Poetry. Asian American Studies. While others were writing software Prageeta Sharma was writing DEAR ____ OR BLISS TO FILL, a rhapsodic collection in which the poet uncannily braids the young and anticipatory with the elderly and elegantly alone. Her medium: loyalty;' her climate: tender. She pleasures us by her agile shifts in mood and her lithe twists of tongue. This is a delicately fierce book -- C.D. Wright.
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
"I soak underwear with my head out to dry,// I am happy to be organized with my problems,/ keeping them simple and deft for an unremarkable bathtub oratory." An ebullient, South Asian-American identity is put through the emotional wringers of lost love, first generationality, and New York City in this debut-and emerges triumphant. The book takes its title and one of two epigraphs from Dickinson ("Our blank is bliss to fill"), and is suffused with a Dickinson-like archaic diction that lends "Prageeta," as she appears in the third person, an historical aureole: "Arguments/ do arouse this poem which oscillates in the same, trying space as arguments./ How do we rise to a spiritual position? Prageeta asks. Wanting to again, reading/ Hegel, she asks the book to fly to him." The book is divided into two chapbook-length sections. The first, "Dear _____," includes letters to a lover-like "Dearest echo," and to disheartened comsumers of Prageeta's poems; contemplates the arranged marriage of the poet's parents; and exhorts a "Politician Bird" "Do continue to free the clouds from the firm, plastic, earth." The second, "The Other Possibility," considers lifestyles like those of the multi-part "All-Purpose Rockstar" (where a poet taunts fans, and deploys "The song designed for situational/ dumbness"); of a bitter, bizarre "Girl Vendor" ("my spacecraft is more project-/ oriented than your spacecraft"); of "The Assassins"; and even a "Suburban Address." At once playful, ironic and affecting, this debut suggests that Sharma will "roll onward, to deviate, to leeward-I did have thrills/ or happily ate, or vigor caught me." (Feb.)
Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
My new gift,
By David Cohane (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Bliss To Fill (Paperback)
I used this book in a class, and we enjoyed it so much I am going to assign it. It is my new gift, also, to friends and folks. Very exciting poetry, incredibly gifted new voice.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hits the Spot!!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Bliss To Fill (Paperback)
I found this book by accident, and it must have been kismet. Sharma's impressive poetry is coy, witty, and still completely soulful. A welcome refreshment--I can't wait to see a new collection of her work.
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I think I must be lucky.,
By
This review is from: Bliss To Fill (Paperback)
The poetry is wonderful; the person is great. I have the honor of working with her during the course of my studies. It's refreshing to read something contemporary that exudes warmth and engages the reader.
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