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Routes
Poetry exploring the routes taken by Rhiya Pau’s parents and grandparents across multiple countries to arrive in the UK. Specifically linked to the 50th anniversary of the arrival of Ugandan Asians in the UK.
At the core of this debut collection is a question – what is worth holding onto?
Through poetic experiments that blend the academic and the artistic, Rhiya Pau queries complex characters and tender landscapes. Routes journeys from Ba’s kitchen in Sonia Gardens to Independence hour in Delhi, across the pink shores of Nakuru, to meet a painter on Lee High Road.
Celebrating fifty years since her community arrived in the UK, Pau chronicles the migratory histories of her ancestors and simultaneously lays bare the conflicts of identity that arise from being a member of the East African-Indian diaspora. In this multilingual discourse exhibiting vast formal range, Pau wrestles with language, narrative and memory, daring to navigate their collective fallibilities to create her own identity.
Routes … holds up to the light the wisdom of the past, and asks what else is passed down along with it. This is a collection in which routes and roots tug against one another: a family is scattered in the wake of India’s Partition; its children and grandchildren make new homes for themselves within a kaleidoscope of tongues. This is a work of humane intelligence, formal experiment and linguistic verve that promises much.
~Sarah Howe, Eric Gregory Awards 2022 Judge
Rhiya Pau’s collection is a feast of language and probably the first with such inventive and delightful use of Gujlish. From India’s Independence struggle to the global pandemic, Pau maps the political and emotional landscapes of her immigrant Gujarati family, bringing their many worlds to life through unforgettable sights, sounds, and sensations. With richly diverse and experimental storytelling, this collection re-imagines and re-interprets the many possibilities and meanings of identity, diaspora, belonging, and community for South Asian immigrants everywhere.
~Jenny Bhatt, author, translator, and founder of Desi Books
…thought-provoking, comforting and felt like a bittersweet yet warm hug that god know I needed!
~Ananya Ranjit, Pardesi
At the core of this debut collection is a question – what is worth holding onto?
Through poetic experiments that blend the academic and the artistic, Rhiya Pau queries complex characters and tender landscapes. Routes journeys from Ba’s kitchen in Sonia Gardens to Independence hour in Delhi, across the pink shores of Nakuru, to meet a painter on Lee High Road.
Celebrating fifty years since her community arrived in the UK, Pau chronicles the migratory histories of her ancestors and simultaneously lays bare the conflicts of identity that arise from being a member of the East African-Indian diaspora. In this multilingual discourse exhibiting vast formal range, Pau wrestles with language, narrative and memory, daring to navigate their collective fallibilities to create her own identity.
Routes … holds up to the light the wisdom of the past, and asks what else is passed down along with it. This is a collection in which routes and roots tug against one another: a family is scattered in the wake of India’s Partition; its children and grandchildren make new homes for themselves within a kaleidoscope of tongues. This is a work of humane intelligence, formal experiment and linguistic verve that promises much.
~Sarah Howe, Eric Gregory Awards 2022 Judge
Rhiya Pau’s collection is a feast of language and probably the first with such inventive and delightful use of Gujlish. From India’s Independence struggle to the global pandemic, Pau maps the political and emotional landscapes of her immigrant Gujarati family, bringing their many worlds to life through unforgettable sights, sounds, and sensations. With richly diverse and experimental storytelling, this collection re-imagines and re-interprets the many possibilities and meanings of identity, diaspora, belonging, and community for South Asian immigrants everywhere.
~Jenny Bhatt, author, translator, and founder of Desi Books
…thought-provoking, comforting and felt like a bittersweet yet warm hug that god know I needed!
~Ananya Ranjit, Pardesi
- GenresPoetry
84 pages, Paperback
First published November 24, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
November 21, 2022
This collection of poetry is different from what I am use to. This collection, in my opinion is much about family and tragedies. Its a very good book. Some ate easy to understand and some I had a hard time figuring out what was meant in the poem. This book but it was fun for me. Liked the book and everyone should read it.
I received a free copy of the book and is voluntarily writing a review
I received a free copy of the book and is voluntarily writing a review
November 29, 2022
Pau’s ancestors were part of the South Asian diaspora in East Africa, and later settled in the UK. Her debut, which won one of this year’s Eric Gregory Awards (from the Society of Authors, for a collection by a British poet under the age of 30), reflects on that stew of cultures and languages. Colours and food make up the lush metaphorical palette.
"When I was small, I spoke two languages.
At school: proper English, pruned and prim,
tip of the tongue taps roof of the mouth,
delicate lips, like lace frilling rims of my white
cotton socks. At home, a heady brew:
Gujarati Hindi Swahili
swim in my mouth, tie-dye my tongue
with words like bandhani."
