Guest poem sent in by "Nelson JS Santhosh"
(Poem #1261) A Love Poem Y o U
f
a
l
l
into my eyes
like red
chilli
d u s t.
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Comments: I dont know if this would qualify for a guest poem--it's a "shape" poem." Red chilli dust in the eyes" is one of the best ever descriptions of love that I have ever heard.The jealous rage when your lover talks to another male friend,the suddenly loud heartbeat when you wave her goodbye...etc etc - all that heightened emotional intensity: reality's salt on the wounds of love...all of it can be distilled into this one line. About the poet: This is by a relatively unknown Indian poet-Sivakami Velliangiri.Her works have been published in The Brown Critique,The Little Magazine and Youth times etc and lately there was an article in The Deccan Herald.....but theres not much about her on the net. Theres another amazing poem called Creation which I happened to come across in an old copy of Youth times, which eventually led me to this...exquisite discovery. A poster, a paean, a poem. Regards, Nelson JS Santhosh [Martin adds] Concrete poetry's okay in small doses, though I don't really care for it overmuch. In this case, while I loved the image of red chili dust, and the sensation of a slow drifting fall, I don't think the shape aspect adds enough to it to justify its inclusion. In other words, I can't help but feel that this would have worked better without the typographical 'tricks' - both because they're distracting, and because they lend the poem an unwanted air of playfulness that jars against what the words say.
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