Yesterday’s event was the closing reading for the _Testimonies on Paper_ exhibit at the South Asia Institute. A really nice event — Dipika Mukherjee did a great job of curating it so we had a lively reading and discussion.
The only blip was my own — I hadn’t realized that one of the poems I’d planned to read wasn’t in the book I’d brought with me, and I’d pulled it up on my phone, but then when I got up to the mic, I couldn’t pull it up again — a little flustering. Oops. But it was fine — I skipped over it, went into discussion of the piece of art I was responding to, and then read “Kith and Kin,” which people seemed to like.
Best part was seeing / meeting the other poets, of course. Almost all of them were able to attend — Nina Sudhakar, Bhaswati Ghosh, Kashiana Singh, Ami Kaye — and Shikha Saklani Malaviya joined us with a video presentation. Some friends came out too — the support is much appreciated!
I now own several new chapbooks, and I have some new poetry fragments swimming around in my head. I’ve been feeling a little uninspired this summer, having a hard time settling down to summer writing. This event was a great way to start refilling the well. Thanks, everyone!
*****
Kith and Kin
this much unchanged, untranslated
the spell of memory, consanguinity
curry leaves and chili powder
knowledge into my bones
recipes to a thousand strangers?
like kisses on the networked seas
may give herself away, undiminished
though at times unrecognizable
come back to you, a thousandfold
*****
