Fireflies in the Rubble

299.00

Author: Arvinder Kaur
Published Date: 01/03/2022
ISBN: 978-93-92494-13-0
Pages: 112
Category:

Description

These little poems of mine have been cathartic for me, Arvinder says in her Foreword, and for me her comment captures the entire arc of the haiku, senryu and cherita in her book, Fireflies in the Rubble.

Delightful and poignant poems dot the pages, and each time I say this is my favourite, another one comes tripping along. Arvinder knows how to tap the synergy between images and does it with effortless grace.

games at twilight

I am given away

by my shadow

The poems are filled with her childhood memories, and I wonder if there can be a person — even one not versed in haikai lit — who wouldn’t smile, frown, debate, disagree, agree and be wonder-struck at the poet’s mastery of the form.

Arvinder propels her story forward, narrating with extraordinary finesse incidents that have haunted her:

exodus

the sunset at my native village

tinged with blood

In his anthology, The Wonder Code, Scott Mason writes of “seeing the world anew through haiku eyes,” and that is what Fireflies in the Rubble allows the reader to do. A book worth repeated readings.

Kala Ramesh, founder and director, Triveni Haikai India

Author, translator, poet, Arvinder Kaur, has retired as Principal from Government College Dera Bassi, Punjab, India. She served as an Associate Professor in English Literature and Media Studies in PGGCG -11, Chandigarh and other government colleges for nearly 35 years. She started writing for national English-language dailies at a young age. Her first published work was, however, a book of Punjabi poems, Kujh Kasailey Supne. She has worked extensively in the field of haiku and has major contributions in the world of Punjabi and English haiku. Her published work also includes two books of haiku, Nimolian (Punjabi haiku) and dandelion seeds (bilingual, English and Punjabi). Recently her work of translation, under rain trees, introduced cherita, another related short form, to Punjabi and Hindi readers of poetry. Her haiku have been published in prominent international journals. Her work in Punjabi translation is also well known. She worked in close association with celebrated Indian painter, Imroz and translated his collection of letters between Amrita and himself which were written during the times they had to be away from each other due to professional or personal reasons. This book, Amrita and Imroz: In the Times of Love and Longing, was published by Full Circle Delhi. Her recent publication is a translation of the renowned Punjabi poet Paul Kaur into English, The Wild Weed: Selected Poems, published by Red River. She lives in Chandigarh with her family.