Shape of Emptiness by Chumki Sharma

The lyric gift of Chumki Sharma’s poems in this collection crumples convention with a whimsical soft touch. Her drug works quickly in poem after poem, whether she is summing up the whole universe of single motherhood in “My Little Van Gogh” or letting the coffee cup of no substance disappear into herself as in “Shape of Emptiness.” Or is it herself disappearing into her poetry? The collection shows us an entire universe of disappearances and leaving in poem after poem as the poet leaves the circus, the gallery, the forest, the lover. She is the poet of escape.