Alongside loads of alliteration (my most adored poetic technique)—
"My goddess is a mother in marigold garland"
—there are delightfully unexpected turns of phrase, almost synaesthetic in their blending of the senses:
"right as I worry I have forgotten the scent
of grief, I catch the first blossom of the season
and we are back circling the Spring."
"I am a chandelier of possibility."
Besides family history and Hindu theology, current events and politics are sources of inspiration. For instance, “We Gotta Talk About S/kincare” explores the ironies and nuances of attitudes towards Black and Brown public figures, e.g., lauding Barack Obama and Kamala Harris, but former UK Home Secretary Priti Patel? “our forever – guest of honour / would deport her own mother – if she could.” I also loved the playfulness with structure: “Ode to Corelle” employs a typically solemn form for a celebration of crockery, while the yoga-themed “Salutation” snakes across two pages like a curving spine. This reminded me of poetry I’ve enjoyed by other young Asian women: Romalyn Ante, Cynthia Miller, Nina Mingya Powles and Jenny Xie. A fantastic first book.
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
"When I was small, I spoke two languages.
At school: proper English, pruned and prim,
tip of the tongue taps roof of the mouth,
delicate lips, like lace frilling rims of my white
cotton socks. At home, a heady brew:
Gujarati Hindi Swahili
swim in my mouth, tie-dye my tongue
with words like bandhani."
Alongside loads of alliteration (my most adored poetic technique)—
"My goddess is a mother in marigold garland"
—there are delightfully unexpected turns of phrase, almost synaesthetic in their blending of the senses:
"right as I worry I have forgotten the scent
of grief, I catch the first blossom of the season
and we are back circling the Spring."
"I am a chandelier of possibility."
Besides family history and Hindu theology, current events and politics are sources of inspiration. For instance, “We Gotta Talk About S/kincare” explores the ironies and nuances of attitudes towards Black and Brown public figures, e.g., lauding Barack Obama and Kamala Harris, but former UK Home Secretary Priti Patel? “our forever – guest of honour / would deport her own mother – if she could.” I also loved the playfulness with structure: “Ode to Corelle” employs a typically solemn form for a celebration of crockery, while the yoga-themed “Salutation” snakes across two pages like a curving spine. This reminded me of poetry I’ve enjoyed by other young Asian women: Romalyn Ante, Cynthia Miller, Nina Mingya Powles and Jenny Xie. A fantastic first book.
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
January 6, 2024
“I find it too easy to forgive things that are not mine to forgive. My uncle still cannot talk about it, having home pulled out from beneath you. Now we know better than to fall in love like that.”
Always a soft spot for poetry that grapples with the impact of being a later generation immigrant, migrant longings and the nature of community and family memory.
Always a soft spot for poetry that grapples with the impact of being a later generation immigrant, migrant longings and the nature of community and family memory.
December 6, 2022
A beautifully written experimental collection of contemporary poems exploring themes covering memory, tradition, politics, history and current affairs amongst others. This is an incredible debut collection, influenced by the author’s, her family’s and wider South Asian community’s experiences of migration - highly recommend!
November 28, 2022
When Rhiya Pau’s grandparents moved to the UK in the 1970s, “they never suspected that their grandchildren would not be fluent in their mother tongue.” Inevitably, the lack of a common language came to weaken the relationships between the generations. But in this book, Pau attempts to rebuild that understanding and chronicle, in poetry, something of the history of those who have arrived in the UK from the South-Asian continent over the past fifty years. “Here, my protest-cry. / I am too fluid to / be cornered by / disappointment. / I am a chandelier of / possibility. / Let me disperse the light.”
There is a lot of warmth to this book. Pau’s personality shines through and the reader finds themself ushered into an enthusiastic and welcoming community. The poems are a rich whirl of memories, colours, history, stories, traditions, families and experience. And food, everywhere there is food: "galaxies / of jalebi in a brown paper bag, boxes / of mithai open at the counter, ladoos / of boondhi, and mawa ka peda, / and cashew nut diamonds flaking / with silver.” I’ve no idea what most of these things are but a world which contains them is surely a better place for it? Not recognising some of the cultural references isn’t a problem as Pau provides useful notes: “Kajol is a black mineral, traditionally used as an eye-liner and to temporarily blemish children’s skin to ward off najar [the evil eye, jealous ill-wishers, dark magic].” And her poems are very accessible: “When I was small, I spoke two languages. / At school: proper English, pruned and prim…At home, a heady brew: / Gujarati Hindi Swahili / swim in my mouth, tie-dye my tongue”.
