Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Universal Human Experience

The other thing I forgot to mention. It's as though her knowledge is infinite. She has so many allusions to other sources: biblical, greek, egyptian, occultic which lends a unique touch to her poetry.

I think one criticism that I've heard leveled against her in the past was that these references position her to be unaccessible to the average reader, which I don't think is quite fair. It seems like this is a common criticism against writers who veer off the margins a little and explore the imagination in different contexts. I'd make a pitch for her and just say (she manages to be trailblazer in some respects) by also offering a universality to her poetry. For example, her figure of the veiled woman appears as several different characters with references to different traditions.

I really enjoyed her poetry, but I'm interested in what others will say about it.

1 comment:

rodney k said...

hi shilpa,
just wanted to weigh in with my thanks for your activity on the blog. Appreciate you weighing in with your thoughts and reflections.