by Ravi Shankar
PYRAMID STARSHIP
In the end the afrofuturists have it right—
Time to move on, Funkadelic, light years
in time so far ahead of our time that tight-
weaves braid a distant, blacker dimension
of which crystal headdresses, silver Dashikis,
& a fur-rimmed amulet spinning eye of Horus,
are gateways to another world.
…………………………………. Pontos riscados,
chalked cosmograms, sigils used in ritual
to invoke the Orixas and stave off the fears
of an immolating whiteness way too much
mayonnaise slathered on bone white bread.
Make your own music. Just don’t bore us,
from apex to base beams the flying saucer:
I am on this planet because people need me.
POLITICAL SEASON
…… clerihew for George Szirtes
Waving his tiny hands, Donald Trump
declared he would never have molested a frump.
It was classic gaslighting from a brazen windbag
to wrap up sexual assault in the American flag.
It was a generous idea that Chairman Mao
had to give each peasant some land and a plow
while he consolidated political power with a gun
and called it a great leap forward for everyone.
Usha Akella, co-director of MATWAALA:
In its signature spirit of community welcoming established and upcoming poets, Matwaala 2018 took place in NYC. Matwaala’s Big Read was hosted by Asian American Writers’ Workshop (AAWW) on 26 September 2018. The participating poets this year were Usha Akella, Zilka Joseph, Ralph Nazareth, Varsha Saraiya-Shah, Ravi Shankar, Vivek Sharma and Pramila Venkateswaran. 2018’s Poet of Honour was Ralph Nazareth. There was also a reading with a feminist theme hosted by Bluestockings Bookstore in NYC.
Ravi Shankar has published or edited over a dozen books and chapbooks of poetry, including the Muse India award-winning Tamil translations of 9th century poet/saint, Andal, The Autobiography of a Goddess, the 2011 National Poetry Review Prize winner, Deepening Groove, and the 2005 Finalist for the Connecticut Book Awards, Instrumentality. Along with Tina Chang and Nathalie Handal, he edited W.W. Norton’s Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from Asia, the Middle East & Beyond, called ‘a beautiful achievement for world literature’ by Nobel Laureate Nadine Gordimer. He has won a Pushcart Prize and a Glenna Luschei Award from Prairie Schooner, been featured in such venues as The New York Times, The Paris Review and the Chronicle of Higher Education, appeared as a commentator on the BBC, the PBS Newshour and National Public Radio, received fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, and the Corporation of Yaddo, has taught and performed his work around the world, including at Columbia University, City University of Hong Kong and Fairfield University. Founding editor of Drunken Boat, one of the world’s oldest online journals, he holds a research fellowship from the University of Sydney and his Many Uses of Mint: New and Selected Poems 1997-2017 has recently been published with Recent Work Press.