A. Anupama
The world looks still damp, like me and my dog after getting ourselves caught in a midsummer-morning cloudburst. The writing circles and other literary events I used to organize before the pandemic are still on my mind. I only wanted it to rain poetry. Guiding creativity as work, as vocation, as dharma, is on my…
“BUTTERFLY - Among the ancients, an emblem of the soul and of unconscious attraction towards the light. The purification of the soul by fire, represented in Romanesque art by the burning ember placed by the angel in the prophet’s mouth, is visually portrayed on a small Mattei urn by means of an image of love…
Because I set out to learn about the making of art in my museum-going emprise, so many moments blossomed with knowledge this week. The techniques and preoccupations of artists, whether individuals or whole ateliers, fascinated me. Museum curators really work hard to make these gems of insight. If you want to make… a goddess The…
Like that of a mountain, to make art. Especially classical styles, which I spent some time reflecting on at the Morgan Library today. Art requires painstaking, attentive gestures. Focused light. More specifically, a mind full of moonlight. Shahzia Sikander’s paintings and collage-style artwork in this exhibit, “Extraordinary Realities,” showcase her classical techniques and many layers…
“Cézanne is asking himself how exactly he feels about this rock, this cloud, this apple.”Jed Perl, “Interpreting Nature” in NYRB July 22, 2021 issue I think everything danced in Cézanne’s eye. “Still life” doesn’t describe the pictures he made. Today’s adventure took on the MOMA’s current exhibition of Cézanne’s drawings and watercolors. If there’s a…
Seen through water and glass, the stems of cut flowers have a presence like the trunks of trees to me. Just like that, paintings made of water and transparent pigments evoke the real as though it were transplanted from paradise. This week I’m educating myself with a mini immersion in visual arts around NYC. Actually,…
My middle-school homeschool students had a pool party today to celebrate the end of our year reading The Odyssey together. It was epic. They stood in the water scream-laughing about the crushes they dramatically recounted for each other from their pre-Covid schooldays. I was kicking myself: it never occurred to me to ask them to…
So you're already lying on a patio chaise or, better yet, a hammock, reading something with which you're planning to torture undergraduates in the fall? Yes, me too. I hadn't read The Wild Iris by Louise Gluck, though I know that's the favorite among her collections. So, I'm reading it now, educating myself on the…
Where this pandemic will take us all next is always difficult to see. Who expected this second round of Covid19 in India would be so dangerous and heartbreaking. While everyone is doing their best under the circumstances, we can’t help but wonder what should have been done. We can only work with what we have…
Sometimes a song does it. I'll suddenly remember being together with a group of people, playing a game or writing some poems, sharing food and drink. We've been watching some classic musical films at my house for that very reason: nostalgia for the simple joy of just being together. Today, not one but TWO in-person…
poet | artist 