topics: |  poetry | bengali | gender | women | translation | anthology

twenty woman poets, about 170 poems. a substantial corpus, the result of over two decades of work by Australian translator Marian Maddern.

Given that the originals are not here, one cannot judge the translations for faithfulness, so one is left with whether the poems work in English. In this, I am afraid that while some poems do work, and do present a fresh voice, many more seem lifeless. there is often some flab in the text, as in "drought is on the earth's breast" (from "prithibIr buke", perhaps), but here the "buke" is an idiom that perhaps does not deserve the direct rendering.

nonetheless the enterprise has much value, introducing a group of poets, and the twenty poets are woven into a substantial tapestry. however i wish sahitya akademi would improve its editorial standards - the occasional typo stabs you like a leftbehind needle.

but in the end, i wonder how many readers are there for translated bengali poetry? like the daughter who has left home, these poems have gone out into the world, and now no one has time for her. i wonder how many - even bengalis - will read these poems.

Other translations of bAnglA poetry by women: 
 - Majestic Nights by Carolyne Wright - the poems are tauter, and 
	more of them work for me.   
 - The unsevered tongue, by amitabha mukerjee : a small anthology of 
	37 poems by seven women poets. 
	[disclaimer: author is maintainer of this blog]

Poets

   1 ahanA biswAs b. 1970 (stone chip plant)
   2 anjali dAs b. 1957
   3 anuradhA mahApAtra b. 1957
   4 archanA AchAryachaudhuri b. 1941
   5 chaitali chattopadhyay b. 1960
   6 debanjali mukhopadhyay 1955-1996 (dyke)
   7 debarati mitra b. 1946
   8 gita chattopadhyay b. 1941
   9 jyotsna karmakar b. 1950 (daughter)
  10 mallika sengupta b. 1960
  11 mandira roy b. 1954
  12 rajlukshmee debee 1927-2005
  13 rama ghosh
  14 rupa das gupta b. 1963
  15 sanjukta bandyopadhyay
  16 susmita bhattacharya b. 1947 (bonsai)
  17 sutapa bhattacharya b.1942
  18 sutapa sengupta b.1960
  19 urmila chakraborty  (Strayed)
  20 vijaya mukhopadhyay b. 1937 (Of God)

Excerpts

stone chip: ahana biswas 5

This too is the night of danger
covered with lotus leaves or washed by tears

Sing a song
such a song that, on hearing it, even Durvasa will lay down his curse
and see me; he will think :
Is love a marvellous tree, yet a stone-chip plant?

That night will see my union with Durvasa
     [pAtharkuchi, stone chip : also name of a decorative plant with
     medicinal properties, Kalanchoe pinnata]

dyke: debanjali mukhopadhyay 34

God forgot to set a barrier at the blood's border.
So sand has entered the blood,
poisonous foam has entered the blood,
liquid decoctions of aquatic creatures and fossils...
the ocean is entering the blood.

daughter : jyotsna karmakar 52

She was a daughter of this very house
yet
	when a torn letter arrived from her new home
nobody had time for it
       	one was mending a torn hat
	another was thinking about having to fillet the fish
	another with slippers in hand was a 'daily passenger'
	O daughter of this house, leave them behind

bonsai: susmita bhattacharya 95

Within the seed was the promise of touching the heavens
but your shears pruned back the root.
You obiliterated the sky and the wind for ever;
I am in a tub set under a roof.

This house's lustre is increased by a dwarf tree fruiting without flowers;
I survive on a fixed ration of food and water here;
dreams of the blue sky nevertheless still stir my boughs:
the root grows -- and again the shears appear!

Strayed: urmila chakraborty 110

The marks of rain's feet are on your body.

	Daughter of the rainforest
you came here to this country of drought
	smearing the soft earth's rainwet scent;
	thre is storm in both your eyes,
	lightning in both hands.

Why have you come here?  -- Go back.
Here drought is on the earth's breast,
the exhausted grass blades bend down their necks
clinging to the spoiled dreams of ancient rains;
from their waistband purses compassionless suns
pull out and throw down a handful of dry heat
into furrows of thirst.

	From an unknown sky, from beyond inner rain
	       clouds and dreams, why did you come,
		      daughter of the rainforest?

Of God: vijaya mukhopadhyay 115

God
give me fire
I want a son who does away with weeping.

God first laughed
then from his helpless eyes
huge tears fell.

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