A Remarkable Mosaic

This is Dr. Sonjoy Dutta Roy’s second volume of poems. If his earlier work The Absent Words was good, delightful poetry, the present one is more so. It is maturer, sadder, more intimate, more lyrical.

The poet who teaches at the department of English, University of Allahabad, has used myth, legend and fable, weaving them into a beautiful mosaic which give his work an epic dimension. The juxtaposition of all these with a modern day setting makes his philosophical concerns quite apparent. Where will the tortoise go after winning the race, he asks. The beautiful swan who swims alone, the spider that weaves a different, delicate web are very much like the poet or the artist who creates barricades around himself with his works of art – his defence against a hard and cruel world.