Some of the poems are deeply moving. ‘Departure Lounge’ is dedicated to the community’s elders who lost their lives to Coronavirus in London’s care homes: “In days, eight decades are quietly / erased, breathless voices grieving for those days, when / your loved ones could see you far off from the runways.” And some poems hit hard. ‘Dying’ describes a visit to an elderly relation, dying of an aneurysm: “slow drool from the nose, mouth like an open wound, / no words, only a man terrorised by his own mortality.” But there is humour to be found here too and I loved ‘Ode to Corelle’ (a long-lasting crockery brand.) “Outlasting marriages and lifetime guarantees, / meme-orialised by grandkids, that’s our girl Corelle!”
Pau is a skilful writer whose work encompasses large and complex themes. ‘The Magic Faraway Tree’ describes the Banyan (India’s national tree), which grows to consume its host tree, eventually engulfing it. “After Independence, the host country makes the Banyan / its national tree. The shade of its canopy lives on.” It’s an extraordinary metaphor for colonial exploitation and destruction. Then there’s ‘On Shame’ which describes the daughters who are taught modesty and advised that silence is safer: “yet here we are, being silently groped / on the subway where sleight of hand milks you / like a cow except unlike a cow, you are no longer / sacred.”
There are some exquisite poems to be found here. ‘The Girl in the Water’ will stay with me for a very long time: “when the men at the mill find Manni they pull her from the river / dry her in the sun like maize”. But more than anything, the collection is imbued with a spirit of hope, a sense that while much history has been dispersed, much still remains: “Is it only the grieving, who stand / guard over all that they have lost, roots entwined with the dead?” And in the end, this is a collection about Rhiya Pau herself and the pride she has in her community: “these are my people / ploughing the paddies / trailing the ox…..my people my people…..shy smiles of boys / burdens of men / when it is time / the women bent double / will comb the grain from the sheaf / squinting past sunset / rock the ache in their backs”.
Very highly recommended.
There is a lot of warmth to this book. Pau’s personality shines through and the reader finds themself ushered into an enthusiastic and welcoming community. The poems are a rich whirl of memories, colours, history, stories, traditions, families and experience. And food, everywhere there is food: "galaxies / of jalebi in a brown paper bag, boxes / of mithai open at the counter, ladoos / of boondhi, and mawa ka peda, / and cashew nut diamonds flaking / with silver.” I’ve no idea what most of these things are but a world which contains them is surely a better place for it? Not recognising some of the cultural references isn’t a problem as Pau provides useful notes: “Kajol is a black mineral, traditionally used as an eye-liner and to temporarily blemish children’s skin to ward off najar [the evil eye, jealous ill-wishers, dark magic].” And her poems are very accessible: “When I was small, I spoke two languages. / At school: proper English, pruned and prim…At home, a heady brew: / Gujarati Hindi Swahili / swim in my mouth, tie-dye my tongue”.
Some of the poems are deeply moving. ‘Departure Lounge’ is dedicated to the community’s elders who lost their lives to Coronavirus in London’s care homes: “In days, eight decades are quietly / erased, breathless voices grieving for those days, when / your loved ones could see you far off from the runways.” And some poems hit hard. ‘Dying’ describes a visit to an elderly relation, dying of an aneurysm: “slow drool from the nose, mouth like an open wound, / no words, only a man terrorised by his own mortality.” But there is humour to be found here too and I loved ‘Ode to Corelle’ (a long-lasting crockery brand.) “Outlasting marriages and lifetime guarantees, / meme-orialised by grandkids, that’s our girl Corelle!”
Pau is a skilful writer whose work encompasses large and complex themes. ‘The Magic Faraway Tree’ describes the Banyan (India’s national tree), which grows to consume its host tree, eventually engulfing it. “After Independence, the host country makes the Banyan / its national tree. The shade of its canopy lives on.” It’s an extraordinary metaphor for colonial exploitation and destruction. Then there’s ‘On Shame’ which describes the daughters who are taught modesty and advised that silence is safer: “yet here we are, being silently groped / on the subway where sleight of hand milks you / like a cow except unlike a cow, you are no longer / sacred.”
There are some exquisite poems to be found here. ‘The Girl in the Water’ will stay with me for a very long time: “when the men at the mill find Manni they pull her from the river / dry her in the sun like maize”. But more than anything, the collection is imbued with a spirit of hope, a sense that while much history has been dispersed, much still remains: “Is it only the grieving, who stand / guard over all that they have lost, roots entwined with the dead?” And in the end, this is a collection about Rhiya Pau herself and the pride she has in her community: “these are my people / ploughing the paddies / trailing the ox…..my people my people…..shy smiles of boys / burdens of men / when it is time / the women bent double / will comb the grain from the sheaf / squinting past sunset / rock the ache in their backs”.
