Shiva's Arms

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Poetic Justice
2008-06-09 15:30:00
“Unless you are educated in metaphor, you are not safe to be let loose in the world.” --From an essay by Robert Frost, read to the twenty five kids who trashed his house recently. They were were sentenced to learn about his poetry.
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What's in a Name?
2008-06-08 17:51:00
In the first novella of Paul Theroux’s new The Elephanta Suite, he introduces the Blundens. Already I see them blundering. Should I? What’s in a name anyway, when it comes to naming characters in fiction? I collected some do-and-don’ts to see how the names in Shiva’s Arms stack up:A name can give clues about your character's background.The Sambashivans are South Indian Brahmins, and the name reflects that. Ask anybody A name may say something about the character's parents.In my characters’ neighborhood, the father’s name and family home is incorporated into the child’s name. So my boy Ramesh, whose father is Sambashivan from Trichur, is called T. Sambashivan Ramesh. A name has to suit the character's personality-- who they are, where they come from or where they are going.Shiva fits the bill here. The matriarch of the family is named for the god of creation and destruction, whose many arms embrace and repel simultaneously. The name underscores the character’s cult...

New Horizons, Tamil version
2008-06-07 15:20:00
I just read some stats regarding the health of the American novel. It amounts to this: twice as many novels, not counting POD books,were published in 2007 as in 2002. Surprised? Maybe it's only book reviews that are in trouble, heh. In a vaguely related story, a Tamil publisher shares the secret of its success in this article.
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"Come, let us make our story one like no other."
2008-06-06 17:51:00
In The Tale of the Genji, Murasaki Shikibu said that the novel "happens because the storyteller's own experience of men and things, whether for good or ill—not only what he has passed through himself, but even events which he has only witnessed or been told of—has moved him to an emotion so passionate that he can no longer keep it shut up in his heart." Words to live by.
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HearArts
2008-06-05 15:00:00
An event not to be missed --Friday, June 6, 7:30 pm: HearArts Poetry SeriesVrzhu Press Reading, featuring Hiram Larew and Kim Roberts. Plus live music by pianist Sue Dale.VisArts, 155 Gibbs St., Rockville, MD (301) 315-8200. Hosted by Phil Wexler - Free Admission.

Taare Zameen Par
2008-06-04 17:49:00
In the Post today, an article about the first Bollywood movie dealing with dyslexia. Listen to the songs and read the lyrics here. You're welcome!

Ganga-Dashahara
2008-06-04 00:02:00
Today marks the descent to earth of the River Ganges. This clip, from portaltoindia's Louise and Stuart, shows the river being worshipped as mother and goddess, in a puja performed with lighted wicks. The lovely ritual is called aarti.

Best of Booker
2008-06-02 20:54:00
On the occasion of its 40th year, the Booker Prize will award a 'Best of' to one of these: Pat Barker’s The Ghost RoadPeter Carey’s Oscar and LucindaJM Coetzee’s DisgraceJ G Farrell’s The Siege of KrishnapurNadine Gordimer’s The ConservationistSalman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Childrenand you can vote for your fave.Once again, I'm torn. What to do, as Amma says.

Poetry Friends
2008-06-01 20:15:00
Susan Culver, formerly of Lily, has a new project called Poetry Friends . My poem "Absence" is the poem for today.Enjoy!

Raja Ki Aayegi Barat
2008-05-31 14:24:00
Click the title to hear a song from the movie Aah, produced in 1953 by Raj Kapoor. It's a song sung often in my house, if you really want to know...
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Never get between an elephant and water
2008-05-29 13:27:00
I just read Paul Theroux’s The Elephant a Suite, three novellas about Americans in India. Aside from a few easy reversals, abrupt transformations, and a sag in the middle, I admired it, especially the ways in which the author links his stories together. For instance,in the first story, the myth of Vishnu and his eagle Garuda is told by one character, full of grief and guilt at accidentally placing his friend Sanjeev in harm’s way—the harm being a herd of charging elephants. “As Vishnu and Garuda entered the House of the Gods they saw a small bird at the gateway. The Lord of Death also entered, and he smiled at the little bird. Garuda was so shocked at this he seized the little bird in his beak and took him fifty kilometres away, to save him from the Lord of Death…When ultimately they left the House of the Gods, Vishnu said, ‘Where is the little bird?’ …Before Garuda could reply, Lord of Death said, ‘I smiled to see little bird here, because he was supposed to be fif...
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Pie-ku
2008-05-28 15:34:00
The Post ran a contest for haiku about pizza, and the winning 'pie-kus' are featured in today's food section.About Donna Adler's winning entry- Rising discs of dough Tossed, twirled, like small planets on A one arm axis judge Robert Pinsky notes "... a nice simile, a play on "rising" and the vivid final image."

