The Half-Inch Himalayas (Wesleyan Poetry Series)
With these two books, Wesleyan continues to present some of the more interesting new poets emerging today. Agha's well-organized collection traces his physical and spiritual journey from New Delhi to America. While the poet's craft is considerable, readers will be drawn in primarily by his subject. The few poems focusing on present-day America become contrived, making use of too easily surreal images, but the final poemssix short piecesare haunting, strikingly honest dreams of home and concern for the safety of friends and relatives show Agha at his finest. Stringer's poems are more surreal, less directly personal. They use images of waterseas, lakes, floodsto convey pure desperation. The speaker seems to change places with an unidentified "you," trying on masks to find a trapped, abandoned self. These poems keep the reader's attention, as we join the poet in his frantic search to solve his own mystery. Rochelle Ratner, formerly Poetry Editor, "Soho Weekly News," New YorkCopyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.