book excerptise:   a book unexamined is wasted paper

Twentieth Century Telugu Poetry

Velcheru Narayana Rao (tr.)

Rao, Velcheru Narayana (tr.);

Twentieth Century Telugu Poetry

Oxford University Press, 2004, 345 pages

ISBN 0195670191, 9780195670196

topics: |  poetry | telugu | modern | translation



A superb collection.  While the translations are not always the finest, the
selection seems to pick poem that say something to you. 

Excerpts


opening page: 
   ekasya tisThati kaver gr.ha eva kAvyam
   anyasya gachhati suhr.dbhavanAni yAvat
   nyasyad vidagdhavadaneShu padAni shasvat
   kasyApi san~charati vishvakulUhalIva
		- rAjashekhara, kAvyamImAMsA, 4.10

Some poems sit in the poet's house, 
others make it to a friend's door. 
A good poem travels the world 
on the lips of brilliant people, 
as if it has an endless wanderlust. 


Ismail (b.1928) : You


You're mine
only when you take off all your clothes
for me

When you're dressed
you belong to the world

I'm going to shred this world
into pieces
one day



Sri Sri : Bull in the city p.92


On the city's main street
the bull stood quietly
chewing its cud
of memories, of past lives,
eyes half-closed, 
motionless.

The bull in the heart of the city
not heeding time,
the very owner of the street
laughing at the pace of progress,
stood like a king.

Who can ask this bull to move ?
See what it looks like !
Stop the car !
What's the rush ?
Brother, you on the bicycle,
watch out ! The bull doesn't move.

Anti-industrial,
pacifist, vegetarian,
staunch prohibitionist
on the city's main street.
the bull can stand like this
forever.

an animal has no sense,
what about man ?

Sri Sri : Song of Victory p.89

	I 
	even I 
	added a piece of wood 
	to the fire of the world 
	
	Even I 
	gave a tear of mine 
	to the rain of the world 
	
	I offered my voice too
	to the rain of the world
	...
	
	If I alone cease
	hot wind, rain, snowfalls
	are wasted on this earth
	...


Nirasana Kavulu : Me? p.178

When I was young
I was my father's daughter
I was my younger brother's elder sister. 

When I grew up, when I matured, 
I was my father-in-law's daughter-in-law; 
	his respected son's wife. 
I was my sons' mother. 

When I grew old, no longer menstruating
I was his daughter's grandma. 

I am a female thing.

Once every five years,
in the election manifestos
I am a slogan,
quite fashionable. 


Jayaprabha : Burn this sari : p.199


When I see this end
of the sari 
on my shoulder  
I think of chastity 
a log
hung from my neck.

It doesn't let me  
stand up straight
It presses my chest with its hands  
bows me down
teaches me shame
and whirls around me
a certain bird-like confusion

It hypnotizes me   		
telling me, 'You,
you're a woman,'	  	
makes me forget I'm human

It covers both my shoulders	
with its own hands 		[*] 
and flutters
announcing 'See, see, 
this woman! she's chaste!'	

I feel like screaming, 'No, no 
I'm not,'
but my throat doesn't open
I am defeated by this sari	

It pulls me in like quicksand
it throws me down 
like a whirlwind

it's the blame 
generations have laid on me
the unseen patriarchal hand

This sari is the white 
shroud on the corpse
that's me in this culture 
of loot and plunder

If I’ve to stop 
being the walking dead
I’ve to burn 
this sari first
just burn this sari.

[The version above is largely from  
The Oxford Anthology of Modern Indian Poetry
tr. by V Narayana Rao and AK Ramanujan; here Rao makes several modifications:
   - replaces contractions such as I've or I'm or she's with I have etc. 
   - drops some emphatic repetitions e.g. 'You,/you're a woman,' --> "you/Are"
   - sari on my shoulder --> over my shoulder
   - some added end punctuations like periods
   - some other changes e.g. "It pulls me in like a mire" -> quicksand
   - where marked with [*], changes "its hands" to "my own hands"   

The quicksand change is welcome and is retained, in all other respects, the
D&R version seems superior and is reproduced above.  In particular, "my own
hands" for "its hands" devastates the meaning of the remaining stanzas, and
should be avoided even if the original leans that way.

VNR worked first with AK Ramanujan on this and several other poems in this
anthology; therefore these changes may be later, or part of his differences
with AKR.  To my mind, many of these changes, e.g. "over" instead of "on" -
reveal VNR's failings as an English language poet. 


Jayaprabha: That's the Secret p.200

the wolf said
he is vegetarian

the tigers nodded


Jayaprabha : The train never comes p.206


The train never comes
You'll have to go over there
Cross all seven bridges. 
Climb up 
and down. 

Children in tattered clothes
sleeping on the bridge
block your way and view. 

You trip and you slide
into the world of snakes, like Arjuna did. 
Or into the hole in the big banyan tree, where the demon lives. 

The scary voices from the PA system
frighten you. 
They bite you like the moaning sounds of dying patients. 
Your body wiggles out of the dark mouth of Rahu
bending like the river. 

The train never comes
to the place you want. 

What a burden, this walk!
Damp memories in suitcases. 
Soiled childhood on the screw cap of the water jug. 
Sleep vanishes in the cold night --
no camp fire to warm yourself. 
You cross the bridges, one after the other. 
All alone, a mind sees
anger hovering in the shadows of lamps. 

You wait. 
The signal doesn't turn green,
ever. 

What if you swallow the poison pill from your purse
and stop time!

