Pluto: Poems

Every poem has a season

If not harvested in time it wilts.

Words wither and hang from limp metaphors.

Colours fade and the poem

Drifts like fallen autumn leaves.

'Pluto lost its status as a planet only recently. Seeing Pluto sad on being rejected thus my heart sinks. It is so far away so tiny so all my pint-sized poems I gift to it' says Gulzar.

In this exquisite collection of short poems Gulzar addresses his pet themes - relationships his relationship with God Nature Time the art of poetry - with characteristic wit and brevity and the uncommon ability to find meaning in the mundane. The bleakness of these verses on man's violence against Nature religious fundamentalism physical illness and spiritual turbulences are leavened by an undertone of optimism. In Gulzar's work even the darkest moments are filled with light; hope never gives way to despair.

Beautifully rendered into English by Nirupama Dutt - and including for the first time in a volume of his poetry in English a collection of the poet's own sketches - this is a collection to savour and treasure.