“For sixteen years Re-Markings has been an important journal of international literature and culture with an ever-expanding critical range and creative reach. This new, special issue devoted exclusively to the world’s best poetry proves that it is a visionary publication crucial for understanding the complexity of our world, our humanity, and our lives at this watershed moment in the 21st century.” —Charles Johnson (Winner of National Book Award, USA)

​“Had Plato been around to see this wonderful collection, he would have gladly lifted the ban on entry of poets in his Republic.”—Nibir K. Ghosh (Chief Editor, Re-Markings) ​

“In this general assembly of some of the world’s best poets, the venue is not New York, but the platform is in fabled India. In this wondrous collection, which strives for geographical representativeness, reflects variable styles and themes, we have poets and poetry from Africa, America, Asia, Australia/New Zealand, Europe, Latin America and Caribbean, and the Middle East. Bringing the world together across such varied space to celebrate and commiserate through the poetic idiom is undoubtedly an ambitious enterprise. —Tijan M. Sallah, Guest Editor (The Gambia)

A few extracts from poems represented in this volume:     “Early in life we all look like each other, /  The sweet pea sprout is a foetus with a bulging forehead.”  —Per Wastberg (Sweden) “I met a collector of rain once/ Who went to sleep in my sleeve.” — Sonia Sanchez (USA)   “Most of the world is centred/ About ourselves.” –Paul Muldoon (Northern Ireland) “Remember when we inquired/ Sweetly of the cane.” –Summer Edward (Trinidad and Tobago) ​ “All they you’ve danced they take from you.” –Ariel Dorfman (Chile) “All the poetry there is in the world/ appears to rise out of the ashes.” —Jayanta Mahapatra (India)

Editorial

I often wonder what led a rational philosopher like Plato to restrain poets from entering his ideal Republic. It is quite intriguing to understand how Athenian society, endowed with the attribute of great rationality, could offer a cup of hemlock to Socrates for teaching mankind the ultimate truth: “an unexamined life is not worth living.” If Plato’s case in keeping poets away from the Republic is based simply on the argument that they are creatures of passion likely to be harmful to an ideal state, it is certainly an erroneous assumption. Shakespeare may have equated the “poet” with the “lunatic” and the “lover” but the wise bard was quick to observe what the poet alone among them was capable of:

 

The poet’s eye, in fine frenzy rolling,

Doth glance from heaven to Earth, from Earth to heaven.

And as imagination bodies forth

The forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen

Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing

A local habitation and a name.

Similarly, in the wake of the French Revolution, the practitioner-poet, William Wordsworth, better attuned to the role of poet, rightly asserted:

“He [the poet] is the rock of defence of human nature; an upholder and preserver, carrying everywhere with him relationship and love. In spite of difference of soil and climate, of language and manners, of laws and customs, in spite of things silently gone out of mind and things violently destroyed, the Poet binds together by passion and knowledge the vast empire of human society, as it is spread over the whole earth, and over all time.”

Coming immediately after Wordsworth in the Romantic age chronology, P.B. Shelley went a step further and stated emphatically:

“Poetry is the record of the best and happiest moments of the happiest and best minds … Poetry turns all things to loveliness; it exalts the beauty of that which is most beautiful, and it adds beauty to that which is most deformed; it marries exultation and horror, grief and pleasure, eternity and change; it subdues to union under its light yoke all irreconcilable things. It transmutes all that it touches, and every form moving within the radiance of its presence is changed by wondrous sympathy to an incarnation of the spirit which it breathes.”

Shelley never tired of singing hymns in praise of regeneration of mankind. In a spirit of exuberant optimism, he lyrically articulated his firm faith in such poetic beliefs as: “The world’s great age begins anew,/The golden years return”; “Another Athens shall arise,/ And to remoter time/ Bequeath, like sunset to the skies,/ The splendour of its prime.” In all fairness, one may consider his essay, “A Defence of Poetry,” as a befitting rebuttal of Plato’s contention. Shelley opines:

“Poets are the hierophants of an unapprehended inspiration; the mirrors of the gigantic shadows which futurity casts upon the present; the words which express what they understand not; the trumpets which sing to battle, and feel not what they inspire; the influence which is moved not, but moves … Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world.”                                                                                                      

In calling poets “unacknowledged legislators,” Shelley highlights the role of the poet as a prophet and harbinger of hope. History bears evidence to the fact that writers and poets have often inspired evolutionary transformations in nations and societies with the power of their creative renderings. The world of poetry and the world of political disorders may be innately separate entities but we must accept that both are enduring realities. It is common knowledge that in times of social, historical and political crises, literary consciousness is greatly influenced by the consciousness of public events, so much so that the public and private life, the world of action and the imaginative world of a sensitive writer interpenetrate. The situation during the nineteen thirties called for such an amalgamation of literary disciplines that seemed necessary in order to justify a critical estimate of the existing social and political order. To question the sincerity with which hundreds of intellectuals and artists took upon themselves the task of steering mankind away from war and poverty would mean to miss the pulse of that crucial period.

