Dilip Chitre (17 September 1938- 10 December 2009) Poem by Bijay Kant Dubey

Dilip Chitre, never did I come to know him,
Never could I get an opportunity
Of reading him,
Just glimpsing him through
With a little words
In history books,
Checking him
A poet of Marathi,
But one of English too,
A writer resident for some time,
Fellow,
Traveller,
An artist,
A painter,
A documentarian,
Dilip Chitre.

His poems
Searched I,
But found I not,
His English books,
Though a man
Of English language and literature,
But Marathi drew him close to
And he gave time to
Rather than English
Contributing
Ambulance Ride,1972,
Travelling in a Cage,1980,
With his specific art of articulation
And transmutation.

His love of art and painting
Reflects it his poetry,
His art of articulation
And painting
It is in his poetry,
Picturesque and imagistic,
Penetrating and deep,
He goes on for a massive inclusion
The local and the international,
Remixing them,
Referring to
And describing
He was both
Regional and national
And international too
In his stature.

Born in Baroda,
A little magazine man,
Chitre made his way
Into the realms of Marathi poetry,
Famed to be
An art filmmaker, a documentarian,
Visited foreign
Russia, Ukraine, George, France, Germany,
As a litterateur,
Artist on official visit
Or for invited lectures,
He broadened the horizon
Of translation studies,
A bilingual writer.

As Is, Where Is: Selected English Poems (1964-2007)
Contains it all new and selected poems,
Says Tuka,1991,
Translations from the 17th century
Marathi saint,
Shesha:
Selected Marathi poems in
English Translation,2008,
The editor of
Shabda,
New Quest,
A columnist,
An occasional reviewer,
Chitre was
A multidimensional personality.

A visiting fellow of the International Writing Programme,
Of the University of Iowa,
Iowa City, Iowa in 1975,
He was also the director
Of the Indian Poetry Library, Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal,
A multi arts foundation,
A Convenor of World Poetry Festival
In Delhi,
He used to flirt with
City names,
The locale and the global too,
A tourist touring,
A traveler entering into his poetic diary
His experiences and feelings
Of visits.