The Enchantress of Florence
2008-05-27 19:51:00
Two writers weigh in on Salman Rushdie's tenth novel-- what Joyce Carol Oates andMichael Dirda have to say about it.
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"Memorial Day For The War Dead"
2008-05-26 23:31:00
Memorial day for the war dead. Add nowthe grief of all your losses to their grief,even of a woman that has left you. Mixsorrow with sorrow, like time-saving history,which stacks holiday and sacrifice and mourningon one day for easy, convenient memory.Oh, sweet world soaked, like bread,in sweet milk for the terrible toothless God."Behind all this some great happiness is hiding."No use to weep inside and to scream outside.Behind all this perhaps some great happiness is hiding.Memorial day. Bitter salt is dressed upas a little girl with flowers.The streets are cordoned off with ropes,for the marching together of the living and the dead.Children with a grief not their own march slowly,like stepping over broken glass.The flautist's mouth will stay like that for many days.A dead soldier swims above little headswith the swimming movements of the dead,with the ancient error the dead haveabout the place of the living water.A flag loses contact with reality and flies off.A shopwindow is deco...
More About: Dead , Memorial Day , Memorial

Kali
2008-05-24 18:07:00
Something interesting at the DC Arts Center:Anne Benolken The Apotheosis of Kali May 16 - June 8Opening Reception: Friday, May 16, 7 - 9pmcurated by Carolyn Reece-Tomlin Anne Benolken’s first solo exhibition of photographs is inspired by her artist book “The Apotheosis of Kali.” Worlds collide in Benolken’s boxes, dollhouses and photographs, the fruits of a career-long exploration into how culture intersects with emotion and intellect. Hindu philosophy meets B-movie sci-fi horror backdrops and toy store gizmos, creating a new narrative where we are allowed to peer in on the artist-made figurines of the domesticated goddess Kali as she contemplates the forces of creation and destruction that she holds within her power. Thought-provoking, occasionally humorous, always poignant captions draw us further into Kali’s gray, Peyton Place-esque habitat. It is a world punctuated by the saturated colors of dime store novelties and religious icons that elevates Benolken’s spot-on obs...

Summertime...
2008-05-24 16:18:00
Here's a crunchy snack to take on your holiday picnic this weekend. It's called bhel-puri, and is a popular India beach food. Here, it can be found already packaged at Indian grocers, but it's very easy to assemble in your own kitchen. Just remember to chop the veggies finely, so the finished product looks like the pic (courtesy Stu Spivak).Toss the following with tamarind or mint-coriander chutney:3 cups puffed rice--Rice Krispies will do.Roasted salted peanuts or cashews2 potatoes boiled, peeled and chopped1 large onion 1 large tomato Half a bunch of coriander2 green chilies Crushed or broken pieces of papdi 1 cup sev noodles
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As promised...
2008-05-23 00:39:00
Answers: 1-a, 2-c, 3-b, 4-b, 5-a, 6-a, 7-b, 8-d, 9-b, 10-a, 11-b, 12-c, 13-a, 14-b, 15-a, 16-d, 17-a, 18-c, 19-a, 20-b, 21-b, 22-d, 23-a, 24-d, 25-a

