(An Article By Aju Mukhopadhyay)
Widely published in huge numbers of international literary magazines including the Penguin Review (Youngstown State University), Sheepshead Review (University of Wisconsin, Green Bay), Two Thirds North (Stockholm University), Fox Chase Review, etc., himself 
editing one such famous “The Enchanting Verses Literary Review”, Sonnet Mondal is one of the fine poets of the younger generation of India. He has written eight books and was featured among the Famous five in India Today magazine 2010. Most recently, he represented India at “The 53rd Struga Poetry Evenings”, Macedonia this August, 2014 (from 20th to 26th). Subsequently Sonnet presented his poems at the historic stage of “Bridges Poetry Event” which has been a remarkable poetry event so far with the land mark presence of some internationally renowned poets in the past like Allen Ginsberg, W.H. Auden, Pablo Neruda, Brodsky and Ted Hughes.
Sonnet’s Poetic Trend through some of his selected poems
Richness of ornamental expression through living images is a special trait of Sonnet’s poems. Few examples may suffice to perceive the excellence of his poetry.
A journey by boat through the world’s greatest and largest estuarine forest, brine water habitat of Royal Bengal Tigers and other animals; a bio diversity hotspot, is one of the great and awesome wonders, inspired him to write “Seduced in the Sunderbans”. The poet travelled with some companions in an eerie situation of wonder and awe, of suspense and irony.
Nights alert through sounds; river breezes rumour in our ears-
“Look the ‘Royal’ sees you from behind, from beside, in front…”
. . . .
wish to see the king, bothering every moment
makes the guards utter, “If seen within the cage it’s royal,
For those who dare to sense it and hear it’s gasp, it’s lethal.”
. . . .
Nature’s dearest are the ‘Royals’ here. Her lap just for them.
Eyes become weary, swollen without sleep, still open with hope
while the king dozes and watches us every jiffy through royal eyes.
He must be smiling seeing the hunters enslaved within inebriated waters.
(Seduced in the Sunderbans)
“Blue-Collar Twister” glorifies labourers bringing their insignificance to the fore. The ones who construct really the great monuments and other structures are forgotten and their toils evaporate in the smiles of the moon. In a masterly jugglery the twister makes the work great before the world audience, making the kings like Sahjahan renowned in history at the cost of all workers who contributed their blood and brine to really make it. This is one of the greatest ironies of life, to glorify the man behind the project only, ignoring the real workers behind the creation. This has been the irony of fate of the workers throughout the ages.
Sweat tries to swim upwards through the hairs
of a labourer building the statue of the herald
but fails and falls in the soil sucked up by heat,
Vanishes as a struggling animal in quicksand;
Dreams drain and entity turns into fossils as slippers
walk over it.
Toils will evaporate with the smile of the moon
The dawn will hear sounds again-
sounds of iron striking against rocks.
The air waits to weave those sounds
and strike a twister with them-
Tall enough for the world to see
bold enough to step over mountains
Clear enough to show the waving hands
begging a day out of slavery.
(Blue-Collar Twister)
Once the poet had the fortune of receiving the love and sympathy of a sweet lover in his untidy bachelor life but that did not last long as it often happens. The poet laments that after all the company and comforts, everything is gone and he is left alone as before.
Short-lived and destructive
as most pleasures are
I am wedged back
back into an untidy shiver
(Unusual Shiver in Winter Days)
The dichotomy of life is that while we want freedom under the sky, making love with our beloved, we are chained to the life of economic misery, barbarous routine and to the workaday life. Tagore expressed the ignominy of living such a life in one of his poems. The poet dares to leave such a society and be called as a mad.
the girl out of my dreams,
waving and smiling;
screaming and crying;
standing and waiting
just for me amidst grasses,
. . . .
My faith lies in the train,
in the wilderness and
the vaporous figure of my love
while my whims are chained
with famine and society
that may identify me as a mad
once I leave my job and run
into the hazy backwoods.
(My Chained Faith)
Works Cited
• Diorama of Three Diaries. Sonnet Mondal. New Delhi; Authorspress. 2014. Paperbacks
• Prismatic Celluloid. Sonnet Mondal. New Delhi; Authorspress. 2011. Paperback
Author bio:
Aju Mukhopadhyay, a bilingual award winning poet, author and critic, writes fictions and essays too. He has authored 32 books and received several poetry awards from India and USA besides other honours. Recently he has received Albert Camus Centenary Writing Award, 2013 from Canada / Cyprus. He is a regular contributor to various magazines and e-zines in India and abroad. He is in the editorial and advisory board of some important literary journals. His poems and short stories have been widely anthologised.
