BHARGAVI C. MANDAVA

Ms. Mandava started writing poetry in high school. Her first reading was in 1993 at NYC's St. Mark's Poetry Project. After she moved to Los Angeles, she continued to read her work at the Living Planet and other venues. She continues to write poetry and hopes to someday publish a collection.

Ms. Mandava's poem "Of Starry Silence" appears in the anthology Through a Child's Eyes, Poems and Stories About War. This anthology grew out of a conversation editors Samuel Torvend and Victor Klimoski had after seeing an exhibit of photographs from the Bosnian War. Proceeds from the sales of Through A Child's Eyes will be donated to the International Red Cross.

OF STARRY SILENCE


When a chicken drinks water, it doesn't forget
to raise its head in thanks to god.
That's what his mother used to say when she
lay out food on the table.

On the clay wall, the flickering candle lights
and a photograph of his father and sister
who were shot down near the factory
where the workers stitch baseballs.

The island is overrrun with bloodthirsty
leopards lurking in the sugar cane, leaping
at children, said his mother. So with blessings
of Legba and St. Catherine, he began rowing.

With each stroke, a farewell memory:
hot wax falling on painted calabashes;
frangipani blossoms at the Iron Market;
neroli and vetiver; squeezing into camions.

Back in Raboteau, children continued
to play by chasing off pigs and dogs
digging up shallow graves. All this,
in between bites of mango and breadfruit.

At 4 am, the church bells ring in Port-au-Prince.
At 6 am, a jogger on the Miami coast finds
his 15-year-old body, stiff like an iguana
from swallowing half an ocean.

He's facedown; the white sand clings to his cheeks
as a policeman raises his head and turns him over.
From out of his damp denim pocket, fall black dice
showing a pair of ones like two fallen stars.

---

Five of her poems--"Hearing Tongues," "Indian Fever," "Absence," "Moonsweets" and "Desert Haiku"— appear in Another Way to Dance, Contemporary Asian Poetry from Canada and the United States. Following is an excerpt from "Desert Haiku," a series of haiku inspired by the California desert where she currently resides.




DESERT HAIKU


Glimpse orange fishtail
splashing behind blue mountain;
sunset missed again.

~~~~~~~

Caught in purple caught
in petal caught in cactus
caught in desert caught.

~~~~~~~

Plump moths twirling
spilling dust,
yellow buds
yellow moon
yellowyellow.

Copyright (C) 1995-2008 Bhargavi C. Mandava