by Gopikrishnan Kottoor
Who sharpens the knife
with his back to the sea
on his grazed wheel? So many fish heads wait
to be sliced by the wharf,
this must be done with precision and skill.
Who pedals the wheel, holds the strumming knife to the sun
the sharpness edged to a Beethvan note ?
Give one to the murderer, one to the butcher, one to the
lover
whose wife lay last night with a new sailor from the East,
one to Cain to murder his mother and brother
choose one that is blunted, dip it in the salt
bleed it with a kiss.
All knives know the truth of infidelity,
of shaking fins of beauty draped in lust
purple gills red with the sea’s betrayal,
and the rim, the silver rim of the fast wheel
spitting slow fire, turning full circle.
- Share this Poem:
ABOUT THE POET ~
Born (1956), Trivandrum, Kerala, India., Winner, All India Poetry Prizes, Poetry Society, India-British Council Awards (96, 97, 98), and other leading poetry prizes. Poetry published in Ariel (Canada), Orbis (UK), Nth Position (UK), Bluefifth Review (UK), Toronto Review (Canada), The Illustrated Weekly of India, Kavya Bharati (India), Fulcrum (USA), Verse, Seattle, (USA), Indian Literature, Arabesque Review, Plaza (Japan), Chandrabhaga (India), and others. Founder editor, Poetry Chain. Participant, MFA, Texas state University, (2000) Poet in Residence, Augsburg University, Germany (2004). Important works : Poetry : Father, Wake Us In Passing, (German Translation, Wolfgang Heyder) A Buchenwald Diary, Mother Sonata, Victoria Terminus, Poems Selected and New (2010). The Coloured Yolk of Love (2012). Drama: Fire In The Soul The Mask of Death. Novel : A Bridge Over Karma (Novel). Poetry included in The Bloodaxe book of Contemporary Indian Poetry In English, The Golden Jubilee Anthology of Post Independence Indian poetry In English, and Poetry Society, India anthologies.
Last updated June 11, 2012