Matsyendra Gogoi with Mamoni Raisom Goswami. File picture

Tumi akash, moi maati/tumi akash nuhuwa hole, moi kahniniyo mati noholu hoi...(You are the sky, I am the earth/If you had not been the sky, I could never have been the earth...) — an extract from Stuti

April 25: He insists that creating a record was never his goal. That penning 1,000 poems — which is a record in Assam — was a creative compulsion that forced itself on paper.

And then he reads Tumi akash, moi maati from his 1000th poem Stuti, and drives away every speck of doubt with a humility only a creator can master.

That’s Matsyendra Gogoi, all of 29 and prolific enough to put any veteran poet’s oeuvre to shame.

One thousand poems in 13 years and the poet says: “I don’t write poetry to make or break any record. I write them to express my feeling about my land and its people.”

“And I will continue writing poetry till my last breath.”

An avid reader of fiction and poetry, Gogoi wrote his first poem Asha (Hope), 13 years ago as a college student.

Since then, his poems have been published by major Assamese journals and newspapers.

His three collections — Angikar (The Promise), Panchoi (A Boat) and Surya Prithibir Pratham Premik (Sun, Earth’s First Love) have received accolades from some of the best in business.

“He holds a lot of promise. His poems are nice and subtle. It is because of his constant endeavour that he has managed to write 1,000 poems, a record in its own,” says writer Mamoni Raisom Goswami.

Poet Samir Tanti could not agree more. “Assamese poetry has seen many changes in the past few years. Gogoi is a modern poet with a modern outlook. We need more such young and energetic poets today,” he says.

Now, singers Tarali Sarma and Zubeen Garg are insisting that Gogoi pens songs for them.

“I share a good rapport with both Zubeenda and Tarali baidew. They have always encouraged me to carry on with my writing. They have asked me to write songs for them. Now I want to concentrate on writing songs for music albums and films,” Gogoi says.

A Bengali writer, Jibon Ray, has also contacted Gogoi to translate a few of his poems into Bengali. “Talks are on. Let’s see what happens. I want to reach the whole world through my poems,” signs off the young poet.