AMLANJYOTI GOSWAMI
Strings 3
‘tongue for water’
May 2025
Janmashtami
The blue god is sleeping.
The blue god woke up before me.
I shall awake the blue god
But there he is, already smiling.
It’s his birthday today
And he is knee deep in curdled butter
Enjoying the best milk sent by thunder.
This year’s sweets are good.
Better than last year’s
As if the blue god doesn’t already know that.
I snap out of my reverie
And find him sitting there
On the sofa watching TV.
When I go to the kitchen
He is already turning the wooden ladle
Working up a perfect curry
Where you can see the world inside.
When I go up the roof, I see him
Standing on tip toe
Opening the arms of the sky.
I wonder what gift he wants today.
He is a god, a blue one.
Perhaps he wants to read a book
One never written before.
Perhaps he will play a new game
Of hide and seek on the computer
With a thousand armies facing each other
The one he wrote on his own
Without lifting a finger.
AMLANJYOTI GOSWAMI’s new book of poetry, A Different Story, will be published by Poetrywala this summer. He has written two widely reviewed books of poetry, River Wedding and Vital Signs, published by Poetrywala. River Wedding was shortlisted for the Sahitya Akademi award. Published in journals and anthologies across the world, including Poetry, The Poetry Review, Penguin Vintage, Rattle and Sahitya Akademi, he is also a Best of the Net and Pushcart nominee. His work has appeared on street walls of Christchurch, buses in Philadelphia, exhibitions in Johannesburg and an e-gallery in Brighton. He has reviewed poetry for The Hindu, Frontline, Review 31 and Modern Poetry in Translation among others. He has read at various places, including Delhi, Mumbai, New York, Chandigarh, Boston and Bangalore. He grew up in Guwahati and lives in Delhi.
