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Based
on her experiences in New Delhi, India, The Kimnama is a "masala"
of adventure, history, and street culture. The
Kimnama is available for $12 from VRZHU
Press. "In
the lines of this book-length poem, Kim Roberts distills for
us the essence of India. Braiding past and present with sensual
detail, she summons up the contrasts—houses on a narrow
dirt lane sharing the wall of Muhammadpur's tomb, men in dhotis
squatting 'like giant grasshoppers' near 'a chandelier vendor/his
wares hanging from a tree//so the cut glass shimmered/where
the sun/filtered through the dusty leaves,' her observations
of the outer world complemented by inner realizations arrived
at organically." "The
language throughout is elegant and precise, and the short swinging
lines reinforce the idea of passage, for me. Musical repetitions,
the use of opposites, and the theme of connection, recall Whitman—especially
'Crossing Brooklyn Ferry' or 'Prayer to Columbus.'” "...this
work makes the reader viscerally smell, hear, touch and see
the streets, mosques, gods, vehicles, shopping malls and slums
of New Delhi." |
 THE WISHBONE GALAXY Washington Writers' Publishing House, 1994 Out of Print Read sample poems
"This
uncommonly original and spirited book of poems is as bountiful
as the universe itself. It is divided into three diverse sections,
each of which bristles with a kind of glorious energy...There
is a delightfully subversive list quality to the poems "Imagine
This" and "Darwin in Reverse," like layers being
delicately but deliberately peeled away. The mother in "Mother"
is a female horseshoe crab and a sharp metaphor at that. While
the daughter in "Daughter" comes face to face with
the real father who failed her and the dream father she created
on the page...All in all, this book is an astronomical debut.
Next time you look up at the stars, the one shining brightest
might be a poet named Kim Roberts." "The
Wishbone Galaxy is one of the best first books in my lifetime.
I admire these poems' tenacious tactile qualities, their skillfully
concealed craft, their density and intensity. Moving, passionate,
insightful, these wonderful evocations of Eros should be appreciated
by anyone interested — and who isn’t — in “the
pressure of one body against another. These brilliant poems
offer a constellation of pleasures." |
THE
KIMNAMA
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Editor |
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BELTWAY
POETRY QUARTERLY
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LEE
HIGHWAY:
WASHINGTON
REVIEW
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Literary Tours of Washington, DC |
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 WHITMAN IN DC: GAY DC WALKING TOURS Co-written with Martin G. Murray Rainbow History, 2005 Brochure (PDF) |
