Nine Indian Women Poets (An Anthology)

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This collection of witty, ironic, poignant, and technically assured poems is an example of some of the best contemporary Indian poetry today. The intention in bringing together these poems was to represent the growing maturity evident in the themes and styles of the poetry of Indian women. While acquaints the reader with the variety in each poet's work, the prime consideration of Nine Indian Women Poets is the intrinsic quality of the poems themselves - their subject, their language and craftsmanship

The anthology covers nine Indian women poets writing in English, representing two generations of post-Independence poets. Included here, with brief biographical introductions, are Kamala Das, Mamta Kalia, Melanie Silgardo, Eunice de Souza, Imtiaz Dharker, Smita Agarwal, Sujata Bhatt, Charmayne D'Souza, and Tara Patel.

This book contains a general introduction which provides an overview of the work of Indian women poets since 1000 BC, and of relevant anthologies and other critical works. It is a must for those interested in contemporary poetry, especially by Indian Women writing in English.

(Note: Cover Illustration: Ramkiker Vaij's Binodini (1948), oil on gunny cloth. Courtesy National Gallery of Modern Art.)

About the Author:

Eunice de Souza retired as the Head of the Department of English, St. Xavier's College, Mumbai.

Excerpts from Reviews

'There are ten good reasons to buy this book. Nine of them are the poets of the title…The tenth is Eunice de Souza's no-nonsense introduction…'

-The Pioneer

'…this anthology is marked by an admirable maturity of prose…'

-Outlook

'Eunice de Souza's anthology is a meticulously edited version of female voices that constitute a spectrum in relocating a new territory.'

-Hindustan Times

'Eunice de Souza's anthology stands its ground as an excellent record of the poetry produced by Indian women since the 1960s.'

-The Book Review

INTRODUCTION

KAMALA DAS

From Summer in Calcutta
An Introduction
From The Descendants
The Descendants
Luminol
The Doubt
The Maggots
Three P.M.
The Joss-sticks at Cadell Road
The Looking Glass
From The Old Playhouse and Other Poems
The Old Playhouse
The Stone Age

From Tribute to Papa and Other Poems
Tribute to Papa
Sheer Good Luck
Compulsions
Made for Each Other
Sunday Song
Brat
Dubious Lovers
Positive Thinking
From Poems
After Eight Years of Marriage
From Hers
Anonymous

From Three Poets
1956-1976 A Poem
Stationary Stop
Child
For Father on the Shelf
The Earthworm's Story
From Skies of Design
Do Not Tell the Children
Skies of Design
Doris
Cat
Bird Broken

From Fix
Catholic Mother
Miss Louise
For a Child, Not Clever
Autobiographical
From Women in Dutch Painting
Pilgrim
The Road
From Ways of Belonging
Bequest
From Selected and New Poems
Landscape
Outside Jaisalmer
It's Time to Find a Place

From Purdah
Purdah I
Battle-line
From Postcards from god
Words Find Mouths
Living Space
Eggplant
Namesake
8 January 1993
The List
Minority

From 'Glitch'
The Lie of the Land: A Letter to Chatwin
The Salesman
The Planetoid
Daywatch in the Scriptorium
The Word-worker
A Grass Widow's Prayer
Mediatrix
'Our foster-nurse of nature is repose'
Discord

From Brunizem
The Peacock
For Paula Modersohn-Becker 1876-1907
The Women of Leh are such -
A Different History
Something for Plato
Iris
From Monkey Shadows
White Asparagus
Kankaria Lake

From A Spelling Guide to Woman
When God First Made a Whore
The White Line Down the Road to Minnesota
I Would Like to Have a Movie Cowboy for a Husband
Strange Bedfellows
God's Will?
Judith

From Single Woman
Woman
Request
Calangute Beach, Goa II
In Bombay
In a Working Women's Hostel