Book Review: Some Resonance Some Desire- Selected Poems by Gopal Lahiri

Shyamasri Maji reviews Gopal Lahiri’s latest poetry collection Some Resonance Some Desire observing how Lahiri mixes memories with the desire to re-view life from an optimistic angle.

Gopal Lahiri, a Kolkata-based poet, critic, editor, and translator, has written prolifically in Bengali and English. A product of Presidency College, Kolkata, Lahiri started freelancing in the Calcutta dailies and Bengali magazines during the late 1970s. At that time, he wrote features and articles. Much later, while working as a geologist at National Oil Company, he discovered his flair for writing poems in English. Living Inside and Tidal Interlude are two of his fabulous poetry collections published in 2013 and 2015 respectively. His poems are published regularly in national and international magazines. Among his translated works, special mention should be made of his Bengali translation of the Israeli short story collection Not Just Milk and Honey. Before this, he translated a few Bengali poems into English for a Dalit anthology published by Sahitya Akademi. He won several accolades, including the Poet of the Year Award in Destiny Poets, UK, Setu Excellence Award (Pittsburgh, USA), and was also a nominee for the Pushcart Prize for poetry, 2021, USA.