Indivisible: An Anthology of Contemporary South Asian American Poetry

Neelanjana Banerjee, Summi Kaipa, Pireeni Sundaralingam

University of Arkansas Press, May 1, 2010 - Poetry - 288 pages

The first anthology of its kind, Indivisible brings together forty-nine American poets who trace their roots to Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Featuring award-winning poets including Meena Alexander, Agha Shahid Ali, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, and Vijay Seshadri, here are poets who share a long history of grappling with a multiplicity of languages, cultures, and faiths. The poems gathered here take us from basketball courts to Bollywood, from the Grand Canyon to sugar plantations, and from Hindu-Muslim riots in India to anti-immigrant attacks on the streets of post–9/11 America. Showcasing a diversity of forms, from traditional ghazals and sestinas to free verse, experimental writing, and slam poetry, Indivisible presents 141 poems by authors who are rewriting the cultural and literary landscape of their time and their place. Includes biographies of each poet.

Contents

• REETIKA VAZIRANI: 3
• From the Postcard at Vertigo Bookstore in DC: 4
• Its Me Im Not Home: 5
• VANDANA KHANNA: 7
• Hair: 8
• Dot Head: 9
• Echo: 10
• MOHAMMAD FAISAL HADI: 12
• Fatima: 13
• Public Benefits: 14
• MAYA KHOSLA: 16
• Return to Grand Canyon: 18
• Sequoia Sempervirens: 19
• Under WolfPaw: 20
• TANUJA MEHROTRA: 22
• Nainital: 24
• Song for New Orleans: 25
• VIJAY SESHADRI: 30
• Elegy: 32
• The Dream I Didnt Have: 33
• BHANU KAPIL: 35
• VIKAS MENON: 38
• Drown: 40
• The Gentle Art of Subtitles: 41
• SUMMI KAIPA: 42
• from The Epics: 43
• MINAL HAJRATWALA: 46
• Miss IndoAmerica dreams: 51
• Generica: 52
• CHITRA BANERJEE DIVAKARUNI: 54
• The Geography Lesson: 56
• Two Women Outside a Circus Pushkar: 58
• Indian Movie New Jersey: 60
• SEJAL SHAH: 62
• Accordion: 63
• Independence Iowa: 64
• NEELANJANA BANERJEE: 66
• Priapos: 67
• AMARNATH RAVVA: 69
• Bear Scat Flat: 71
• the spectacle of a few trees in spring off the 5: 74
• MYTILI JAGANNATHAN: 77
• Dream House: 79
• SRIKANTH REDDY: 80
• Scarecrow Eclogue: 81
• Fundamentals of Esperanto: 82
• Corruption: 87
• PRAGEETA SHARMA: 88
• Paper II: 89
• In Open Water In Mathematical Star: 90
• SASHA KAMINI PARMASAD: 91
• Sugarcane Farmer: 92
• The Old Man: 94
• VIVEK JAIN: 96
• Anands Story: 97
• RO GUNETILLEKE: 99
• Spirited Away: 100
• AMITAVA KUMAR: 102
• Against Nostalgia: 106
• SACHIN B PATEL: 111
• The Blacktop Gospels: 112
• BUSHRA REHMAN: 117
• At the Museum of Natural History: 118
• The Difference: 119
• SHAILJA PATEL: 120
• Love Poem for London: 125
• SUDEEP SEN: 129
• Jacket on a Chair: 131
• AIMEE NEZHUKUMATATHIL: 133
• Fishbone: 134
• Last Aerogramme to You With Lizard: 135
• Ladies Night: 136
• RAVI CHANDRA: 137
• The Old Man Speaks: 139
• RALPH NAZARETH: 140
• Red Eye: 141
• Horse Play: 142
• MEENA ALEXANDER: 143
• September Sunlight: 144
• Slow Dancing: 146
• FAISAL MOHYUDDIN: 148
• Blood Harmonies: 154
• Poem Inspired by a Note Found Scrawled onto the Inside Cover of One Day at a Time in AlAnon Sitting on a Bookshelf at Cafe Ambrosia Evanston ...: 155
• DILRUBA AHMED: 157
• Learning: 159
• Invitation: 161
• PRAMILA VENKATESWARAN: 164
• Exile: 165
• BHARGAVI C MANDAVA: 167
• Moonsweets: 168
• REENA NARAYAN: 170
• Tobacco Wrapped in The Fiji Times: 172
• HOMRAJ ACHARYA: 176
• The Kerosene Stove: 178
• R PARTHASARATHY: 181
• The Concise Kamasutra: 185
• Remembered Village: 186
• PURVI SHAH: 187
• Unhoming: 188
• Natures Acre POSTED: 189
• KAZIM ALI: 191
• Thicket: 192
• MONICA FERRELL: 194
• The Coin of Your Country: 195
• In the Binary Alleys of the Lions Virus: 196
• Love the Kunstkammer Version: 197
• RAVI SHANKAR: 198
• Before Sunrise San Francisco: 199
• Return to Mumbai: 200
• VINAY DHARWADKER: 202
• Thirty Years Ago in a Suburb of Bombay: 204
• ARYANIL MUKHERJEE: 205
• the touch of language: 206
• picnic: 207
• INDRAN AMIRTHANAYAGAM: 209
• Girl Dressed: 210
• The City with Elephants: 212
• SWATI RANA: 214
• To Reveal: 215
• SUBHASHINI KALIGOTLA: 217
• Letter to New York: 218
• My Heart Belongs to Daddy: 219
• MONA ALI: 220
• The Wolfs Cry: 221
• AGHA SHAHID ALI: 225
• Ghazal: 227
• Footnote to History: 228
• At the Museum: 230
• PIREENI SUNDARALINGAM: 231
• Vermont 1885: 232
• Language Like Birds: 233
• JEET THAYIL: 234
• from Premonition: 235
• Letter from a Mughal Emperor 2006: 236
• Flight: 238
• Acknowledgments: 241
• Author Index: 249
• Title Index: 251

Bibliographic information

• Title: Indivisible: An Anthology of Contemporary South Asian American Poetry; EBSCO ebook academic collection
• Editors: Neelanjana Banerjee, Summi Kaipa, Pireeni Sundaralingam
• Publisher: University of Arkansas Press, 2010
• ISBN: 1610752074, 9781610752077
• Length: 288 pages
• Subjects: Poetry / Anthologies (multiple authors); Poetry / General