Reflections in Silhouette (A Book of Love Poems)

Gopikrishnan Kottoor’s Reflections in Silhouette is a daringly original collection of ninety love poems that at times verges on the erotic in the typical Indian tradition of the Prakrit love poems, Sangam poems, or Jayadeva’s Gita Govindam . They reassure us, that neither Shakespeare, Pablo Neruda, nor Yannis Ritsos have completely exhausted the regenerative potential of love poetry, and that fresh metaphors, novel phrases and evocative images – 'laughing fire', 'lips breaking into mushrooms', 'bright seeds of red falling upon coffin cracks and bursting open in midnight rain', 'rabbit quietness', 'memory's coloured fall', 'the (lover's) tongue curving in (the beloved's) origami' – can revitalize the romantic tradition and make it truly contemporary. A real treat to the readers of love poetry. – K. Satchidanandan ,Winner of the Ezhuthachan Award, 2017