Rati Saxena
Rati Saxena Poems
To cut a jackfruit, one needs
a knife, not poetry
But the knife's edge must be as sharp as the euphemism of a poem
Jackfruit should have two torsos in the middle, so that the
...
The poet is a waterfall
Didn't I tell you so?
a poet is a waterfall
not a lion
...
That bellow used to resonate
in the squares of New York
against each war
against injustice
...
(Translated by Shelly Bhoil)
I do not like writing poetry on death and tragedy
especially when the stench of those accidents still lingers
...
Even that day, the poet
was "lonely in the crowd"
the dim light of his two eyes
trembled with the buzz of words
...
He stood there right in front of me
my enemy
He moved his eyeballs in circles
turned them red then blue
...
empty the bookbags
extinguish the embers placed in letters
tinker around with each word
peel off and throw away the kernels of meanings
...
Not that I was reading my hands for the first time
but this time the lines that run down from the neck till the hands
looked a little too deep, deep enough to keep afloat the boat of
age
...
I've been looking for someone crazy for a long time
the one who can burn his hut to light up the neighbors'
the one who can give rest to the wings by making a nest of air
the one who can pamper the seedlings so they may grow into
...
I want to see
All those places I had shelved for later
I want to see them
right away
...
Rati Saxena Biography
Editor in Chief Rati Saxena - Poet/ Translator/ Editor (kritya) / Director Poetry festivals -kritya and Vedic scholar. She has 6 collections of poetry in Hindi and 5ive in English (Translated) and one each book translated in to Malayalam, Italian, Estonian, and Serbian, Vietnamese, Spanish, Turkey and English translated by other poets. Her poems have been translated in other international languages like Chinese, Albanian, Uzbek, Indonesian, German etc. She has five travelogues in Hindi, two Memoirs in Hindi -English" Every thing is past tense " , and a criticism on the work of famous Malayalam Poet Balamaniyamma's work. Her study on the Atharvaveda has been published as " The Seeds of the Mind- a fresh approach to the study of Atharvaveda" under the fellowship of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts. She has translated about 15 Malayalam works, both prose and poetry, into Hindi and two poetry books of Norwegian poets, one each from Welsh, Vietnamese and serbarian languages. Her recent important work is research book in poetry therapy- A fist which opens - a poetry therapy from distant past to present future. She has a number of articles published regarding Indology in a number of journals. She has been invited for poetry reading in more than 36 prestigious poetry festivals around the world, among some are very popular e.g., The Struga Poetry Evening (Macedonia) (2010) the prestigious poetry festival in Medellin -Colombia (2011 and 2014) , ,10th Edition of " Ritratti di Poesia" Feb 2016 and China's Moon Festival and Shanghai book fair. She is the only Indian participant in some imp poetry festivals like Iran's Fajr Poetry Festival, Iran (2014) , International Istanbul Poetry Festival (IIPF) Turkey (2014) ,4th international Eskisehir Poetry Festival Turkey (2014) . And a Special poetry reading in A Caruna, Spain (2015) , Poetry reading at Foundation Vicente Risco, at Allariz (Spain) . She has also been invited to some American Universities like Mary Mount University in Los Angeles and University of Seattle (USA) to talk on Vedic poetry and recite her own poetry. Her poem was poem been chosen in popular book of china " 110 modern poems of the world" ;) 2015, " Her poem was also part of space mission by Jaxa, Japan, along with 24 other poems. In 2002. She was also artist in Former Artist-in-residence at Ebenboeckhaus Munichand Artist-in-residence at Künstlerhaus Villa Waldberta and China_ a 600 hundred years old village Her awards include a fellowship from the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (2004-5) , the Sahitya Akademi Award for Translation (2000) , the State Bank of Travancore Award for Poetry (2001) , Naji Naaman's Literary Prizes (International) for a complete work (2016) , the DJS Translation Award for Chinese poetry (2018; DJS is the acronym in Chinese of Emily Dickinson's name) and special award in the first Crete International Poetry Festival for her poetry,2019, the Rajasthan Patrika prize for best poem (2020) , Poet of Year Award of 5th Boao International Poetry Award, Grand silver medal LIFFT -Euresia 2023, RAJASTHAN Sahitya Akedemi's highest award (Academy of letters) - Meera Puraskar 2023. Kerala Sahitya Akedemi's samgra Sahitya Puraskar. She is founder and editor of the first bilingual web journal kritya, which started in 2005, and founder and festival director of kritya poetry festival which is active from 2005 onwards. She is one of the Founder member and Asian Coordinator Of the World Poetry Movement. Member of the journal's editorial board-Multilingual Journal of Literature and Opto-Art " WürZarT, " and Member of scientific board Canzoniere, an international book-cd series devoted to poetry with music)
The Best Poem Of Rati Saxena
Before Leaving
close all the doors, one
by one,
hear them shut with a click,
pat each knob farewell,
and try never to promise to return,
not even by mistake,
don't fret over who next
might pass through; each door
itself decides this
before leaving wipe away
each footprint
and fingerprint, no longer
needed by anyone,
before leaving, pack your things,
bundle every rusted story
and decorate the table with memories of laughter
before leaving, check every book,
throwing out the pressed flowers
dried in their pages
before leaving erase every line, break
open all the knots
and smile with strength
until life comes to sit
in the corners of your mouth
before leaving, close the final door,
and the rest will close themselves
translated from hindi to English by Seth Michelson
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