This world is all there is
Review of Rochelle Potkar’s Coins in Rivers
by Amlanjyoti Goswami
Rochelle Potkar’s ‘Coins in Rivers’ (Hachette India, 2024) bemoans the loss of a world where ideals are fast fading away. A sense of dissatisfaction pervades the book, but this does not necessarily translate into creative sublimation. There are no other worlds to escape into, and this world is all there is. While looking for words to express this inchoate disenchantment, the lines do sometimes flounder.
Potkar’s best poems remain in humorous mode, when she observes with scathing detail, the peccadillos of middle class India, especially in the belated discovery of scandals of dirty old men, otherwise considered respectable (though recently deceased) in society. In ‘Harry Mendosa’, who died at 98 on a vacation in Siliguri, ‘the consumer of Amul butter, Limca, Lipton tea, lover of Krackjack biscuits, Gold Spot, Parle-G…’, skeletons are found in an ancient cupboard, with diaries detailing killings of neighbourhood dogs, experiments with the occult; ‘revealing photographs with several women’; a briefcase with porn, anagrams which turn out to be women’s names and so on. In ‘Bedding Day’, the groom is looking for a ‘non Facebook user, exceptionally fair, convented, at least Matric and virgin…’ In ‘Litter of Applicasun to Eschool Principl’, the father asks for ‘parmissun’ in broken desi Inglish since the son has an invite for ‘the Korepati show on TV’. Potkar borrows a leaf from Nissim Ezekiel and Eunice D’ Souza, both Bombay poets of an earlier era, for her explorations in faux pas humour. These poems work because they are playful.
However, when the poet gets serious about poetry, the lines start straining themselves. The encounter with history does not redeem poetry. When she writes about the ills of the world in serious vein– capitalism, greed, climate change, inequality and so on – the lines flail away. Her poetic touch is best expressed when she is not serious about it. When the attempt is to write poetry as panacea or diagnosis, the lines become difficult to engage with. Perhaps the poet’s larger concern is ordinary living itself, the one ‘leavening hope, textured in sweet crust/ against the crumbs and croutons of daily kneading’. Potkar’s feminist attention comes through in poem after poem, especially in ‘Keyholes’ where sometimes ‘we translate into vixens: late night – girls with eyes masks,/ returning on the stairs – shush! the landlord is insomniac/ to stilettoes and side slits of little black dresses/ books, menstrual cups, and spandex’. And yet, in ‘Amber’, ‘she once drank the moon with him/ champagne upon champagne, thrown to brine/ That perfection, so true, it had to end’.
Four visual/ concrete poems stand out with few words and telling illustrations (by Pia Alize Hazarika). ‘#MeToo Movement in India – Size Card’, ‘Gravity’ (depicting Maslow’s pyramid of needs); ‘Layers of Etiquette’ and ‘Parliaments of Variety’ are all imaginatively conjured with ironic humour, and provide fertile ideas for poetry to collaborate with visual media. Potkar has experimented with haibun before, and in her playful innovations with form and humour, she keeps something for the future.
Potkar’s best poems remain in humorous mode, when she observes with scathing detail, the peccadillos of middle class India, especially in the belated discovery of scandals of dirty old men, otherwise considered respectable (though recently deceased) in society. In ‘Harry Mendosa’, who died at 98 on a vacation in Siliguri, ‘the consumer of Amul butter, Limca, Lipton tea, lover of Krackjack biscuits, Gold Spot, Parle-G…’, skeletons are found in an ancient cupboard, with diaries detailing killings of neighbourhood dogs, experiments with the occult; ‘revealing photographs with several women’; a briefcase with porn, anagrams which turn out to be women’s names and so on. In ‘Bedding Day’, the groom is looking for a ‘non Facebook user, exceptionally fair, convented, at least Matric and virgin…’ In ‘Litter of Applicasun to Eschool Principl’, the father asks for ‘parmissun’ in broken desi Inglish since the son has an invite for ‘the Korepati show on TV’. Potkar borrows a leaf from Nissim Ezekiel and Eunice D’ Souza, both Bombay poets of an earlier era, for her explorations in faux pas humour. These poems work because they are playful.
However, when the poet gets serious about poetry, the lines start straining themselves. The encounter with history does not redeem poetry. When she writes about the ills of the world in serious vein– capitalism, greed, climate change, inequality and so on – the lines flail away. Her poetic touch is best expressed when she is not serious about it. When the attempt is to write poetry as panacea or diagnosis, the lines become difficult to engage with. Perhaps the poet’s larger concern is ordinary living itself, the one ‘leavening hope, textured in sweet crust/ against the crumbs and croutons of daily kneading’. Potkar’s feminist attention comes through in poem after poem, especially in ‘Keyholes’ where sometimes ‘we translate into vixens: late night – girls with eyes masks,/ returning on the stairs – shush! the landlord is insomniac/ to stilettoes and side slits of little black dresses/ books, menstrual cups, and spandex’. And yet, in ‘Amber’, ‘she once drank the moon with him/ champagne upon champagne, thrown to brine/ That perfection, so true, it had to end’.
Four visual/ concrete poems stand out with few words and telling illustrations (by Pia Alize Hazarika). ‘#MeToo Movement in India – Size Card’, ‘Gravity’ (depicting Maslow’s pyramid of needs); ‘Layers of Etiquette’ and ‘Parliaments of Variety’ are all imaginatively conjured with ironic humour, and provide fertile ideas for poetry to collaborate with visual media. Potkar has experimented with haibun before, and in her playful innovations with form and humour, she keeps something for the future.
Amlanjyoti Goswami has written two widely reviewed books of poetry, River Wedding and Vital Signs, both published by Poetrywala. River Wedding was shortlisted for the Sahitya Akademi award. Published in journals and anthologies across the world, including Poetry, The Poetry Review, Penguin Vintage, Rattle and Sahitya Akademi, he is also a Best of the Net and Pushcart nominee. He has read at various places, including Delhi, Mumbai, New York, Chandigarh, Boston and Bangalore. He grew up in Guwahati and lives in Delhi.
