Which of My Selves Do You Wish to Speak To?: Selected Poems

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A wonderful selection of works of one of the major contemporary poets of modern IndiaSly are the ways of temptation. Birds with grains, children with peppermints, And brunettes with bracelets. The way to catch a star Is to keep your palm open.Shiv K. Kumar, one of the major contemporary poets of modern India, was among the first to be recognized and felicitated abroad. This selection spans over three decades of his career as a poet, reflecting the development of his voice. Kumar explores, in almost involuntarily flowing words, some of the essential, often unvoiced, dilemmas of human life. His verse is elegant and spare, his imagery bold and unconventional. His restrained, almost graphic treatment of his subjects indicates polish acquired over years of honing his craft. Kumar’s themes range from the epic to the apparently incidental. He writes on loss, love and passion, adolescence and death, and also about fleeting sunsets, a wayside temple, mating peacocks, a young female jogger, a mango vendor. His magpie gaze captures images that often pass us by, but reveal something essential in his hands.

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Poet, novelist, short story writer, translator and critic, Shiv K. Kumar was born in Lahore, where he received his school and college education. Later, he obtained his doctorate in English literature from the University of Cambridge. He was professor of English at Osmania University and the Central University of Hyderabad. He was also visiting professor of English at various British, American and Australian universities. Shiv Kumar has published eleven collections of poems, five novels, two collections of short stories, a play and a translation of Faiz Ahmed Faiz into English verse. His poems have appeared in the New York Times, Poetry Review (London) and Western Humanities Review. In 1978, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (London), and in 1987 he received the Sahitya Akademi Award for his collection of poems Trapfalls in the Sky. In 2001, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan for his contribution to literature.