Saleem Sinai is born at the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947, the very moment of India’s independence. Greeted by fireworks displays, cheering crowds, and Prime Minister Nehru himself, Saleem grows up to learn the ominous consequences of this coincidence. His every act is mirrored and magnified in eventsContinue Reading
Salman Rushdie is a renowned British-Indian novelist, best known for his rich prose, magical realism, and exploration of cultural and political themes. Born on June 19, 1947, in Bombay (now Mumbai), India, he studied at King’s College, Cambridge, and began his literary career with the novel Grimus (1975), though itContinue Reading
Adrienne Rich (1929–2012) was an influential American poet, essayist, and feminist theorist whose work profoundly shaped 20th-century literature and social thought. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, she was a precocious student and published her first collection, A Change of World (1951), while still in college. Initially praised for her formal style,Continue Reading
Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers Aunt Jennifer’s tigers prance across a screen,Bright topaz denizens of a world of green. They do not fear the men beneath the tree;They pace in sleek chivalric certainty. Aunt Jennifer’s finger fluttering through her woolFind even the ivory needle hard to pull.The massive weight of Uncle’s wedding bandSits heavilyContinue Reading
Excuse Me, the Author Is Dead What can I do, friend Except carry on this burden called life? All through my time I’ve sold cheap stuff For a living, a common salesman; Now that I’m exhausted, do I have the guts To commit suicide? Nah! My mind has the skinContinue Reading
Emergency Ward The emergency ward is prelude to heavenly peace Patients lying in rows of beds With or without oxygen masks, and Saline bottles hanging from their side-stands A lonely fly passing from bed to bed Senior Doctors are like God’s messengers He finds out a pair of understanding eyesContinue Reading
Autumn: An Epitaph Autumn comes no more to this country But we’ve memories of the season, Red cotton-candies inside glass boxes, and Children running after the candy man’s bell We invested our life’s savings. Our neighborhood birds woke up somewhat late Trying to adjust with the teasing chill, We’d grownContinue Reading
Let whatever is gone be bygone If it is deeply personal Shut up your sorrow in the deep recesses of your psyche And shine your teeth or gums on You’re a modern man, a nobody, Your losses don’t matter to none Except the one that is yourself So, let bygonesContinue Reading
Pope explains that “machinery” is a term invented by the critics to signify the part which deities, angles, or demons play in a poem. He goes on to say that the machinery in this poem is based on the Rosicrucian doctrine of spirits in which the four elements are inhabitedContinue Reading