In contemporary times when the world seems divided into conflicting ideological camps, it is highly satisfying to see writers and poets addressing issues of perennial and universal significance. There is no doubt that art and poetry have always played a seminal role in helping humanity “examine” life in all its manifestations as alluded by Socrates. While poets are relentlessly engaged in questioning the status quo in the public domain, be it Democracy or the dominance of authoritarian regimes, it is significant that they are no less concerned in projecting the passion and tenderness in the private spaces of human hearts like the nightingale that sings to its own solitude with sweet sounds. In the twentieth century too the role of poets and the function of poetry have come up for discussion quite often. In his essay, “The Public v. the Late Mr William Butler Yeats,” W.H. Auden lists three attributes that qualify a poet to deserve the

epithet “great”: They are: “firstly a gift of a very high order for memorable language, secondly a profound understanding of the age in which he lives, and thirdly a working knowledge of and

sympathetic attitude towards the most progressive thought of his time.”

Despite the paramount role of poets in providing the blueprint of ideas for the creation of a just society, one may be reminded that the poet’s vocation, among all vocations in existence, is rarely considered with any degree of seriousness. Though some writers and poets may become famous public figures but writers, points out Auden, “as such have no social status, in the way that doctors and lawyers, whether famous or obscure, have.” One may recall how W.H. Auden was once questioned by an immigrant official to the extent of irritation for having said that he was a poet by profession. The official noted this with distrust and asked him repeatedly what he did for a living? Finally, in order to get rid of the nuisance from the official, the poet had to say that he was a “Medieval Historian.”

Against the above backdrop of perspectives on the content, role and function of poetry, it may be averred that poetry is indispensable irrespective of time and clime. Poets combine passion and reason and often are intensely aware of the social responsibility they are entrusted with; they entrench their presence and words on the map of the human heart. I deem it a privilege and pleasure to share this Special Re-Markings Number entitled A World Assembly of Poets with the

poetry lovers from different parts of the globe. What is so striking about this memorable volume is not only the amazing diversity of themes and ideas but also the remarkable readiness with which worthy poets have willingly joined hands to form an inseparable human chain of harmony and friendship that cut across barriers and boundaries of nation, community, religion, language, culture, class, gender, caste, race, color and creed. I have no hesitation in saying that these soulful offerings from the world’s best lyricists of the heart is a wonderful tribute to the undying human spirit of freedom, dignity and hope. Though Re-Markings has been publishing poetry regularly since its inception in 2002, interspersed with special sections and numbers devoted to poets and their works, this ambitious enterprise couldn’t have taken shape without the telling narratives of love and endearment of some of the world’s best poetic voices travelling in thought to India in general and Re-Markings in particular. I am optimistic that had Plato been around to see this precious collection, he would have been thoroughly convinced to lift the

ban on poets from entering his Republic.

A World Assembly of Poets had its genesis in the deep-rooted bonds of friendship that I have shared with Dr. Tijan M. Sallah ever since I knew him. When I broached the idea of bringing together poets from different parts of the world under his dynamic leadership as Guest Editor, he immediately gave his consent and the project took off. His love of Re-Markings and his friendly commitment to support me has largely been responsible for making the Special Number so engaging and enriching. The overwhelming response that we received from all the contributors worldwide has been a truly humbling experience. The interesting exchanges that I have had with the contributing poets remain firmly etched on my heart and soul. I am indebted to all for lending vitality and vibrancy to this special issue. I truly appreciate the valuable cooperation I have received in this adventurous engagement from Dr. Sunita Rani Ghosh. I am also grateful to Dr. A. Karunaker and Mr. Sudarshan Kcherry for their interest in the volume. Finally, my heartfelt thanks go to Mr. Sandeep Arora for his unstinted graphics and cyber support.

– Nibir K. Ghosh

Chief Editor

​

A WORLD ASSEMBLY OF POETS: Introduction by Tijan M. Sallah – please log on to www.nibirkghosh.blogspot.in

 

CONTENTS:

AFRICA

Cameroon

Andre Ze Jam Afane – The Guests Of The Sun, Côte d’Ivoire

Véronique Tadjo – Red Earth/Laterite, Half-Way

Gambia, The

Tijan M. Sallah – Ballad For Mom, The Wisdom Of First And Last, I Come From A Country

Ghana

Kofi Anyidoho – Seedtime, Do Not Give Too Much Of Your Love To Me, Blewuu, Among My Dreams, The Word, A Harvest Of Our Dreams

Malawi

Frank M. Chipasula – Lament For A Teller Of Tales Lost In The Season Of Aids, No. 38, The Rain Storm, The River Is Sulking, At My Wake

Namibia

Julia Amukoshi – Growing Up, City Friday

Nigeria

Obari Gomba – Elegy Of The River, The Feast Of The Old Dragons, Elie Wiesel Knows The Night, On Every Street Under The Sun, Barack Obama Speaks To Time

Helon Habila – Elegy For A Child, Nest Weaving

Okey Ndibe – Altitude Ally

Tanure Ojaide – The Fate Of Vultures, Where Everybody Is King, They Say My Child Is Ugly Like A Goat, Elegy For Broken Hearts

Tess Osonye Onwueme – I Sing Loudest When I Am Silent!,Where Oil Ceases To Anoint,

South Africa

Walter Chakela – Mandela’s Song, My Renaissance

Keorapetse Kgositsile – Wounded Dreams, Anguish Longer Than Sorrow, Letter From Havana

Raks Morakabe Seakhoa – Madiba, Down River Cam, For Comrade Prof. Kader, 18A Tourquay Ave, Claremont

Stephen Symons – Far Below, The Smell Of The Sea (Or Losing My Country), Imagining Snow, Shell-Shock

​

AMERICA

Canada

Gurcharan Rampuri – Life, The Book, Dwarf Heads

U.S.A.

