Bio
Gopal Lahiri is an India based bilingual poet, critic, editor, writer and translator with 31 books published, including eight solo/jointly edited books. His poetry and prose are published across more than one hundred journals and anthologies globally. His poems are translated in 18 languages and published in 16 countries. He has been nominated for Pushcart Prize for poetry in 2021. Recent Credits: Ink Sweat & Tears, One Art Journal, Poetry Breakfast, Verse-Virtual Journal, Setu Journal, Kitaab Journal, Himalayan Diary, Dissident Voice, The Piker Press, Confluence, Literary Yard, The Wise Owl Journal and elsewhere.
Gopal Lahiri
Reservoir Traps
The alphabets of frozen night rewind around that
buried hill where I map the reservoir traps,
let me take you to that place where the contours
close and isopach swells feeding the black gold.
Let me show you how the yellow owl drinks
star light in its search for the perpetual night
and how it holds the slices of winter moon
carrying me along in the silent mode.
I watch the abundance of limestone all around,
bluffs and cliffs that jut around the perimeter,
winnowing the minute squishy mud grains, where
small calcite crystals reflect woven moon light.
I sew those stacked piles of crystal lattices
leaving their feet unlocked from the parent rock.
the winds rush through and I pluck stories
from the milky way simmering in the sky