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Local Arts Index: A. Anupama

LAI_AA_PortraitFor over a century, our region has been home to extraordinary artists. Local Arts Index highlights the work of individuals who continue our community’s rich creative legacy.

Meet poet A. Anupama.

How Did You Become An Artist?

I began to write poems as an experiment. (I was a science editor in my pre-motherhood life.) I wrote one poem every day of National Poetry Month, April 2009, just to see what, if anything, would happen. A few months later, I started my poetry blog, and six months after that I was accepted and enrolled in a Masters program for writing at Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Since graduating, I’ve filled notebooks with many, many poems. My father tells me that I started writing poems as soon as I learned to write, but I don’t remember that.

What Kind Of Art Do You Make?

LAI_AA_Roof LineI write short, free verse poems mostly, but poetic forms from world-poetry traditions are interesting and useful. And translating classical Indian poetry often introduces poetic devices and images into my own poetry. I enjoy making juxtapositions, and that happens easily when playing with the cultural artifacts one finds in traditional poems.

On my blog, Seranam.com, I illustrate the act of poetic inquiry by using photos that create metaphors in juxtaposition to the images evoked by my texts. My photographs, taken mostly around Nyack, also reveal another layer of images in my poetry chapbook, Savasana Dreams.

What’s Your Muse?

I’d have to say that everything and everyone is my muse—and it’s dependent on a combination of being ready to write down what’s given at any moment, and of then accepting the material, no matter how simple or strange or headache-inducing. Or maybe it’s the notebooks and pens (I’m particular about those) that inspire me consistently.

LAI_AA_A,AReading poetry is also a major source of inspiration. I like to explore, reading many different contemporary voices. Next in my pile is a collection by Evie Shockley. I write poetry reviews for Numéro Cinq Magazine, and I find that testing out my critical skills yields material for my own art.

Readings and Publications

LAI_AA_Candle

Join Anupama and the River River Writers Circle for their second annual holiday reading on December 12, at 7 p.m., at Cuppa Pulp Writers Space, 119 Main Street, Suite 2, Nanuet, NY. Meet and mingle with local writers and editors on Saturday,

Highlighting the event will be a reading and book signing by guest poet Nicholas Samaras, who is a winner of the Yale Series of Younger Poets Award and author of a new poetry collection, American Psalm, World Psalm. Writers featured in the new issue of River River will also read from their work, and we will celebrate with light refreshments. All proceeds from book sales will benefit River River.

Anupama has just published Kali Sutra: Poems. The volume borrows from ancient Indian poetic traditions while striding with a contemporary lyricism in this new collection. Enthusiasts of yoga and meditation will find as much to embrace in these poems as those who enjoy the Kama Sutra’s sensual imagery and the bold personae of Hindu mythology. The book also includes photographs, mentions of Nyack’s natural landscape (Hook Mountain, Rockland Lake, and more), and her original translations of several classical Indian love poems.

Order copies of Kali Sutra directly from Seranam Literary Arts or through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Cuppa Pulp Writers’ Space, and other booksellers.

To follow A Anupama visit seranam.com.

Portrait photo by Photo Dorothea Erichsen.

ML by Maria Luisa Local Arts Index is sponsored by Maria Luisa, 77 South Broadway and ML by Maria Luisa, 75 South Broadway, Nyack, NY  

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