Dear Brian Mark, I request to bespeak you indulgence at my thought. The verse of Mehrota and Kamala Das will continue to reverberate. It is up to you in this market economy to make those dents if you feel strongly about your work, so you too may be heard. But lets interact this way -- email me your address, along with the total for basic postage to Succorro or Batim (or drop off, free or otherwise) for 4 copies of your book, 'Last Bus to Vasco: Poems from Goa' (2006). The postage will be above the Rs. 600 for four copies of your book. So email me your address if you will sell me copies of your book.
And I would like to bespoke [[ : ), : ) ]] ten copes of your forthcoming, 'A Peace of India--Poems in Transit.' A relative point: people of culture do not need to implant the word culture; likewise it is better for a poet to refrain from stating, "Poets are the soul of a country." Let its people voice their feelings in this regard. venantius > Date: 13 Feb 2008 12:58:59 -0000 > From: "brian mark mendonca" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [Goanet] Footpath Poet at the World Book Fair, New Delhi 2008 > World Book Fair, New Delhi 2008 and the Footpath Poet > > > -Brian Mendon?a > > Poets are the soul of a country. Sometimes they can also be treated as > pariahs by a country. > > As if self-publishing my book of poems 'Last Bus to Vasco: Poems from Goa' > (2006) were not enough, I was also warned not to display it at the World Book > Fair by the organisors ? the marshals of the National Book Trust ? who were > scouring the various halls. >On top of that went 10 books with a stand on which I displayed one book. > > A teenager came up and browsed through the book very thoughtfully. When he > was joined by his friends he said in Hindi, ?He is asking for Rs 150.? It was > apparent he could not afford the sum. ?Ask him to lower the price? his friend > suggested. The boy?s answer still rings in my ears, ?He is a poet. He is free > to quote his price.? > The only fresh new young poetry being published is by the Sahitya Akademi, > Delhi; online poetry blogs like glorioustimes .com from Chennai; online > literary journals like museindia.com from Hyderabad and online Journals like > Hudson View published from South Africa. Even recent studies on post-colonial > poetry in English have a sense of d?j? vu stopping at Kolatkar after paying > due obeisance to Mehrotra and Kamala Das. The same names the same quotations. > Old wine in new bottles. If you are living you have a slim chance of being > published! > > Being the writer, editor, publisher and seller of my book of poems, this > served as an inspiration to many. ?You?ve got guts, man,? drawled one wag > from college. The new frontier beckoned. > > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > Traveller-poet Brian Mendon?a?s second book of self-published poems 'A Peace > of India--Poems in Transit' is forthcoming this year.
