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Journeys in verse
Last Bus to Vasco
Poems from Goa Brian’s
travels have given him a vast reservoir of subject matter which he deftly
weaves into verse, sometimes rhythmic at others jagged, to convey the essence
of experience. Whether he is talking of the middle class family travelling by
Mangala Express or celebrating the architecture of Qila Mubarak, the verse
resonates with the cadence of Goa and India. In the poetry is an expression of
multilingual, multicultural India. It is almost as if he speaks in several
voices, registers and styles. Most of these poems are based upon his travels
across the length and breadth of India as a result he is a keen, perceptive and
sensitive observer of reality that surrounds him. So much so that the
perceptual content scores over the emotional content. To an extent, these
poems could be described as dispassionate documents of personal observation. He
has apparently been influenced by early modernists such as Ezra Pound and Eliot
and has a strong inclination towards intertextuality and erudition. Brian draws
upon his vast knowledge of English literature, poems and poets to draw a world
that is truly cosmopolitan as well as rooted in Goa’s soil. What one misses
in the poetry is a lyrical strain and musicality. Perhaps it is a comment on
our times that poetry, the most rhythmic and musical of literary forms, today
hobbles along on jagged rhythms. If this poetry is to be understood in the
light of the famous "poetry communicated itself much before it is
understood," it falls short. It is much too densely textured to be
instantly understood. The glossary has been overdone. It is listening to his
poems on the CD provided with the book that is a unique uplifting experience.
The baritone and music holds the listener in thrall. An entry by the National
Book Trust to the Frankfurt Book Fair, it gives the reader a sense of India in
all its plenitude—its stories, its colours, its moods. — A.N.
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"For me, poetry is like a photograph in
words. The capture of a fleeting moment in time and space to which you may want
to return to, to savour in this brief existence." This is what poetry
means to the writer. A senior editor with a publishing house, he finally found
his poetic voice when the Sahitya Akademi published his poems in its journal.
Even in Chandigarh, when he read aloud his poems at the Creative Circle, people
could identify with the themes despite the geographical and culture divide. The
audience clapped to the verse sang to the tune of his guitar.