Barbara Ann Briggs – Alone, The Flowers Of The Heart, The River Of Time

Fred Chappell – The Peacock And The Crane, The Jay Adorned With Peacock Feathers,

The Serpent’s Head And The Tail, The Lion, The Wolf And The Fox

Rita Dove – Mother Love, Belinda’s Petition, Parsley, The Event, Straw Hat,

Iris Jamahl Dunkle – Tolerance 141,Things Given Away,

Christopher Guerin – The House, Orion In Winter

Kurt Heinzelman – The Names They Found There, Visiting The Somme, Allianoi

Meera Ekkanath Klein – Melting Pot, A Treasure Trove, Creating A Poem

Haki R. Madhubuti – Denied Substantial And Fundamental Creation, Justice As The Purest Motivation, More Powerful Than God

Greg Mahrer – A Provisional Map Of The Lost Continent, Ciudad De Oro, Studies (Graphite And Pollen)

Suzanne Matson – Missionary, 1920, Went Into A Bar, Celia, To Genda, Little Deaths,

Calling Her

Ethelbert Miller – Can You Get The Door?, Divine Love, We Are Not Alone, Earth

Kevin Powell – September 11th, Katrina, For Aunt Cathy,

Jonah Raskin – How Many Passages To India?

David Ray – Auden In Error, What Rabindranath Tagore Taught, Cracking Hardy, Blues For White Skinny

Judy Ray – Island Of Uncertainties/Islands Of Uncertainty, Balancing Acts, Shish Kebabs, Recipe Of Memory

Lucinda Roy – Carousel, If You Know Black Hair, Gospel, The Humming Birds

Sonia Sanchez – Malcolm, On Passing Thru Morgan Town, PA. 198

Stacey Tuel – The Deserter’s Heart

 

ASIA

Bangladesh

Tulip Chowdhury – Uprooted, Reality, Yesterday’s Rain

Shamsad Mortuza – Punctuated Thought, A Sentence, A Dead Poem

China

Liu Hongbin – The Unfamiliar Customs House, Waiting

India

Keki N Daruwalla – Guide, Defining A Sufi, Patna To Nalanda–1979

Shanker Dutt – One Morning In Camp Potter’s Hill, Chronicle Of A Reported Death, Monsoon Wedding

Arun Kamal – Anxiety, Don’t Look For Me, I’ll Tell Lies, Adventure

Gopikrishnan Kottoor – Crushed Grapes, A Pair Of Old Shoes, The Memory Of Your Hair

Shiv K Kumar – At The Ghats Of Banaras, The Taj, Love Letter

Aparna Lanjewar – A Truth (This Is For Real), Dalit Power, Spinsterhood, Words

Sharan Kumar Limbale – Who Am I?, Riot

Jayanta Mahapatra – All The Poetry There Is, Hunger, Spring, A Still Winter Morning

Pritish Nandy – He Paid His Last Tribute To Death, I Met Him One Evening Beside A Secret River, Calcutta If You Must Exile Me, Near Deshapriya Park They Found Him At Last, Though I Have Never Seen The Mountains Of Colombia

Chandramohan S – Elegy For The Slain Bloggers, Abandoned Translation, The Muse In The Market Place, The Immigrant Word, Nangeli

Ramesh Chandra Shah – On The Back Of The Turtle, He Said, Tell, Sometimes

K. Srivastava – Death, Painting, Repentance

Arundhathi Subramaniam – Prayer, Home, Where I Live, To The Welsh Critic Who Doesn’t Find Me Identifiably Indian

Tenzin Tsundue – When It Rains In Dharamsala, Horizon, A Proposal, Betrayal, My Tibetanness

Pakistan 

Kishwar Naheed – Nazm, To The Taliban, Amendment In The Twelfth Amendment, Dying Voices From Burning Damascus And Basra

Fahmida Riaz – Royal Throne, The Body Lacerated, Tongues Of Stone

Singapore

Anne Lee Tzu Pheng – Air And Angels, Hadoop In Java, Coast

Gwee Li Sui – The Leviathan, Dream Sequence, A Rediscovery Of The Weight Of The World

Cyril Wong – Between You And Infinity, The Apples, Boats

 

AUSTRALIA / NEW ZEALAND

Australia

Diane Fahey – Breath, Garden Portrait, Lullaby, The Pool, Ocean, Cockroach

Katherine Gallagher – International, Unknown Soldier, Song For An Unborn, A Girl’s Head

