Strings by Amlanjyoti Goswami

(For Toumani Diabate, kora virtuoso)

Seventy one generations,
Twenty one strings.

Eyes close.
Old fingers
Swim the deft air, in perfect freestyle.
Like long distance runners
Strumming gazelle legs on earth.

Pluck – let – go,
Joy and sorrow.
Ripple peace,
When all else is a rumble
Of war drums.

Tell me, Toumani,
How does it feel to play?
Tell me,

Is it better than listening?

Amlanjyoti Goswami’s poems have appeared in publications in India, as well as UK, Africa and USA. A bunch of his poems find place in ‘40 under 40: an anthology of Post-Globalisation Poetry’, published recently by the Bombay-based poetry press, Poetrywala. He grew up in Guwahati, Assam and lives in Delhi.