"I Would Know You Anywhere" is a well known award winning Indian poem on the popular Hindu God Ganesha by the Indian English poet Revathy Gopal. The poem won Second Prize in the Ninth All India Poetry Competition conducted by The Poetry Society (India) in 2000. This was the second major literary award for Revathy, who had also won second prize in the eighth All India Poetry Competition.
Contents
Excerpts from the poem
I would know you anywhere even as a line drawing, with only a suggestion of broken tusk. A mischievous arc of belly and trunk; minimalist. I know you in stone and wood. Terracotta is fine; once in someone’s living room, I saw you made in jade with the light trapped inside. In shops sometimes. they seal you in plastic. Even on a crowded, noisy street you make an area of stillness around you. I stand in a trance watching the dance. One leg lifted high, or in the indolence after sleep, balancing your elephantine head in your hand. Renegade, clown, purveyor of dreams, Dispeller of darkness, arbiter of destinies. You stand just beyond my angle of vision, untamed, unclaimed.Comments and criticism
The poem has received rave reviews since its first publication in 2000 in the book Emerging Voices. The poem has been frequently quoted in scholarly analysis of contemporary Indian English Poetry. The poem has become very popular in Indian English literature and has been widely anthologised.
References
I Would Know You Anywhere Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA