, dancing laughing
Teasing each other.
Then the poems wanted afeast.
Imerely told them where to go.
Amlanjyoti Goswami has written two widely reviewed books of poetry, Vital Signs and River Wedding, published by Poetrywala. His poems have been published in journals and anthologies around the world including Poetry, The Poetry Review, Rattle, Penguin Vintage and Sahitya Akademi. A Best of the Net and Pushcart nominee, his poems have also appeared on street walls in Christchurch, exhibitions in Johannesburg, an e-gallery in Brighton and buses in Philadelphia. He has reviewed poetry for Modern Poetry in Translation and has read in various places, including New York, Delhi, Chandigarh, Bangalore and Boston. He grew up in Guwahati and lives in Delhi. A Different Story (2025) is his third collection of poems.