Very highly recommended.
November 29, 2022
In this poetry collection, the author explores and depicts all the directions her family took as Indian immigrants arriving to UK. So like most poetry collections, it’s a very, very personal thing.
There’s a much too long author’s introduction that reads like a sort of political manifesto on immigration, assimilation, etc.
And then it gets into the poems. Which, as modern times seem to require, are all rhythm and no rhyme. But the style and imagery are there, brightly vivid.
The author uses so many Indian words that the collection comes with its own notes/glossary. But then again, it gives it a sort of authenticity, which presumably was the goal.
Overall, though it did have some striking imagery and language, the collection didn’t quite sing to me. But then again, I’m not a fan of modern poetry – I don’t care for its choppy unrhymed inelegance and the highly self-focused/navel-gazing quality of most of it, so maybe don’t go by my opinion. It's meant to represent one thing and one thing only (as all reviews) and that is a reflection of a personal reading experience. Thanks Netgalley.
There’s a much too long author’s introduction that reads like a sort of political manifesto on immigration, assimilation, etc.
And then it gets into the poems. Which, as modern times seem to require, are all rhythm and no rhyme. But the style and imagery are there, brightly vivid.
The author uses so many Indian words that the collection comes with its own notes/glossary. But then again, it gives it a sort of authenticity, which presumably was the goal.
Overall, though it did have some striking imagery and language, the collection didn’t quite sing to me. But then again, I’m not a fan of modern poetry – I don’t care for its choppy unrhymed inelegance and the highly self-focused/navel-gazing quality of most of it, so maybe don’t go by my opinion. It's meant to represent one thing and one thing only (as all reviews) and that is a reflection of a personal reading experience. Thanks Netgalley.
November 9, 2022
A lovely collection of poems inspired by bother inner and outer journeys. Listening to the stories of her elders, who immigrated to the UK and found ways to keep their identities while learning to fit in to their new culture, the poet was inspired to consider their lives and her own as she travels herself to find her own way of being in the cultures of her grandparents.
In the preface she states, 'Conversations with our elders suggests that they...have compartmentalized fragments of their identities in order to survive. For me, writings Routes has been a process of holding these fragments up to the light, laying them down on a page and acknowledging the overlapping narratives and the silent spacesin between.'
I like the play on words in the title--Routes (as I pronounce it) could just as easily be Roots.
These poems are very accessible and brought me along with the poet as she explored these themes of belonging, cultural unfamiliarity, and self-discovery.
In the preface she states, 'Conversations with our elders suggests that they...have compartmentalized fragments of their identities in order to survive. For me, writings Routes has been a process of holding these fragments up to the light, laying them down on a page and acknowledging the overlapping narratives and the silent spacesin between.'
I like the play on words in the title--Routes (as I pronounce it) could just as easily be Roots.
These poems are very accessible and brought me along with the poet as she explored these themes of belonging, cultural unfamiliarity, and self-discovery.
July 19, 2023
Must Read!!
'They have compartmentalized fragments of their identities in order to survive'. I found this line in the preface to brilliantly describe what a lot of immigrants go through. As I kept reading the poems, I was mesmerized by the imagination, language, clarity and the wide range of topics covered by Rhiya.
I enjoyed reading all the poems and 'Enough', 'Pilgrims', 'Inheritance' are some of my favorites.
This collection of poems leaves you with a smile and a few things to think about.
I highly recommend it!
'They have compartmentalized fragments of their identities in order to survive'. I found this line in the preface to brilliantly describe what a lot of immigrants go through. As I kept reading the poems, I was mesmerized by the imagination, language, clarity and the wide range of topics covered by Rhiya.
I enjoyed reading all the poems and 'Enough', 'Pilgrims', 'Inheritance' are some of my favorites.
This collection of poems leaves you with a smile and a few things to think about.
I highly recommend it!
December 20, 2022
I found several verses extremely poignant and moving. The author does a great job of showing her emotions and thoughts. It is an enjoyable read. I wish some words were explained in the footnotes rather than at the end, though. Flipping to the back often took me out of the poem.
December 8, 2022
A wonderful and poignant exploration of family, community and migration!
December 26, 2022
A fabulous debut collection exploring these of British Indian identity. A poignant exploration into the conflicts of interest all immigrant journeys face.
January 2, 2023
Wonderful collection of poems. Cleverly telling the story of migration
Extremely talented poet!
Extremely talented poet!
January 13, 2023
Dovrò rileggerlo, ma questo libro di poesie parla anche di The Partition, ovvero la fuga degli indiani durante l'imperlialismo britannico 💖
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews