num_pages: 106
description: Winner, 2002 PEN Open Book AwardRecipient, 2008 Guggenheim FellowshipMeena Alexander's poetry emerges as a consciousness moving between the worlds of memory and the present, enhanced by multiple languages. Her experience of exile is translated into the intimate exploration of her connections to both India and America. In one poem the thirteenth-century Persian poet Rumi visits with her while she speaks on the phone in her New York apartment, and in another she evokes fellow-poet Allen Ginsberg in the India she herself has left behind. Drawing on the fascinating images and languages of her dual life, Alexander deftly weaves together contradictory geographies, thoughts, and feelings.
language: English
title: Illiterate Heart: Poems
titlecomplete: Illiterate Heart: Poems
genres: Poetry
ratings_count: 16
awards: awardedAt: 1009872000000
name: PEN Open Book Award
publisher: TriQuarterly