Librería Samer Atenea
Librería Aciertas (Toledo)
Kálamo Books
Librería Perelló (Valencia)
Librería Elías (Asturias)
Donde los libros
Librería Kolima (Madrid)
Librería Proteo (Málaga)
If you've wondered how it must feel to be a stranger in a strange land, Kalpana Asok tells you in these gentle poems. Gentle, but with a hint of irony, as when, in the voice of a new arrival, an Indian woman introduces herself to a new American neighbor, and then, in an almost footnoted last line that lets us know she was never invited into the house: 'Dear Ethel, Thank you for the lemonadeand the visits on your porch.' The feeling of dislocation surfaces sharply in another, when she asks, 'My mother's in my mirror/is she walled in/am I locked out . . . .' Vivid images greet us throughout, as she explores, wide-eyed, this new world, where a 'chatty American' wears a 'different baseball cap every day' and is 'full of information.' The gentle voice rises in indignation in strong, tightly crafted poems about social injustice, as in 'I Can't Breathe,' with a first stanza ending in 'Yes, metoo.' Remembering or perhaps dreaming, she gives us a 'Tiger Preserve,' with a 'Lurching blind-drunk female /in the middle of the day/Slapping holy ground . . . .' The gentle voice returns in this lovely debut collection, ending with a lullaby, 'Tenderly,' in hummed syllables: 'Umhmm,--Irene Willishmmm hmm hmm . . . .' Read it with delight and continued discovery.
