The Oxford India Anthology of Twelve Modern Indian Poets

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Item Code: IDD658
Publisher: Oxford India Paperbacks
Author: Ed. By. Arvind Krishna Mehrotra
Language: English
Edition: 2003
ISBN: 0195628675
Pages: 200
Cover: Paperback
Other Details 8.5" X 5.5"
Weight 210 gm
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Shipped to 153 countries
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Book Description

About the Book:

In this book, Mehrotra has put together an unusually sensitive selection of fine verse in English by some of his best contemporaries. Many of the poems chosen either present new facets of recognized faces, or deliberately differ from those repeatedly on offer in the more standard, mimic anthologies. An insightful and analytical commentary includes essential biographical information, and introduces each of the poets. Although brief, these introductory pieces are so well written as to be of interest in themselves.

The poets who appear in this anthology are Nissim Ezekiel, Jayanta Mahapatra, A.K. Ramanujan, Arun Kolatkar, Keki N. Daruwalla, Dom Moraes, Dilip Chitre, Eunice de Souza, Adil Jussawalla, Agha Shahid Ali, Vikram Seth, and Manohar Shetty.

A must for those interested in poetry, this book will also be appreciated by those who would like to know more about the poetic usage of English in contemporary India.

About the Author:

Arvind Krishna Mehrotra is a well-known poet, translator and critic-historian.

Excerpts from Reviews:

'…the lengthy but absorbing introduction manifests a learned mind who's done enough spadework to undertake such a venture…'

-Economic Times

'[Mehrotra's] brilliant introduction and notes on individual poets convey to us the complexities of their careers and imaginations, and give us a sense of a tradition of Indian verse in English…'

-Times Literary Supplement

 

Preface

I could not have edited this anthology without the co-operation of its poets. They sent me such books of theirs as I did not possess, and made available their scattered prose writting and interview: my files are thick with newspaper clippings offerprits, photocopies. These became the basis of the indrouctiory notes in which, as far as possible, I try and describe the work of each poet in his own words. The criticism of Indian poety in English that has come out of our universities' English Department is both voluminous and of inferior quality, and is best left alone.

The footnotes and select bibliography, however, do not indicate some other debts: to Madhusudan Parsad, for the loan of two book; to Vandana, my wife, for her patience; to my editors and printer for their editorial care; and to Sara Rai and Smita Aggarwal for offering help when I needed it most.

ARIVIND KRISHNA MEHROTRA

 






 

 

Contents
  PREFACE xiii
  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS xv
  INTRODUCTION 1
  NISSIM EZEKIEL 9
  A Poem of Dedication 13
  My Cat 14
  For Love's Record 14
  Case Study 15
  Poet, Lover, Birdwatcher 16
  Paradise Flycatcher 17
  Two Images 18
  After Reading a Prediction 18
  JAYANTA MAHAPATRA 20
  A Rain of Rites 23
  I Hear My Fingers Sadly Touching an Ivory Key 23
  Hunger 24
  Hands 24
  The Moon Moments 25
  A Kind of Happiness 26
  The Door 27
  The Abandoned British Cemetery at Balasore 27
  The Captive Air of Chandipur-on-Sea 29
  Of that Love 29
  The Vase 30
  Days 31
  Waiting 32
  A.K. RAMANUJAN 34
  The Striders 38
  Breaded Fish 38
  Looking for a Cousin on a Swing 39
  Self-Portrait 40
  Anxiety 40
  Case History 40
  Love Poem for a Wife. 41
  The Hindoo: the Only Risk 44
  Snakes and Ladders 44
  On the Death of a Poem 45
  Highway Stripper 45
  Moulting 49
  Chicago Zen 49
  ARUN KOLATKAR 52
  Woman 56
  Suicide of Rama 56
  Irani Restaurant Bombay 57
  Crabs 58
  Biograph 60
  From Jejuri  
  The Bus 62
  Heart of Ruin 63
  Chaitanya 64
  A Low Temple 64
  The Pattern 65
  The Househoe Shrine 65
  Manohar 66
  Chaitanya 66
  The Butterfly 66
  A Scratch 67
  Ajamil and the Tigers 68
  Chaitanya 70
  Between Jejuri and the Railway Station 71
  The Railway Station 72
  KEKI N. DARUWALLA 76
  Hawk 80
  The King Speaks to the Scribe 82
  The Unrest of Desire 84
  Wolf 85
  Fish are Speared by Night 86
  Chinar 87
  Night Fishing 87
  DOM MORAES 88
  Autobiography 92
  Words to a Boy 93
  Two from Israel 93
  Prophet 96
  Key 96
  From Interludes  
  VII. Library 97
  Sinbad 98
  From Steles  
I. The word works. The world doesn't 98
II. What is this adrift from Chile 99
III. On my stele, mark colours 100
IV. She in her youth arose 100
V. Time and the river, aflame 101
VI. Floes creak out of the north 101
  Future Plans 102
  DILIP CHITRE 103
  The Light of Birds Breaks the Lunatic's Sleep 106
  From Travelling in a Cage  
2 I Came in the middle of my life to a 106
3 The door I was afraid to open 107
4 All I hear is the fraying of the wind 108
5 I woke up and looked at my empty white bed 108
6 Where can I hide now in this 109
7 O quick knives curving into the core 109
  In Limbo 110
  Pushing a Cart 110
  Of Garlic and Such 111
  The Felling of the Banyan Tree 111
  Father Returning Home 112
  Panhala 113
  EUNICE DE SOUZA 114
  Feeding the Poor at Christmas 116
  Sweet Sixteen 116
  Miss Louise 117
  Forgive Me, Mother 118
  For My Father, Dead Young 118
  de Souza Prabhu 119
  Women in Dutch Painting 119
  She and I 120
  Eunice 120
  Advice to Women 121
  For Rita's Daughter, Just Born 121
  From Five London Pieces  
  III. Meeting Poets 122
  ADIL JUSSAWALLA 123
  Land's End 128
  Evening on a Mountain 129
  Halt X 129
  Bats 130
  From Missing Person  
I.3 A _______'s a giggle now 131
I.6 Black vamps break out of hell 132
I.7 In a brief clearing 132
I.9 He travels the way of devotion 133
I.13 Less time for kicks 133
II.1 No Satan 134
II.2 His hands were slavish 134
II.5 Few either/ors 135
  Nine Poems on Arrival 136
  Freedom Song 137
  Connection 138
  AGHA SHAHID ALI 139
  Postcard from Kashmir 141
  Snowmen 141
  Cracked Portraits 142
  The Decca Gauzes 144
  The Season of the Plains 145
  The Previous Occupant 147
  VIKRAM SETH 148
  Guest 151
  The Humble Administrator's Garden 151
  Evening Wheat 152
  The Accountant's House 152
  From an 'East is Red' Steamer 153
  Ceasing Upon the Midnight 153
  Unclaimed 155
  From The Golden Gate 156
  Soon 160
  MANOHAR SHETTY 161
  Fireflies 163
  Foreshadows 163
  Gifts 164
  Wounds 164
  Domestic Creatures 166
  Bats 167
  Departures 168
  Moving Out 169
  SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY 171
  INDEX OF TITLES 175
  INDEX OF FIRST LINES 179

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