Rochelle Potkar's Blog, page 58

Haibun ‘Samsara’ in A Hundred Gourds

So this haibun ‘Samsara’ appears in March ’16 in A Hundred Gourds and I fail to keep track! I was about to send this off to another publication when I just check.

Am i losing track of my own life… or what?!

[Early signs of something.]

http://www.ahundredgourds.com/ahg52/haibun09.html

Book Launch of Mind to Keyboard, 9th July, ICG, Goa

If you are in Goa, you are invited to the Book Launch of ‘Mind to Keyboard’, Edited by Sheela Jaywant, Published by Goa 1556. This book is a collection of essays by writers of their journey(s). My essay too appears in it. 9th July, 10:30-12:30 pm. ICG.

And here is one review of the book: http://www.pruthagoa.com/from-mind-to-keyboard-a-rev

Book Launch of 40 under 40, 8th July, 5:30 pm, Kitab Khana

Coverage in the media:

http://www.mid-day.com/articles/poetry-of-global-india/17391157

http://www.firstpost.com/living/40-under-40-an-anthology-of-post-globalisation-poetry-is-more-than-a-must-read-2826992.html

http://www.firstpost.com/tag/40-under-40-an-anthology-of-post-globalisation-poetry

http://www.firstpost.com/living/listen-from-mihir-vatsa-to-linda-ashok-six-poets-under-40-recite-their-poems-on-post-globalisation-2815276.html

Buying links:

https://paperwall.in/books/85/40-Under-40

Reviews: (to come…)

My article on haibun in Scroll.in

Our haibun-writing workshop at the British Council Library was a satisfying one and there are more planned.

Meanwhile, my article in the Scroll.

http://scroll.in/article/810957/you-know-the-haiku-now-meet-the-haibun-the-other-japanese-form

A lazy feeling

*(categorized under waste-management)

Off late, many have asked me if I am going to a certain poetry festival and I say I did not receive an email invite.

I think nothing much of it, and move on.

Then more friends ask.

Again the same answer resurfaces through my mind… but now I am thinking.  Should I have another thought about this? Do I dissect an un-invitation like a frog on a table? If I dissect it, what should its entrails mean: Exclusion? Oversight? Deliberate omission?

Oversight is the lightest color.

Omission has noir tones.

Exclusion is a personal feeling that comes from the latter, but not necessarily the former.

Alright, reverse gear, retake.

Should I feel anything at all? Or just suspend the moment into a next daydream?

Should I feel offended in a country of default offense-takers, where offense-taking is a serious hobby?

But offense of what, really? Of the chance to re-purpose time? Reuse resources?

If I don’t feel offended should I feel hurt? Or Nothing?

Nothing is the lightest color.

Hurt has a noir tone.

Opportunity cost is a personal feeling that comes from saving time, money, resources. From not having to pack suitcases, wait for arriving and departing planes, usher into smoked hotels, check internet connectivity, navigate through crowd and traffic, giving up a daily routine.

Besides how can an introvert be excluded? Fish drowned in water?

And what of all those places that invited me time and time again and I did not go?

Emptiness answers emptiness. Blanc, blanc. Intentional absence answers invited absence.

So what to feel? Maybe: nothing.

So when someone asks me again: Are you going to this poetry festival?

I won’t say: I didn’t receive an email invite – why open a fissure of speculation?

I will just draw a blank, and move on,

Then have some piping chicken chetinad & crisp onion pakoras

And watch a subtitled film

And phone an old boyfriend

And watch green rain outside the window

And huddle inside a mildewed blanket…

And be.

Four Degrees of Separation, reviewed by Jessica Faleiro

At Kitaab.org

Here’s the link: https://kitaab.org/2016/06/26/poetry-review-four-degrees-of-separation/

 

Since we belong to that zamana where reviews get reviewed, so here are two reviews of this review:

A very exhaustive and well covered review.

– Julia Dutta

The book is so well reviewed. Some lines made me feel choked…some raised my expectation beyond permissible limits to strengthen my determination and conclude – I GOT TO READ THIS. I think I’ve so far remained untouched by this sliver of poetic brilliance.  I didn’t find it biased because she ends with the line where she says, there is enough scope for improvement. What I like about the fact is…as a reviewer Jessica has stressed on the parts, she didn’t just like but, loved the most.

– Purnesh Bhattacharya

 

Go read!

A tribute to a demon

Haibun-writing workshop at The British Council Library

Paresh Tiwari and I will be conducting our first haibun-writing workshop at the British Council Library on 2nd and 3rd July 2016. Notes, presentations, books for reference, humor – checked, and in place. Let’s see what the rains do to us now!

Annual report: International Writing Program, Iowa, 2015

Yes, the annual report is out and I find in it the same wonder of receiving an annual report card plus a ticket through nostalgia’s journey.

https://iwp.uiowa.edu/sites/iwp/files/iwp-annual-report-2015-web_0.pdf

Went to town with Tall Tales

Visited Artisans’, Kala ghoda and heard three riveting stories around LGBT at storytelling event co-hosted by Tall Tales and the American Consulate, Mumbai. Met many friends, made new friends. It was a gala.

with the multi-talented Michael Burns.