"I Would Know You Anywhere" is an Indian poem on the popular Hindu god
Ganesha
Ganesha ( sa, गणेश, ), also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka, and Pillaiyar, is one of the best-known and most worshipped deities in the Hindu pantheon and is the Supreme God in Ganapatya sect. His image is found throughout India. Hindu d ...
by the Indian English poet Revathy Gopal. The poem won Second Prize in the Ninth All India Poetry Competition conducted by
The Poetry Society (India)
The Poetry Society (India) was formed in July 1984 at New Delhi as a voluntary association to promote Indian poetry and to look after the interests of Indian Poets. The founding members included the Indian poets Keshav Malik, J P Das, H K Kaul ...
in 2000. This was the second major literary award for Revathy, who had also won second prize in the eighth All India Poetry Competition.
Excerpts from the poem
:I would know you anywhere
:even as a line drawing,
:with only a suggestion
:of broken tusk.
:A mischievous arc
:of belly and trunk;
:minimalist.
::: *****
:I know you in stone
:and wood. Terracotta
:is fine; once in someone’s
:living room,
:I saw you made in jade
:with the light trapped inside.
::: *****
:In shops sometimes.
:they seal you in plastic.
:Even on a crowded, noisy street
:you make
:an area of stillness
:around you.
::: *****
:I stand in a trance
:watching the dance.
:One leg lifted high,
:or in the indolence
:after sleep,
:balancing your elephantine
:head in your hand.
:Renegade, clown, purveyor of dreams,
:Dispeller of darkness, arbiter of destinies.
:You stand just beyond
:my angle of vision,
:untamed, unclaimed.
Comments and criticism
The poem has received rave reviews since its first publication in 2000 in the book ''Emerging Voices''. The poem has been frequently quoted in scholarly analysis of contemporary Indian English Poetry. The poem has become very popular in Indian English literature and has been widely anthologised.
[''Contemporary Indian Poets'' by Jeet Thayil, ''Fulcrum'', Bloodaxe Books, 1996]
Online references
Ninth National Poetry Competition 2000 - Award Winners
* ttp://spaniardintheworks.blogspot.in/2007/03/in-memoriam-revathy-gopal.html Revathy Gopal in Memoriambr> ''India Writes'' - Contemporary Indian Poetry
See also
*Indian English Poetry
Indian English poetry is the oldest form of Indian English literature. Indian poets writing in English have succeeded to nativize or indianize English in order to reveal typical Indian situations. Henry Louis Vivian Derozio is considered the first ...
*The Poetry Society (India)
The Poetry Society (India) was formed in July 1984 at New Delhi as a voluntary association to promote Indian poetry and to look after the interests of Indian Poets. The founding members included the Indian poets Keshav Malik, J P Das, H K Kaul ...
Notes
{{reflist
Hindu poetry
Indian poems
2000 poems
Works originally published in Indian magazines
Works originally published in literary magazines