New Zealand

Bill Manhire – Hotel Emergencies, Love Poem, Erebus Voices

 

EUROPE  

Austria

Walter W. Hoelbling – Numbers Game, Poetry In The Time Of Refugees, Not About You, New Solar System

Germany

Tuncay Gary – Dream. Sleep. Live. 303, Smoke, Holderin, Charon Is A Boatman

Russia

Larissa I. Ayvazyan – Taj Mahal, Self-Portrait, Idol

Adolf P. Shvedchikov – Can You Hear Me, Humanity? I Am Ancient Sequoia…, God Gave Us Piece Of Eternity Like A Priceless Gift, Body Of Woman

Spain

Margarita Rosa Merino – Ballad Beyond The Darkness

Josep Rota – Cogito, Ergo Sum?; Whispers, Rivers

Sweden

Per Wastberg – Death, Dream Life, Water Of Darkness, Clear, Timetable

United Kingdom

England

Shanta Acharya – All You Can Do, L’atelier Rouge

Northern Ireland

Paul Muldoon – Symposium, The Waking Father, The Electric Orchard, They That Wash On Thursday, Edward Kienholz: The State Hospital

Scotland

Michael Alexander  – Almost Sunday, Malawi, 2000, Investigue Nuestros Servicios En Linea, Viceroy Of The Indies

Wales

Heather Dohollau – Suite, Manawydan’s Glass Door, Window, To Live In A House, Staircase

Oz Hardwick – Stari Most, Mostar; Papers, Passing Over

​

LATIN AMERICA & CARIBBEAN

Barbados

La Shawna Griffith – Emergence,  Torn, Poem Entitled: The Battered Mary

Brazil

Izacyl Guimarães Ferreira – A War With No Name, Blade Runner, The Movie, Similarities Ferreira Gullar – My People, My Poem; Things Of The Earth, Joy

Antonio Carlos Secchin – Authorship, Colloquium, Self-Portrait

Alberto Da Costa E Silva – Today: Cage With No Landscape, Christmas Sonnet, Sonnet To Vera

Chile

Ariel Dorfman – Identity, Last Waltz In Santiago, Last Will And Testament

Cuba

Nancy Morejón – The Golden Chair, Río Martín Pérez, A Cousin

St. Lucia

Mc. Donald Dixon – Aux Lyons 386, No Return, Fleecers Unlimited, Beloved Country

John Robert Lee – Kwéyòl Canticles, From January 12th 2010, Haiti; For Kamau Brathwaite At 85

Vladimir Lucien – Horn, Rainfights, ‘Putting Up A Resistance’

Trinidad & Tobago

Summer Edward – Mors Poetica, Afterbirth, Sugarcane Gone Love, Seamen On Land

​

MIDDLE EAST

Iran

Maryam Ala Amjadi – What Meets The Eye May Run From The Mouth, The Road In Brackets, Delirium

Israel

Joanna Chen – Babel, The Art Of Journalism, By The Time You Read This

​

COMMENTS

Comments by Jonah Raskin

If it’s laughter you want, or tears, or truth, or beauty, there’s no finer book of poetry than this one. A World Assembly of Poets offers a superlative way to start the New Year and to carry readers all through the next 12 months.

I confess, I have not read every single poem in A World Assembly of Poets, which has just been published by Re-Markings. That would take at least a week of concerted effort. After all, there are more than 150 poems by more than 80 poets from more than 30 different countries, including India, Pakistan, Russia, China, the U.S., Israel, Nigeria, Spain, Singapore, Sweden and Scotland.Still, I have read enough of the work in A World Assembly of Poets that has been ably compiled by a team of editors to know that this volume has the power to entertain, illuminate and inspire readers from Asia and Africa to Europe and the Americas.

“I have no hesitation in saying that these soulful offerings from the world’s best lyricists of the heart is a wonderful tribute to the undying human spirit of freedom, dignity and hope,” chief editor Nibir K. Ghosh writes in the “Editorial” at the front of the book.

Guest editor Tijan M. Sallah writes about specific poets such as Liu Hongbin, Pritish Nandy and Per Wastberg in the introduction to the volume, and offers overarching observations. “If American poetry is geared to the individual and the particular, the poetry of Asia is dominated by spiritual concerns,” Sallah writes.

Still, A World Assembly of Poets makes it clear that generalizations about poetry can only take us so far. At the beginning, at the end and in the middle of this volume, a reader can only engage with specific poems by individual poets who insist on adhering to their own hearts and heads and who pledge allegiance to their own aesthetics. By chance I opened A World Assembly of Poets to page 61 and the work of Sallah himself, perhaps the best-known Gambian writing poetry today who writes in “I Come From A Country,” lines that transcend national and geographical boundaries: “I come from a country where the land is small,/ But our hearts are big,/Where we greet everyone by name in the morning.”

