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'Poetry, it seems to me, raises the questions of margins and marginality in obvious ways … and yet poetry is central in terms of its contribution to language and thought. (Hecq 2005)
'Liminality indicates a border, a line, and thus some style of crisis – some turn, or act of turning, of crossing from one place or state to another (Meads 2019: 5). It is the discovery of a limit, and simultaneously, realisation that the limit is not the end. There is always some further into and through which to step. What seems a wall is a skin is an interstice is warping, stretching, porous. Like the ‘/’ in the ‘im/possible’ and ‘both/and’, such lines are zones, spaces, gaps for opening and unfolding, sites for play and experimentation, for testing, dreaming, discovering. The liminal is thus imbued with potential: hitherto-unthought thoughts become articulable, letting new knowledges and ways of knowing come to be (Meads 2019: 5-6).' (Jaydeep Sarangi and Amelia Walker, (Introduction)
Notes
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Content indexing in process.
Contents
- Adelaide Arcadei"There are arms of majestic Carrara marbles", single work poetry
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Letters from Adelaide and Prayagraj,
single work
essay
'The collaborative work consisting of corresponding poems between an Adelaide-based poet Arnis Silvia and a Prayagraj-based poet Susheel Sharma deals with anthropological phenomena like identity, ecological awareness and social justice. Taking the geographical background in both resident cities, the six pairs of poems reflect on how both the poets understand the world around them along with its impact on them personally and socially. The poets have employed some principles of duoethnography in their poetic conversations by dialoguing themselves with another self, with another context of culture, tradition, values, histories and meaning-making (Sawyer & Norris 2012). The authors have attempted to put themselves in someone else’s shoes and have tried to see the world through their and others’ eyes to better understand the reality(ies) that were portrayed in the poems. The authors have discovered that despite their geographical and cultural differences, they share many similarities in terms of the issues they deal with daily; they struggle with their selves to make sense of the world and they reflect on realities in their surroundings to understand them better.' (Publication abstract)
- The Fountain Square : Responding to ‘Adelaide Arcade’i"The fountain of the city square", single work poetry
- Central Marketi"I wish I were a Central Market", single work poetry
- Connaught Place : Responding to ‘Central Market’i"The Georgian architecture of CP", single work poetry
- Harbour Bridgei"When morning becomes a mirror", single work poetry
- ‘Ram Setu : Remembering Prof APJ Abdul Kalam : Responding to ‘Harbour Bridgei"The chain of shoals, the creation", single work poetry
- Akshya Trityai"The father is waiting for this day", single work poetry
- Akshya Tritya 2 : Responding to ‘Akshya Tritya’i"Today, the sun and the moon", single work poetry
- Rechristening the Cityi"I shall keep you on your toes", single work poetry
- The City Which Rewrites Her Name : Responding to ‘Rechristening the City’, single work poetry
- Distancingi"When I tried to locate Bombay", single work poetry
- What’s in a Name : Responding to ‘Distancing’i"Whenever I mentioned my name without its spelling", single work poetry
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Words That Swim between Us,
single work
essay
'Poet Paul Celan speaks of a poem as ‘a message in a bottle’ washing up on ‘heartland’ (2001: 396). This idea is indeed a poignant one for our times, and for the estrangement as well as strangeness being experienced (at the time of writing) as a result of ‘lockdown’, ‘selfisolation’, and ‘social distancing’. But how can it shape the development of poetries between India and Australia? Celan’s notion has a timelessness and universality, based as it is on an intensely dialogical poetics. As this paper attempts to show, the nuances of this poetics become increasingly pertinent to this exchange between Kolkata-based academic Sharmila Ray, and myself, Perth-based poet Mags Webster. It has been, for me, an exercise in seeking poetic and ontological common ground. I discuss how, prompted by Ray’s epistolatory approach to her home city of Kolkata, I came to interrogate more deeply, in my responses and through my thinking, notions around not only the ‘to whom’ of the poem, but also, and perhaps more importantly for this particular project, the ‘about whom’' (Publication abstract)
- Open Letter To My Dear Cityi"My dear city,", single work poetry
- Open Letter To My Dear City : A Responsei"Your letter makes me lonely, makes me want to be ‘dear city’. To read my many", single work poetry
- 15.15 Tube from Park Street…i"15.15 pm – Tube from Park Street", single work poetry
- London : Responding to ‘15.15 Tube from Park Street…i"Sunrise furs you gold and ermine, tips the Bailey scales", single work poetry
- Kolkatai"Kolkata are you listening", single work poetry
- Ghost Nets : Responding to ‘Kolkata’i"World turns its wheel, first spring again: season of conception", single work poetry