Description

Here in this fishing village/ with its singing temple by the sea/ a thousand daughters rise.// The shore stretches long in the early light./ Kamya chants hari bol.// Coconut palm grows tall by the ocean./ Green fruit ripens slowly,/ full of milk and water.

In her first poetry collection, Sri Lal evokes the myth and humanity of coastal village life in South India. Lal writes with sensitivity about the complex struggles of being a woman, as she gives voice to mothers, daughters, sisters, and wives. Their myriad experiences ebb and flow like the tides of the Arabian Sea, which also arises as a central voice in the collection. Passion and longing are tempered by a current of intergenerational wisdom that grows stronger with self-discovery. A glimpse of the mystical runs throughout. These lyrical writings are a collective coming of age story for the archetypal woman, as the poems explore female strength and vulnerability through the changing seasons of rural life.

Reading Sri Lal’s poems is like walking through a fragrant, luscious Asian market — the scents, the colours and the headiness of it all quietly strung into poems that while showing restraint, also manage to retain a certain quirkiness. A beautiful book. — Maitreyee B Chowdhury, poet and editor at The Bangalore Review

Sri Lal is a mystic, yogini, and poet. She often writes on themes of rite and cultural memory through a lens of Indian philosophy. Born beneath the waxing moon of Jyestha, she received mantra initiation in the Vedic tradition as a small child. She has also been deeply influenced by Sufism and Christianity. After her grandmother died, she made several pilgrimages, visiting temples and saints to reconnect with a deeper truth. She now resides in New York City, where she has served in hospitals, prisons, women’s shelters, and at the United Nations. She is currently working on a project to preserve ancient spiritual manuscripts. She teaches in the English Department at the City University of New York.