I know this country. Perhaps you do, too. It’s the country of big hearts that exists wherever there are poets with names like Sallah, Naheed, Manhire, Fahey and Amjadi and whose work co-exists on the page. It is not necessary to start on the first page and go straight through to the last page. One can skip around and go forwards or backwards, until a poem grabs hold of you and pulls you inside, as Arun Kamal’s “I’ll Tell Lives,” which is translated from Hindi into English, did for me. Some of the poems, including Haki R. Madhubuti’s “More Powerful Than God” are very funny, indeed. If it’s laughter you want, or tears, or truth, or beauty, there’s no finer book of poetry than this one. A World Assembly of Poets offers a superlative way to start the New Year and to carry readers all through the next 12 months. There are more poems here from India than any other country in the world except for the U.S.A. That is fitting. After all the book comes from Agra not from New York, and with the unstinting cooperation of Dr. Sunita Rani Ghosh, Dr. A. Karunaker, Mr. Sudarshan Kcherry and that master of computer graphics and design, Mr. Sandeep Arora.

Jonah Raskin, a frequent contributor to Re-Markings, is the author of 14 books, including literary criticism, reporting, memoir, and biography. He has taught journalism, media law and the theory of communication at Sonoma State University, U.S.A.

​

Comments by Ethelbert Miller

My friend Tijan Sallah dropped by the house today with copies of the new anthology he edited. What a wonderful collection of poems from poets around the world. From Brazil to Spain. Pakistan to Australia. China to Nigeria. The US poets included are: Sonia Sanchez, Kevin Powell, Rita Dove, Fred Chappell and David Ray. I’m happy for 4 of my poems to be in this book. 

Congrats to Nibir Ghosh for making it all possible.

Ethelbert Miller is a writer and literary activist. He is board chair of the Institute for Policy Studies, an inductee of the 2015 Washington, DC Hall of Fame, and recipient of the AWP 2016 George Garrett Award for Outstanding Community Service in Literature. Translations of Miller’s poems have appeared in over nine languages. His most recent book is The Collected Poems of E. Ethelbert Miller.

 

Comments by Tuncay Gary

Dear Tijan & Nibir Ghosh,

I’m glad to be a part of the world expressed in this wonderful book. After all, it is an enormous suggestion to bundle poetry from all continents of this earth. I love to read this book. Starting with the editorial by Nibir K. Ghosh with a fantastic picture of Plato and his poetry criticism, the introduction of Tijan M. Sallah, who makes a foray into the continents and the individual countries, then stand by selected examples, the poetry of the poets for themselves allow. And another thing that makes this volume “A World Assembly of Poets” of the special edition of RE-MARKINGS clear: Poets may write in different languages of this world, but the statements, the inner essence, the mainspring itself, are very human.

Tuncay Gary is director, actor and author based in Berlin, Germany

 

Comments by Okey Ndibe

My brother Tijan,

Congrats for birthing such a marvelous book. I received the fantastic volume two nights ago. I’d meant to call you to say thank you for including me in such exalted poetic company. In a world often ruled by demagogues and drawn to philistinism, it’s a treasure to find some of the world’s best poetic voices collected in this extraordinary book. This anthology is a rich harvest, bound to excite devotees of poetry—and to attract many others who, before now, were indifferent to the music and vistas that the best poetry yields. 

Okey Ndibe is a Nigerian American novelist whose most recent book is Never Look an American in the Eye, a memoir. He has written for numerous publications, including the New York Times, BBC online, The Guardian (UK), Financial Times, and D La Repubblica (Italy).

​

Comments by Cyril Wong

RE-MARKINGS: A World Assembly of Poets is a glorious anthology for daring to take risks and by including poets who aren’t the expected names, like Joanna Chen from Israel (her ‘Babel’ poem is a perfect way to signal the anthology’s conclusion) and Liu Hongbin from China (I’m thrilled in this case for how, due to “inhospitable politics” as Tijan Sallah mentions in his introduction, we are reminded of the pain of displacement and non-belonging that poetry can capture, waking us readers from any sense of political complacency). I also love it when memorable yet starkly contrasting poems that many have come to love in their different corners of the globe (like those by Rita Dove and the activist Tenzin Tsundue) are placed together in the same volume. Reading this motley curation of verse is both enriching and cathartic, as well as an overall beautiful and life-affirming experience. Thank you for the opportunity to be a part of its cosmopolitan symphony. – best, Cyril 

Cyril Wong has been called a confessional poet, according to The Oxford Companion to Modern Poetry, based on his “anxiety over the fragility of human connection and a relentless self-querying.” He is the Singapore Literature Prize-winning author of poetry collections such as Unmarked Treasure and The Lover’s Inventory. 

 

Comments by Charles Johnson

Recipient of National Book Award, USA, the first African American writer to win this award after Ralph Ellison.

