‘You’re Also a Part of a Whole’: Poetry by Vikram Kolmannskog
Poetry Excerpts: ‘here where the pressure is high / yet you remain so very sensitive, // here where you find the grassy, gritty origins / of humility and humanity.’
Locating Souls
Perhaps there is not a soul
in the brain. Perhaps in the heart.
One place is certain.
Remove your shoes and be aware
here where the pressure is high
yet you remain so very sensitive,
here where you find the grassy, gritty origins
of humility and humanity.
Vira Vikram knows. Only those who are still lost
discriminate between high and low.
(From The Garden Tantra, Red River, 2023)
*
You’re Not Selfish
Though you think much of the time
along lines of I, me, mine,
though you feel apart
from grass and pine,
you’re also a part
of a whole
or even more
interpenetrated:
without any effortful will,
just standing still in this garden,
you constantly feed
the sturdy pine facing you,
and the delicate leaves of grass
crowding your feet,
and they feed you—
breathing in, breathing out.
(From The Garden Tantra, Red River, 2023)
*
Rhy watches
Lucas’ eyes half-open
Biting his pink lips
Opening his mouth
Facing each other
Reflecting, rotating, revolving
Like the moon and the sun
Right here
(From Rhyheim: A Porn Poem, Broken Sleep Books, 2024)
***
Vikram Kolmannskog is a writer, psychotherapist, and full professor of Gestalt psychotherapy. He has a mixed heritage with a Norwegian father and a mother born in Kenya to Gujarati parents. He lives outside Oslo together with his husband Daniel. You can find him on Instagram: @vikramwrites.
