Saturday, October 5, 2013

The Allen Ginsberg Project: Allen in Peru 1960

The Allen Ginsberg Project: Allen in Peru 1960: Beat scholarship - Pedro Casusol Tapias '  " Visiones Divinas (Divine Visions) - Allen Ginsberg’s Peruvian Trip" , an illum...

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Words After September 11


        WORDS AFTER SEPTEMBER 11

We will not be quiet, Lord.
We will not hide in books,
Under our desks, Lord.
We will not whisper
In the rowdy street.


We will hop
On our “three-wheelers,”
On the Morning Express,
Wheel up the ramp
And fly  beyond


The limits
Of our comforts.
We will explore again,
And find ourselves
Lost again.  Yet,


We shall hold our hands.
Yet, we shall love
Our neighbor.
Yet, we shall stand
On our dad


And mum’s shoulders,
And we will play yet again.
Let us now honor our dead,
The Earth’s dead.
Let us not tremble.


Let us not be quiet.
Let us not stammer
Through a million
Emergency sessions.
Let us talk


To the bird in the tree,
The bird in the sky.
Let us sing as a flock,
In congregation.
We will


        and shall
And can
        and must not
Be overcome.
Let us walk out tonight,


Tomorrow, and sing
We will
        and shall
And can
        and must


Not be overcome.
Let us go to the films
On Saturday,
To worship any day
We wish.


Let not these burning towers
Be our metaphor.
Let us honor our dead, yes,
And let us build and rebuild
Our metaphors.



-- Indran Amirthanayagam  c)2001  Chennai, India, September 27, 2001

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Uncivil War

New Release
For interview, review & media requests: inquiries@tsarbooks.com
Uncivil War
Indran Amirthanayagam
 
Passionate, committed, and deeply humane, these poems bear witness with unflinching honesty to the horrific violence of the Sri Lankan civil war.
 
“Indran Amirthanayagam is above all the poet of the bloody Sri Lankan conflict and division. His work honours the sufferings of the living and the injustices dealt the dead, and for any reader, as good poetry always does, it speaks for itself, for humanity in general, and rings with its own universal authenticity and grace.”
—Thomas Keneally, author of Schindler’s Ark
 
“This Uncivil War of Indran Amirthanayagam is a personal bloodletting, an exorcism--a blind, brute belief that writing the horror down will keep it under control, corralled, digestible. This is poetry that breaks down barriers of decorum, of art written for mere sensual pleasure. Yet there is a haunting lilt in the lyric voice of this poet. He delves into bitter subjects and finds tunes unbearably beautiful. He has gone into exile, and he says: Let us remember paradise.”
—Adam Zameenzad, author of Cyrus, Cyrus
 
“...This is a Cosmos of a book. Indran Amirthanayagam is the true heir of Neruda in our time.”
—Jaime Manrique, author of Our Lives Are The Rivers
 
“You may never go to Sri Lanka, but if you are a student of the human condition, as all poets must be, then Uncivil War should be required reading. What is a poem to a country torn apart by civil war, by tsunami, by the myriad ways people can bring harm to other people? These poems possess the courage to imagine a different ending, the courage to speak out against brutality; it is the courage of empathy.”
—Rachel Rose, author of Song and Spectacle
 
Indran Amirthanayagam writes poetry and essays in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese. His works include The Splintered Face, Ceylon R.I.P., El Infierno de Los Pájaros, El Hombre que Recoge Nidos, Sol Camuflado, La Pelota del Pulpo and The Elephants of Reckoning, which won the 1994 Paterson Poetry Prize.  His poetry has appeared in numerous magazines and journals throughout the world.  He has also published translations of Mexican poets Manuel Ulacia and Jose Eugenio Sanchez.  He is a diplomat in the United States Foreign Service. He writes a blog on poetry athttp://indranamirthanayagam.blogspot.com.
 
Poetry
Paperback $24.95
ISBN: 978-1-927494-23-3

Order Uncivil War at www.tsarbooks.com
 
 
For more information on this and other TSAR titles, visitwww.tsarbooks.com
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Thursday, April 4, 2013

Face Off, a poem,


Face Off

I am tired, my friends too.
Shall we stop the clock,
the writing fool his dance,
move to the Moon

and beyond, sing for supper
in some indigenous tongue
that will disappear
from the planet’s face?

Must be the only rule
for this rueful sojourn:
we will not know
if our children choose

to tread on our bones,
or erect them into columns
and arches. For the rest,
spared of progeny, there is

no guilt or obligation. Just
finish tasks in the planner,
and go off radar, absent
from view on Facebook.

            Indran Amirthanayagam, April 4, 2013  c) 3013 Indran Amirthanayagam

Sunday, February 3, 2013

EL DIA SIGUIENTE



          El día siguiente


Renacerás en un instante,
de un día para otro,
aún si has fumado
una media cajetilla

y la panza ha crecido
a causa de vinos crudos
y pesados. La luz
llegará siempre

a los que quieren ver,
y se sienten dispuestos
a amar, a pesar
de la mala racha,

del torbellino. Va
y viene, no circula
por elección humana.
Hay que construir bien

la casa, con válvulas
de escape, poner
ropa floja que
no te aten,

que te dejen respirar
y el amor se dará
cuenta e se infiltrará
a través de un bolsillo.

            Indran Amirthanayagam, el 3 de febrero, dr) 2013