Nibir, I just received in today’s mail A World Assembly of Poets: Contemporary Poems. This hefty book—417 pages!—is simply beautiful, even breathtaking. Congratulations, old friend. This is sure to become an essential work for readers and scholars. Pranam,, Chuck

 

Comments by Christopher Guerin

Dear Nibir,

Thank you so much for including me in your glorious anthology. It is the most significant publication I have ever received of some of my works.  I’m also deeply humbled that you chose to print two poems, “The House,” in particular. It has always been one of my favorites, but has never been published before. Seeing it for the first time in this handsome volume will be a cherished memory. I also greatly appreciate being mentioned in the introduction with some many other estimable poets.  I hope you plan to sell the book on Amazon. I will be happy to promote it to all of my friends and encourage them to buy it.. Again, thank you so much, and congratulations on a marvelous achievement. Warm regards, Christopher

Christopher Guerin is Vice President of Corporate Communications, Sweetwater Sound, Inc., USA

 

Comments by Fred Chappell

Dear Dr. Sallah,

I have read through—much through quickly—A World Assembly of Poets.   I will be returning to it many times, to reread and reassess my feelings and thoughts.  But that will happen over months and maybe years, so I’ll respond now and re-examine later. It is quite an ambitious and successful undertaking.  I admire immensely your broad acquaintance with world poetry and—as I surmise from your notes—with the poets who contributed to the volume. I am proud and honored to be included in such colorful and august company.  But if I had comprehended more closely the nature of the collection, I would have submitted different poems.  I chose the fables because Aesop and La Fontaine are globally known names. But the form of the ancient fables precludes (mostly) social change or revolutionary sentiment.  Aesop’s attitude is one of weary, sardonic, or rueful resignation to the status quo.  He will not join with Aparna Lanjewar in “The joy of living in the philosophy/of Revolt and Revolution.”  He would not dispute with Gurchuran Rampuri that the ruler made the Book Divine “a pawn in his hands”; he would only agree, wearily.  He would not fight to do away with racial or sexual injustice or the caste system.  Aesop’s forte is fatalism, alas. So I would have chosen other pieces I’ve written.

​

But this is really beside the point.  I admire the fighters for truth and justice.  Mr. Chipasula stands forth courageously, as do Mr. Kgositsile (“to have a home is not a favour”), Mr. Hoelbling (“numbers don’t honor individuality”), Ms. Naheed (“those who are afraid even of little girls/How small, how insignificant they are”), LaShawna Griffith (Choose any poem, almost any line.)   And so very many poets represented here who are or have been activists for the best causes. It is also very striking to me how many of these poems are about the art—and duties, especially—of poetry itself.  At least a good half at least of these poems examine, defend, uphold, and lament the role of the poets in society, how they are ignored or insulted or chastened ore even imprisoned by tyrannical regimes.   That has been a familiar theme since the time of Hesiod, of course, but in Assembly it is voice anew and often. Even so, this Assembly has variety: voice, language, metaphor, and usage that seem to spring from the soil of the nations from which they originate.  We will not mistake a poem from Spain for one from Russia, even when the themes are similar or nearly identical.  There is even room for humor—as in your pun on “hand” in our Introduction and the pun on “aids” in a poem I can’t locate now.

​

So—once more—Thank you!   A strong job you’ve done the worthiest. – Yours truly, Fred Chappell

Fred Chappell, acclaimed poet and novelist,  is author of over a dozen books of poetry, a handful of novels and short story collections, and two books of critical prose. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the T.S. Eliot Prize, the Bollingen Award, the Aiken Taylor Award, an award from the National Academy of Arts and Letters, and the best foreign book prize from the Academie Française. He was named North Carolina Poet Laureate in 1997, a position he held until 2002. He retired after 40 years as an English professor at University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He was the Poet Laureate of North Carolina from 1997-2002.

 

Comments by Frank Chipasula

Amongst the silences of restless nights/ My voice wants to break through the shell of words/ to name and sing the evidence/ of our resolve and will to live/ past the glib of noble intentions…/ …..Amongst the silences of these restless nights/ our dreams refuse the perfumed bandages/ that try to hide the depth of their wounds…–Keorapetse Kgositsile (“The King Has Arrived”)

Brother Tijan: Jealous down, as we say in my part of Africa, this is a powerful document, a treasure  and nourishment (beyond comfort food) that will fortify my creative muscles for the next leg of my journey on this rocky road.  This monument will endure the test of time. Though I have not read anything else because the book finds me in the middle of a demanding project, I know that this  document belongs with such anthologies as Jerome Rothenberg’s Technicians of the Sacred: A Range of Poetries from Africa, America, Asia, Europe, and Oceania as well as Pierre Joris & Habib Tengour’s Poems for the Millennium. 

FRANK M. CHIPASULA is a Malawian poet, editor and fiction writer. He holds an M.A. in Creative Writing from Brown University, an M.A. in Afro-American Studies from Yale University and a Ph.D. in English Literature from Brown University. HisVisions and Reflections (1972) is the first published book of poetry in English by a Malawian poet. His other books are O Earth, Wait for Me (1984), Nightwatcher, Nightsong (1986) and Whispers in the Wings: New and Selected Poems (1991). 

 

Comments by Tess Onwueme

A WORLD ASSEMBLY OF POETS

In this season of unrelenting drought

The scorched human body and soul appears jinxed,

Sizzling in the ravages of toxic Leadership

With vacated (nay, non-existent!) Conscience.