Quiz
2008-05-23 00:26:00
Just because the kids are graduating doesn't mean you shouldn't take a quiz.Here's a softball from www.memorablequotations.com. Answers in tomorrow's post.1. Thomas Sutpen appears in which of William Faulkner's novels?a. Absalom, Absalom!b. Martyc. Tommyd. Hello, Hello!2. In the novel Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis, who is the main character?a. Henry Babbittb. Daisy Millerc. George Babbittd. Casper Babbitt3. Who wrote All Quiet on the Western Front?a. Norman Mailerb. Erich Maria Remarquec. Rip Tornd. Evan Von Schlep4. What was the only novel written by Sylvia Plath?a. The Cookie Jarb. The Bell Jarc. The Tower Belld. The Esther Greenwood Story5. What author wrote Captains Courageous?a. Rudyard Kiplingb. Jane Austenc. F. Scott Fitzgerald d. Mark Twain6. Who won the 1947 Pulitzer Prize for All the King's Men?a. Robert Penn Warrenb. William Faulknerc. Thomas Hardyd. Huey Long7. In All the President's Men, what notorious break-in is explored?a. The Teapot Domeb. Watergatec. The Vatica...
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Superpoked!
2008-05-21 15:36:00
I had to chuckle when I saw the new Superpoke icon on Facebook today--an Om with the directive "pray to Ganesh."

Sarojini Naidu, Nightingale of India
2008-05-20 20:04:00
Sarojini Naidu (1879-1949) was the first female governor of Uttar Pradesh. She was a feminist, a freedom fighter with Gandhi, the wife of a man not of her caste. She also published several collections of poetry during her lifetime. Nehru and Tagore were fans. Here's one poem:Nightfall In The City Of Hyderabad See how the speckled sky burns like a pigeon's throat, Jewelled with embers of opal and peridote. See the white river that flashes and scintillates, Curved like a tusk from the mouth of the city-gates. Hark, from the minaret, how the muezzin's call Floats like a battle-flag over the city wall. From trellised balconies, languid and luminous Faces gleam, veiled in a splendour voluminous. Leisurely elephants wind through the winding lanes, Swinging their silver bells hung from their silver chains. Round the high Char Minar sounds of gay cavalcades Blend with the music of cymbals and serenades. Over the city bridge Night comes majestical, Borne like a queen to a sumptuous festi...
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Narasimha Jayanthi
2008-05-17 14:11:00
One of the stories I used in Shiva's Arms involves Narasimha, the fourth of the ten avatars of Vishnu. Narasimha Jayanthi is celebrated today, and commemorates, through fasting, prayer and the giving of alms, the day Narasimha protected his devotee Prahlada from his father, the demon/king Hiranyakashipu. The demon could not be killed by man or beast or weapon, and with this immunity, he had conquered heaven and earth and declared himself God. Hiranyakasipu’s son, Prahlāda, was a Vishnu devotee and would not worship his father. So Hiranyakasipu tried to kill him, but the boy escaped. Finally, Hiranyakasipu pointed out a stone pillar, and asked, ‘If your god is omnipresent, is he in this pillar also?’ Prahlad answered, ‘He is present in the pillar and even in the rust.’ Hiranyakasipu slashed the pillar with a sword in response, and Vishnu emerged and killed him using the method shown in the pic.

Before the Rains
2008-05-16 16:11:00
"Before the Rains," director Santosh Sivan's drama set in 1937 India, is a hodgepodge in the raj -- a predictable patchwork of forbidden romance, English arrogance, a gun given as a gift, suicide, corruption, deception, rising Indian nationalism and a short-lived chase through the jungle. So begins the Post's review. It may not make you want to see this film, especially after Sivan's The Terrorist, but observations like this can be found at his website:I wanted to understand and treat her face like a landscape.For an interview with the director click this.

Adroitly Placed Word
2008-05-14 15:45:00
My husband and I made the pages of The Adroitly Placed Word ! He reads three poems from my chapbook, Samsara.

Tere Mere Sapne ab ek rang hai
2008-05-14 14:36:00
I was serenaded by this song this morning. "Your and my dreams are the same color, o my friend for life." Lucky girl.