Will they build a road
to where you bought the ticket?

Will they return the money
for the life that has stopped? 

	

Contents

The Poems

Chellapilla Venkata Sastri	 3
Dasu Sriramulu 4
  The Mother Tongue
Gurajada Apparao 5
  The Comet, Gold, Enough
Rayaprolu Subbarao 13
  Chained, Waiting
Devulapalli Krishna Sastri 14
  The Palanquin
  Wanderer,
  Her Eyes
  In Search of Krishna
  A Wish
Abburi Ramakrishna Rao 22
  The Farmer's Song
  New Capital
  A Longing
Viswanatha Satyanarayana 24
  The Blind Beggar
  Your Chariot
  You and I,
  The Beginning
  Song of Krishna
Kodali Subbarao 36
  A Shower of Gold
Kodali Anjaneyulu 42
  Radha
Adivi Bapiraju 43
  Steps
Nanduri Subbarao 46
  He Didn't Come Back
  Blow Out the Lamp,
  You in My Dream
  My Love
  Is this All
Duvvuri Ramireddy 50
  Tryst
Nori Narasimha Sastri 51
  Defeated
Jashuva 52
  I Was One of Them
  The Bat Messenger
Kavikondala Venkata Rao 56
  You on My Mind
  Workers in Love
  A Letter
  They Lie Hidden
Chavali Bangaramma 60
  Hibiscus on the Lake
  The Hill
  Full Moon in December
  My Brother
Pingali Lakshmikantam and Katuri Venkateswara Rao 65
  On the Farm
  The Stuff of Poetry
Pathabhi 70
  Sita
  Moon in China Bazaar,
  Whore
  An Autobiography
Sri Sri 75
  The Difference
  Really?
  The Other Shore
  Don't
  A Bitter Poem
  The Vedantist
  Ah!
  The Wheels of Jagannatha
  Call of Poetry
  Song of Victory 89
  Some People Laugh Some People Cry
  Bull in the City
  Myth of Myself
Srirangam Narayana-babu 96
  A Blade of Grass
  Let's Go to Hell
  Sex Everywhere
  Sound of Silence
  Clear Throat
Sishtla Uma-maheswara Rao 108
  Memories
Kaloji 110
  We Should Remember
  Tenneti Suri
  Here Comes God
Devarakonda Balagangadhara Tilak 112
  War Dead
  A Prayer
  Police Report,
  You Are Not Here But Your Song Is,
  The Night It Rained Life
Ajanta 121
  Dateline Hyderabad
  Sleep
  Me on the Wall
  The Streets
  One Sound
Varada and Arudra 129
  This is About Us
Arudra 134
  Death of Man
Bairagi 138
  Give Me Confidence
  Who Is Awake in the
Dead of Night?
Ismail 141
  The Buried Poem
  You
  Squandered Stars
  A Suggestion
  Poetry
  Seen from an Island in Godavari
  The Wall
  Parrots in the Tree
  Donkeys in Anantapur
  van Gogh's Ear
Sivudu 147
  Warrior
  Bhaskar!
Nagnamuni 149
  Wooden Horse
Bhairavayya 166
  Raped Poem
Vegunta Mohana Prasad 168
  Hades
  Empty
  Stupidity
  First Blood
  Liberation
Smile 173
  Nothing Happened
Siva Reddy 175
  We'll Destroy
  Generations
  We Write
Nirasana Kavulu 178
  Me?
  New Year?
  Forces of Production
Revati Devi 181
  A Birth
  A Burial of Burning Love
  G'bye,
  Going Out of Town
  Invocation
  Sleepers
  No Break
  Non-fiction
  Cold Meat
  Distance
  This Night
  The Voice
  God
  This World Poor Thing
Jayaprabha 193
  Signature, 
  The Lost Poem
  He Was a Monarch Brilliant as the Sun
  Eight-petalled Lotus
  Fog in My Heart
  Burn This Sari 199
  That's the Secret
  Love
  That Minute
  Gaze
  Never
  All Me
  The Train Never Comes 206

Kondepudi Nirmala 208
  Rained Out
  Birds Love the Net
Mahe Jabeen 211
  An Act of Caution
  A Love Poem
  I Remember,
  Physical Geography
  Live Walls
  Ideal Wife,
  Intimate Relationships
  Fall
Tripuraneni Srinivas 220
  A Lost Memory
Khadar Mohiuddin 221
  Birthmark
Afsar 228
  Prayer
Shajahana 230
  Qatts-e Qazah
Satish Chandar 232
  A Child is Born
  The Fifth Note
  A Birth Postponed
Madduri Nageshbabu 240
  What Do I Want?
Prasen, Vamsikrishna and Juluru Gaurisankar 242
  The State, Gaddar, and Us
Machiraju Savithri 249
  Black and White

Notes 251
Afterword: Twentieth Century Telugu Poetry: A Very Brief History  289

differently titled edition:

Velcheru Narayana Rao (ed);
Hibiscus on the lake: twentieth-century Telugu poetry from India
Univ of Wisconsin Press, 2003, 330 pages 
ISBN 0299177041, 9780299177041
+POETRY TELUGU TRANSLATION ANTHOLOGY 

see also:
1. Poem at the Right Moment Remembered Verses from Premodern South India
  Rao, Velcheru Narayana & David Shulman (ISBN: 0520208498 / 0-520-20849-8)


amitabha mukerjee (mukerjee [at-symbol] gmail) 2011 Nov 10