How then can today’s endangered Universe  

Not gratefully applaud this timely offering

 Of a nourishing collection

 By the “World Assembly of Poets “

Daring to water the sea of famished spirits?

For inviting me into this communion,

I cannot but chant

MIGHTY FELICITATIONS!

With honor and admiration, I salute you––

Tijani Sallah, Nibir Ghosh, et al.

Tess Onwueme, Ph.D., is an internationally acclaimed multiple award-winning Playwright. She holds the eminent position of University Professor of Global Letters & Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin, USA, and was nominated for the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature.

 

Comments by Margarita Merino

Dear Nibir, 

I have received the wonderful special number of Re-Markings: A World Assembly of Poets!!! It looks truly great!  Many congratulations! Thank you so much:  ¡Gracias de todocorazón! It is an honor to be a part of it!  Please, give my warmest thanks to our Guest Editor and Editors, Dr. Tijan M.Sallah, Dr. A. Karunaker and to the beautiful and accomplished Dr. Sunita Rani Ghosh… Is she your wife?  I imagine how proud you both feel about each other!  Best wishes too to Sanddep K. Arora. A note of thanks to professor Jonah Raskin who is the person who sent my copy from Santa Rosa, CA. My husband Steve Lindsay wants to buy two or three copies, but he told me last time he tried that the book still was not available for purchase… I want to send it at least to a couple of people who will love it!  I wish to you, to your beautiful wife, your family and country, that your compassionate and generous approach will come back to all your world with BIG gratitude, tranquility, plentitude, and well being. 

You, my dear friend, chant with your deep work and generosity the call for unity, diversity, understanding, respect, inviting all to open our minds to make us stronger in celebration of education, solidarity, life: We NEED those values in our wounded world, so I sing your name today!  

I am enjoying too your marvelousblog, and I am discovering little by little the contents of A Word Assembly of Poets!!! I have found the family I needed to share and feel I am part of the Earth!  I have met those who demolish boundaries, those ready to accomplish the dream of my old children poem: “Come on To Defend the Beauty of the World.”

This amazing book that you have created in company of other talented people is a blessing, an explosion of dignity and FREEDOM.  I am so happy to have the privilege to read such magical contents, its diversity, its warmth, its inspiration. ¡Muchasfelicidades! This Special Assembly is permitting me to know poets who want to be humans first!  Yeah!  I am ready to travel no matter where to read with them.  In your blog it is so pleasant to find the wisdom of Jonah Raskin – and watch him pictured in front of my dreamed place!  Makes me happy to feel the energy of the poets, their comments!  I love to see the faces of my brothers and sisters! I want to come back now to the book.  Opening it now (pg. 61) I find I am having a conversation with the great lady who was the mom of Tijan M. Sallah, in “a country…/ Where we greet everyone by name in the morning.” (pg. 64) 

The book, the blog… Where I should go?  : )

You, Nibir, and your friends understand the best part of knowledge: the one that heals and brings IDEALS and souls together! Best wishes for you and Sunita.  My husband and I are dreaming one day not far away we will meet and celebrate with you both!  And with all your friends!

VIVA INDIA!  INDIA MOTHER OF MARVELS!  Margarita Merino Lindsay, January the 14th, 2018

Dr. Margarita Merino Lindsay was born in Spain, León “The Capital of Winter.”  She has published Viaje al inte­rior (Voyage to the Interior), Baladas del abismo (Ballads from the Abyss),  Halcón herido (Wounded Falcon), Demonio contra arcángel (Demon versus Archangel), the Italian bilingual anthology La dama della galerna (Grand Lady of the Tempest), Viaje al exterior (Voyage to the Exterior)… Prof. María Cruz Rodríguez–in her  book on MM poetry — points her “as the pioneer of Eco-Feminism in Spain” reflecting how along her poetical trip she is committed with universal love and compassion for Nature an all creatures.

 

Comments by Prof. Sushil Gupta

Dear Nibir,

Thanks for a copy of this anthology of Contemporary Poems.

The sheer volume and its eclectic collection takes one’s breath away. How you managed to compile it at all is a minor miracle. Tijan Sallah’s introduction is all embracing and enumerates the global brotherhood of poets. I marvel at his sweep of Dalit theme in Indian poetry, plight of refugees over the world, uprootedness, migrations, holocaust, cultural hybridity, religious zealotry, middle east squabbles, all within 27 pages. My mind boggled at his recounting the names of distinguished poets from different countries and languages.

He manages to titillate the imagination through this cornucopia. My hearty congratulations!

– Sushil Gupta  

Prof. Sushil Gupta is the author of the acclaimed novel, The Fourth Mon

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Comments & Review Essay by Urvashi Sabu

Dear Prof. Ghosh,

I am delighted to receive the long awaited world poetry issue, and even more delighted to see my translations in them. Please accept my congratulations on the production of this very eminent, much needed volume that brings together world poets under one cover. Its elegant design and presentation, along with its content, are evocative of the high standards that Re-Markings is synonymous with. Thank you and best wishes for more such ventures in the future! – Urvashi

A World Assembly of Poets – Review Essay

When was the last time I saw, read or heard of the publication of an anthology of world poetry? With this question on my mind, I did a quick web search and realized to my astonishment that the last published compilation was in 2010! Eight years down the line, there comes an ambitious volume, the brainchild of Prof. Nibir K Ghosh and celebrated Gambian poet Dr. Tijan M. Sallah, aptly titled A World Assembly of Poets. Published as a special number of the sixteen years old and still going strong literary journal ‘Re-Markings’, this issue is not only a collector’s item but an absolute must have for any serious student or lover of literature.

