Sujata Bhatt is an Indian poet who was born in 1956. She received the Commonwealth Poetry Prize for her first collection Brunizem in 1987. Bhatt is known for her effective use of free verse which lends her poems a sense of urgency. Her work has been included in several anthologies and translated into English. Her other works include Monkey Shadows’ and The One Who Goes Away. She now resides in Germany.
‘Go to Ahmedabad’ shows the psychological struggle of an immigrant dealing with disturbing past events and contemporary issues with newly developed views.
Go walk the streets of Baroda,
go to Ahmedabad
and step around the cow dung
but don’t forget to look at the sky.
‘29 April 1989’ by Sujata Bhatt is a sweet, little piece about a mother’s sudden found pleasure in nature’s soggy musicality.
In ‘3 November 1984,’ Indian-English poet Sujata Bhatt shows how history plays a vital role in the process of writing poetry, and their interconnectedness.
I won’t buy
The New York Times today.
I can’t. I’m sorry.
But when I walk into the bookstore
‘A Different History’ by Sujata Bhatt is not a raging piece of protest, rather it teaches how to revisit one’s cultural past in a curious, sensible way.
‘For Nanabhai Bhatt’ is about the poet Sujata Bhatt’s grandfather, Nanabhai Bhatt, who was an educationist and activist active during the Indian independence movement.
In this dream my grandfather
comes to comfort me.
He stands apart
silent
‘Iris’ by Sujata Bhatt is a narrative poem with lyric qualities. It depicts an artist’s wait for the sun to come out and bring out the colors in a single iris.
‘Muliebrity’ by Sujata Bhatt describes a young girl in India who spends her days picking up cow-dung, and the inherent “glistening” power she has.
‘Partition’ by Sujata Bhatt depicts the simple tale of a woman going to a “railway station” to provide for distressed people, while her niece stays “in her garden” and “wish[es]” “she” could be brave enough to do the same.
‘Search for My Tongue’ by Sujata Bhatt describes the speaker’s struggle embracing a new culture and “tongue.” While fearing they’ll forsake the core details of who they are in the process.
‘The Need to Recall the Journey’ by Sujata Bhatt is a poem about the past and a speaker’s desire to return to the moment her child was born. It was too fleeting, she feels, and she can’t help but wish she was there again.
‘The One Who Goes Away’ by Sujata Bhatt shares her emotional journey of leaving India and traveling to America. She entails the internal struggle to define what ‘home’ is during that period.
‘The Stare’ by Sujata Bhatt describes an interaction between a human child and a monkey child at a zoo. It conveys the peaceful curiosity the two show towards one another.
‘The Stinking Rose’ by Sujata Bhatt describes the way that garlic is judged based on its name and how a changed name might influence that fact.
‘What Happened to the Elephant?’ by Sujata Bhatt is inspired by Hindu beliefs. Specifically, she focuses on ideas of reincarnation and a child’s curiosity in it.
What happend to the elephant
the one whose head Shiva stole
to bring his son Ganesh
back to life?
support@poemanalysis.com
Poem Solutions Limited, International House, 36-38 Cornhill, London, EC3V 3NG, United Kingdom
