Birthplace with Buried Stones: Poems

Notes

125 notes “Morning Ritual” and other poems (Shimla cycle) For a month in the summer of 2010 I lived in Shimla, in the old Viceregal lodge. I had a suite of rooms with a terrace that looked out onto the Himalayas. I carried a copy of Bashō with me; I felt his lines might help me in my journey. Sometimes I would sit on the terrace and write, sometimes in the shadow of a pipal tree. Images came to me as I walked on the twisting paths. Other places are also evoked in this cycle of poems: the lodi Gardens in delhi, where I used to live; Bryant Park, a place I love in new York City; Sendai in Japan, which I could only imagine. * “Lady Dufferin Writes to Her Mother” This poem happened after reading lady dufferin’s memoir, Our Viceregal Life in India, Selections from My Journal, 1884–1888, by the marchioness of dufferin and ava (london: murray, 1889), 2 vols. * “Landscape with Kurinji Flowers” The kurinji is a rare mauve-blue flower that is found only in the hills of southern India. evoked in love poetry of the classical Tamil anthologies, it blossoms every twelve years. my poem was composed in the aftermath of the attacks on Bombay in november 2008. * “Mother, Windblown” In the year 1230, Iltutmish completed work on a victory tower, the Qutb minar in delhi; the Jardin des Vestiges, once part of an ancient Phoenician settlement, is in marseille. I visited both (scenes of migratory civilizations) during a long journey. * “Boy from Rum” The painting is from a leaf of a dispersed manuscript of the Khamsa of 126 amir Khusrau dihlavi. The poet (amir Khusrau, 1253–1325) was gifted as a musician. * “Teatro Olimpico” I composed this poem in Italy, after a visit to Venice. Somehow the separation wall came into it. I had the poem with me and read it out a week later, april 7, 2011, at the al midani theater, Haifa, during a memorial for Juliano merKhamis . my thanks to Khaled Furani for taking me to Haifa. * “Nocturne” The lines in italics come from mahmoud darwish, Mural, trans. rema Hammami and John Berger (london: Verso, 2009). * “Mamilla Cemetery” In april 2011, I visited mamilla Cemetery. This ancient place of muslim burial was being torn apart by the Israeli authorities in order to build a museum of Tolerance. I am grateful to Huda Imam and Jamal nusseibeh for taking me there. * “Water Crossing” Composed in Cassis, September 29–October 9, 2008. Under the title “living in the World” it first saw the light of day in fall 2009 in French translation by Claire malraux: “Vivre dans ce monde,” “Siècle 21 (Paris). The last two lines of this poem come from Virgil’s eclogue Ix in david Ferry’s translation, The Eclogues of Virgil (new York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1999), 71. * “Afterwards, Your Loneliness” In his memoir Dastanbuy mirza Ghalib speaks of what he went through in the aftermath of the 1857 revolt. He was living in delhi when the British, in retaliation, destroyed much of the city. The english text I used is mirza Ghalib, 127 Dastanbuy, trans. Khwaja ahmad Faruqi (new York: asia Publishing House, 1970). I am grateful to david for reading an earlier version, and to Professor C. m. naim for guidance. * “Stump Work” The title alludes to a seventeenth-century form of raised embroidery, of elaborate design, often stuffed with fabric or hair. I composed this sonnet cycle in conversation with John donne’s poetry. I was fortunate to see the Westmoreland manuscript in the Berg Collection at the new York Public library, vellum fair copy, the cover alabaster colored, so light falls through. The first poem was evoked by “Show me dear Christ” (no. 18), the second by “Batter my Heart” (no. 14), and the third by “Thou Hast made me” (no. 1). The last poem came as an aftermath. after seeing the manuscript, I printed out each donne poem from the Web, pasted it into my notebook, and composed each line of my poem in between donne’s lines, a species of poetic hatching if you will. I am grateful to Isaac Gewirtz, curator of the Berg Collection, for showing me the manuscript. * “Graduation 1949” The poem was inspired by a photograph by roy deCarava of the same name. I read “Graduation 1949” at the memorial and celebration for roy deCarava held...