The Lonely Drummer and Other Poems

After the collection I have read recently, Abhishek Goswami’s The Lonely Drummer and Other Poems has come to me as a pleasant surprise because I often complain about the lessening interest in poetry writing in India. Abhishek’s debut collection has 35 poems, to be exact about the numbers and it took me not more than an hour to finish his anthology because my speed and faculty of poetry reading accompany themselves very well and I enjoy it! The Lonely Drummer and Other Poems, as a poetry anthology, is pleasant and a quick-read collection of poems which won’t bother the readers too much because it does not offer anything rather ambiguous, as usual poetry is. Abhishek Goswami has kept his writing clean and away from the conspicuous metaphors – his articulation is simple and he talks straight. Let’s get into it!

“In the midst of a hot dreary summer,
There now sits a lonely drummer.
All the beats and music have now drowned,
In the humdrum life going out of bound.
Leaving behind this lonely dreamer.”

The very first poem in the collection, which dons the signature title as well, begins with a note of pessimism and we get to know that the lonely drummer has been ‘left alone’ finally! Abhishek seems to be mourning the lack of interest that the modern society shows towards art in general – be it any kind of art, we have become immune to it and he is right there. So, the lonely drummer of his poems is everyone indulged in the ‘fair practice’ of art!

And moving ahead, I found many interesting poems which were not only interesting in the terms of content but also in the terms of allusions that I could ascribe to them. After all, the last right of the poems is due to the readers! I also found one poem which sings the glory of Agatha Christie as the poet calls her ‘the mystery queen’. Also, there are some poems which form various tales – longer one and other shorter ones. Towards the end of the collection, you will see a very long poem in parts – The Blue Book which is a very interesting story told in verse and you will surely like it. There are also humorous tales like Sydney’s Destiny which is short and amusing.

While the poems, for a casual reader poetry, have many things to offer, for the intellectual readers as well as the ones who love to do the trend-watching in Indian English Poetry, there is indeed something offered by Abhishek. He, as a poet just beginning his poetical journey, offers an insight into what a would be poet thinks like. His poems are based on various themes and the form of the poems vary at times. However, most of the times, Abhishek Goswami looks for his lines to rhyme and sound sonorous. Sometimes, the desire to sound musical costs his content and the poetry loses depth on the altar of music! Nevertheless, he also makes poetry too easy with some flash on some occasions which are just wonderful!

“We see it in different ways,
It shines always and burns forever.”

I won’t say that he has been splendid but I won’t take the credit from him for being awesome in his very first attempt! At the end of the day, we need something, as critics and usual readers, to relax us and possibly enlightening as well and Abhishek offered me that solace, without a doubt! I surely enjoyed reading his poetry! And you will like it too; and therefore, just have a copy for yourself from the Amazon India link below:

Abhishek – The Lonely Drummer & other poems – buy online