Echoes Main Biography Sample Poetry Inspired Poems Bibliography

 

Poems Inspired by Marianne Moore
And Poems written by Anju Kalagnanam


Spenser’s Ireland
Marianne Moore

has not altered;--
   a place as kind as it is green,
   the greenest place I've never seen.
Every name is a tune.
Denunciations do not affect
            the culprit; nor blows, but it
is torture to him to not be spoken to.
They're natural,--
    the coat, like Venus'
mantle lined with stars,
buttoned close at the neck,-the sleeves new from disuse.
 
If in Ireland
   they play the harp backward at need,
   and gather at midday the seed
of the fern, eluding
their "giants all covered with iron," might
 there be fern seed for unlearn-
ing obduracy and for reinstating
the enchantment?
   Hindered characters
seldom have mothers
in Irish stories, but they all have grandmothers.
 
It was Irish;
   a match not a marriage was made
   when my great great grandmother'd said
with native genius for
disunion, "Although your suitor be
            perfection, one objection
is enough; he is not
Irish."  Outwitting
    the fairies, befriending the furies,
whoever again
and again says, "I'll never give in," never sees
 
that you're not free
   until you've been made captive by
   supreme belief,--credulity
you say?  When large dainty
fingers tremblingly divide the wings
 of the fly for mid-July
with a needle and wrap it with peacock-tail,
or tie wool and
    buzzard's wing, their pride,
like the enchanter's
is in care, not madness.  Concurring hands divide
 
flax for damask
   that when bleached by Irish weather
   has the silvered chamois-leather
water-tightness of a
skin.  Twisted torcs and gold new-moon-shaped
 lunulae aren't jewelry
like the purple-coral fuchsia-tree's.  Eire--
the guillemot
   so neat and the hen
of the heath and the
linnet spinet-sweet-bespeak relentlessness?  Then
 
they are to me
   like enchanted Earl Gerald who
   changed himself into a stag, to
a great green-eyed cat of
the mountain.  Discommodity makes
 them invisible; they've dis-
appeared.  The Irish say your trouble is their
trouble and your
    joy their joy?  I wish
I could believe it;
I am troubled, I'm dissatisfied, I'm Irish.
 

Hyderabad, India
Anju Kalagnanam

a place as dirty as it is populated
with sacred cows, wild dogs, and rats roaming the street
not causing any harm, just living life

elephants, camels, goats and pigs
peacefully pecking at the little amounts of grass
on the side of the dusty road
as if it was special medicine to fill
their empty stomachs
 

women dancing among the streets making up their own movement
singing Indian songs to keep them occupied
representing their family and culture
as they fill up small bins of water to bring to their children after play 

children laughing barefooted playing unusual games with rocks and sticks
chasing after one another

clothes made of cotton rags, which barely covered half their bodies
but no one cares, such is life 

it is custom
for sixteen-year-old girls to be paired with a man
to pay dowry to show that they will be together for the rest of their lives
and live a normal, successful life  

grandmothers cooking breakfast, lunch and dinner
made up of rice, curry, and vegetables
so that everyone gets his or her nutritional need

a little prayer, at the end of each day to the Lords-
Krishna, Vishnu, Ganesh, and Venkateswara showing obedience and love

if in India
there weren’t a dirty, noisy, unique place,
there would be no India
I am Indian

 

New York
Marianne Moore

The savage’s romance,
Accreted where we need the space for commerce-
The center of the wholesale fur trade,
Starred with the tepees of ermine and peopled with foxes,
The long guard-hairs waving two inches beyond the body of the pelt;

The ground dotted with deer-skins—white with white spots,
“as satin needlework in a dingle color may carry a varied pattern,”

and wilting eagle’s-down compacted by the wind;
and picardels of beaver-skin; white ones alert with snow.
It is a far cry from the “queen full of jewels”
And the beau with the muff,
From the gilt coach shaped like a perfume-bottle,
To the conjunction of the Monougahela and the Allegheny,
And the scholastic philosophy of the wilderness.
It is not that “if the fur is not finer than such as one sees others wear,
One would rather be without it”—
That estimated in raw meat and berries, we could feed the universe;

It is not the atmosphere if ungenuity,
The otter, the beaver the puma skins
Without shooting-irons or dogs;
It is not the plunder,
But ‘accessibility to experience.”

 

 

Paris
Anju Kalagnanam

The savage’s romance;
Softness covers ones eye
As if it were a cloud-hovering over the sun.

Men and women running around
Searching for a place to be alone and share their feelings
With one another

The laughter flying out of the French girls mouth
Speaking to that cute boy who she wants to be her soulmate
Till life is complete.

Mini cars hiding under the L’arc de Triomphe
Protecting a man and his family
From terrorists searching for money and killing to kill

All is normal until the scent of Mardi Gras
Capturing the minds of all people and bringing
Them to their world of fantasizing, excitement and love

Balloons crashing through the air, being free and unleashed|
Sweets and candy everywhere as well as party favors, costumes
And most importantly the Mardi Gras beads

As the night ends, the cold breeze hits the world and ends the love, parties, and life
Until it’s time to wake up and start all over again.