In a world riven  by war and strife, this special number makes a bravely unique and concentrated effort to unite, within the same cover, living poets from across all  continents; poets who are aware of, and alert towards, not just the craft of poetry but also of the dilemmas confronting humanity, nations, and cultures today. In the Editorial, Prof Ghosh quips about Plato’s aversion to having the poet in his ideal state; and moves on deftly to Shakespeare’s, Wordsworth’s and Shelley’s impassioned avowal of the craft of poetry, and the significance of poets across cultures. The contents page follows, with the sections being classified according to continents, and within that the countries, in alphabetical order. (No partiality there!) An Introduction by Dr Sallah critically traces, analyses and evaluates the evolution and growth of modern poetry, with reference to the poets included in this volume. And with that done, we come to the kernel.

The first thing that strikes one is that many of the poets are as yet comparatively lesser known; some even make their publishing debut here, in this issue! And that could possibly be the biggest achievement of this special number. This moving away from the canonical, the venerated, the Dead, to the Living, the new, and the mint fresh, reflects the concern of the editors to make this volume even more representative of the times we live in, rather than a hearkening to the ages past. It is an act of literary courage as well as honesty, of presenting to the world a new mirror to the present, a new retelling of the past, a new vision of the future. The second interesting aspect of this number is that barring a few (which appear in English translation), almost all the poems are originally written in English. While purists may deride this as not being representative of world languages, I am of the opinion that this conscious choice of one language, particularly from non English speaking countries, reflects a post colonial ‘coming of age’, a recognition, of ‘owning’ the language, so to speak. The poets under consideration are comfortable with the language, and use its tropes and nuances with refreshing expertise. The translations too are sensitive and refined.

Then there is the very interesting inclusion of the expatriate, globalised experience in the selection of poets who have relocated from their homelands to other countries. Thus, for example, Gurcharan Rampuri features in the Canadian and Meera Ekkanath Klein in the USA section.  The Indian section is eclectic, featuring legends as well as award winning poets (Arun Kamal, Gopikrishnan Kottoor, Shiv K Kumar, Jayant Mahapatra, Arundhati Subramaniam) academicians (Shankar Dutt, Ramesh C Shah) Dalit voices (Dr Aparna Lanjewar, Sharan Kumar Limbale) Journalist Pritish Nandy, senior IRS officer KK Srivastava, and, wonderfully rendered, Tibetan-Indian poet Tenzin Tsundue.

The poems in the volume speak eloquently of indigenous cultures, myth and folklore (Africa), of daily life and cultural flux, racial identities and conflicts (America), of women’s issues, caste and community, poverty and want, history and the glorious past (Asia). They are fresh, and appeal to the modern sensibility (Australia, New Zealand). They are inclusive and global, philosophical and evocative of the Classical age (Europe). They reflect the richness and pain of a mixed identity (Latin America and Caribbean). The tiny but unique section on the Middle East, featuring, (and this is surely a coup!) women poets from Israel and Iran is a fitting finale to a poetic journey through the modern world with all its conundrums and conflicts of identity, gender, class, community and nation. The volume is beautifully produced. Clearly a labour of love for its editors. This volume deserves praise not just for the ambition with which it was conceived, but for the brilliance of the final product. It could well be on the syllabus of university curricula across the world. And it should.

Dr. Urvashi Sabu is Associate Professor, Dept. of English, PGDAV College, Delhi University, Delhi 

 

Comments in verse by Dr. Hemlata Srivastava

If music is the food of  love…

“If music is the food of  love”

Poetry is the food for heart, 

Catering to the cravings of the mind.

It creates not only the rhythmic words,

But brings harmony to the discordant World.                                              

This brings to the need of Poets, need of Poetry.

And here comes ‘A World Assembly of Poets’,

Poets pouring perfect Poesy, 

Hailing from all corners of the world,

Covering all the Continents and the different shades, 

Passing through the prism of emotions,

Reflecting the serene ray of Poesy.

Appearing, as if the whole World gathered together,

To hold their hands and sharing their views, while

Voyaging through the realm of imagination and sailing through the waves of emotions.

Only Poets can do this magical charm,

And create the perfect world of calm,

That charms us with the enlightening vision

And make us cross the sea of oblivion, and

Help us reach the blissful mission

By giving a sense of unique satisfaction.

Which is beyond sharing, 

Beyond description, 

Installing the poet  

In the hearts of the readers.

– Hemlata

Dr. Hemlata Srivastava is Associate Professor in the Department of English Studies & Research at Agra College, Agra, India. Here she is seen at the Shakespeare and Company, Paris.

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