Transitions
2008-05-11 15:42:00
“Do You Have Any Advice For Those of Us Just Starting Out?"Give up sitting dutifully at your desk. Leaveyour house or apartment. Go out into the world.It's all right to carry a notebook but a cheapone is best, with pages the color of weak teaand on the front a kitten or a space ship.Avoid any enclosed space where more thanthree people are wearing turtlenecks. Bewareany snow-covered chalet with deer tracksacross the muffled tennis courts.Not surprisingly, libraries are a good place to write.And the perfect place in a library is near an aislewhere a child a year or two old is playing as hismother browses the ranks of the dead.Often he will pull books from the bottom shelf.The title, the author's name, the brooding photoon the flap mean nothing. Red book on black, graybook on brown, he builds a tower. And the higherit gets, the wider he grins.You who asked for advice, listen: When the towerfalls, be like that child. Laugh so loud everybodyin the world frowns and says, "Shhhh."Then ...
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Lopside Press
2008-05-09 16:44:00
My new poetry collection, Prisoner's Dilemma, won the chapbook contest sponsored by Lopside Press !The book, with drawings by the talented Janet Snell, will be out in July.

TGIF
2008-05-09 16:29:00
My friend Kathi sent me this list --The Washington Post's winning submissions to its yearly contest, in which readers were asked to supply alternate meanings for common words. Gotta love it--1. coffee, n. the person upon whom one coughs. 2. flabbergasted, adj. appalled by discovering how much weight one has gained. 3. abdicate, v. to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach. 4. esplanade, v. to attempt an explanation while drunk. 5. willy-nilly, adj. impotent. 6. negligent, adj. absentmindedly answering the door when wearing only anightgown. 7. lymph, v. to walk with a lisp. 8. gargoyle, n. olive-flavored mouthwash. 9. flatulence, n. emergency vehicle that picks up someone who has been run over by a steamroller. 10. balderdash, n. a rapidly receding hairline. 11. testicle, n. a humorous question on an exam. 12. rectitude, n. the formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists. 13. pokemon, n. a Rastafarian proctologist. 14. oyster, n. a person who sprinkles his conversatio...

What are you doing Friday night?
2008-05-08 17:53:00
The Writer's Center (4508 Walsh Street, Bethesda, MD 20815 Phone: 301 654-8664)has a suggestion--32 Poems Magazine, The Caribbean,and the Writer's Center join together to bring you an evening of poetry from Sandra Beasley and Bernadette Geyer. Free admission. 8-10 PM. Sandra Beasley is the recipient of the 2008 Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award from Poets & Writers magazine and her collection, Theories of Falling, won the 2007 New Issues Poetry Prize and was published in April 2008. Her work has appeared in numerous journals.Bernadette Geyer is a poet and freelance writer/editor in the Washington, DC, area. Her poetry chapbook, What Remains, was published in 2001 by Argonne House Press. Her full-length manuscript, The Inheritance (formerly called Dead Men), was a finalist for the Ohio State University Press/The Journal Poetry Prize and for the Richard Snyder Memorial Publication Prize from Ashland Poetry Press.See you there!
More About: Night , Friday

Meme for the End of NaPoWriMo
2008-05-06 21:16:00
Questions from January's blogNumber of poems written in April.-thirty, plus some scrapsNumber of poems you’ll keep and revise.-twenty sevenList the titles of your top three NaPoWriMo poems.-Eclipse, Spent,VeinList your three least favorite NaPoWriMo poems.-It's Over,Bite, and the finale, which was a challenge using three lines of somebody else's poem. I don't feel that one really belongs to me.Favorite line from one of your NaPoWriMo poems.-Things like that/should be packed away in a trunk, hidden/ in the back of a truck/ someplace where people/ are unshaken by the sight of a bloody sky,/ who take each other onto the lawn to watch it bleed. Favorite poem by a NaPoWriMo participant.-She Adds a Dash of Cumin to Lucky Pea Soup, by Kelli AgodonWhat surprised you most about writing a poem a day?-This is my third time, so the sensation of being intensely alone with blank paper every single day was familiar.Now that you’ve started the momentum, what’s next?-I have a new book of p...
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Are These Words Too Poetic for You?
2008-05-05 16:45:00
abyss angels arms believe birth blade bleed commitment deep descend die fake freedom fright god hal headstone hope illusion innocence kill life lord mirror nightmare numb passion pierce quest rain razor reality sacred scared secret skin title unspoken void wilt worthless created at TagCrowd.com
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