Rati Saxena

Rati Saxena

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Photo credits to Martin Richartz

Rati Saxena – Poet/ Translator/ Editor (kritya) / Director Poetry festivals -kritya and Vedic scholar. She has  5 collections of poetry in Hindi and  two in English ( Translated by poet)  and one each in  to Malayalam, Italian, Estonian, and Vietnamese and English translated by  other poets.  Her poems have been translated in other international languages like Chinese, Albanian , Spanish, Uzbek, Indonesian , Spanish, German etc. .She has a travelogue in Hindi “Cheenti ke par”, a Memoir in English“ Every thing is past tense “, and a criticism on the work of  famous Malayalam Poet Balamaniyamma’s work. Her study on the Atharvaveda has been published as “The Seeds of the Mind- a fresh approach to the study of Atharvaveda” under the fellowship of the Indira Gandhi National Center for Arts. She has translated about 12 Malayalam works, both prose and poetry, into Hindi and two poetry books of  Norwegian poets , one each from Welsh, Vietnamese. She has a number of articles published regarding Indology in a number of journals. She has been invited for poetry reading in more than 22 prestigious poetry festivals around the world, among some are very popular e.g., The Struga Poetry Evening (Macedonia)( 2010) the prestigious poetry festival in Medellin -Colombia (2011 and 2014),, 10th Edition of “ Ritratti di Poesia” Feb 2016 and China’s Moon Festival and Shanghai book fair. She is the only Indian participant in some imp poetry festivals like Iran’s Fajr Poetry Festival, Iran (2014) ,  International Istanbul Poetry Festival (IIPF) Turkey (2014), 4th international Eskisehir  Poetry Festival Turkey (2014). And a Special poetry reading in A Caruna , Spain ( 2015), Poetry reading at Foundation Vicente Risco, at Allariz ( Spain). She has also been invited to some American Universities like Mary Mount University in Los Angeles and University of Seattle ( USA) to talk on  Vedic poetry and recite her own poetry. Her poem was poem been chosen in popular book of china “110 modern poems of the world”) 2015, ” Her poem was also part of space mission by Jaxa, Japan, along with 24 other poems. In 2002 . She was also artist in Former Artist-in-residence at Ebenboeckhaus Munichand Artist-in-residence at Künstlerhaus Villa Waldberta.

Her Awards- Fellowship by Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts in 2004-5,Sahitya Akademi Award for Translation 2000, Sate Bank of Travancore Award for poetry 2001, Naji Naaman’s Literary Prizes ( International)  for 2016.

She is the member of –

She is one of founder member, and member of coordinate committee Of the World Poetry Movement.

Member of the journal’s editorial board-Multilingual Journal of Literature and Opto-Art “WürZarT,”

Member of scientific board Canzoniere, an international book-cd series devoted to poetry with music

 

Rati Saxena –  Born in Udaipur, Rajasthan, India. She is a poet, writer,  translator, Editor and vedic scholar, writes in Hindi and English. Presently lives in Trivandrum , Kerala, India. She is also festival Director of kritya International poetry festival for 10 years.

  • Biography –  Rati Saxena has passed  B.A. (Honours) Sanskrit, Maharani College, Rajasthan University,1972; M.A. SANSKRIT (Veda specialization) , Rajasthan University, 1974. She has Ph.D in ‘Atharvavediya Padarth Yojana’, Vedic Sanskrit, Rajasthan University,1978. And then again B.Ed- Sanskrit, Kerala University, 1987 and also M.A Hindi, Rajasthan University, 1994.
    • Work experience – She was Lecturer in the Teachers Training College, Kerala hindi prachar sabha, 1987–2003. She worked  as Visiting professor in Shankaracharya Sanskrit University, Kaledy in dept of Vedic study from 2005 to 2010 . She is a full time writer/ poet since 2011.
    • Writings – Rati Saxena is writing in three directions. she has done research and explores the cultural, philosophical and historical aspects of ancient India through study of Vedas. She has published a number of papers on related subjects. She holds an eminent place in world poetry and writes in Hindi. Apart from these subjects, she writes travelogues and criticism too.
    • Other activities – She is the editor of bilingual poetry web journal ‘www.kritya.in’  which is online since 2005. She is also the director of international Poetry festival- kritya since 2005.

 

Bibliography

Criticism/Research

  1. A literary criticism in the field of indology “THE SEEDS OF THE MIND”- A fresh approach to study of the  Atharvaveda . Publication Scheme, Jaipur- (Rajasthan) 2005
  2. ‘BALAMONI AMMA KI KAVYAKALA aur JEEVAN DARSHAN’ (Balamoni Amma’s Poetic Art and Vision, Hindi), Kendra Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi, 2002 (Hindi)

Poetry books

  1. Maya Maha Thagini’ (Hindi), Gyan Prakashan Mandir, Bikaner, Rajasthan, India,1999.
  2. ‘Ajanmi Kavita Ki Kokha Se Janmi Kavitaen’ (Hindi), Rajasthan Sahitya Akademi, 2001.
  3. ‘Sapane Dekhata Samudra’ (Hindi), Published by Magadh Prakashan, Delhi 2003
  4. Ek Khirhaki aath salakhen’ (Hindi), Publication by Kritya prakashan  TVM, 2007
  5. The Serpent Coiling Woman Body’ (English), Virgo Publication, New Delhi.
  6. ‘One Window And Eight Bars’ (English), Publication by Kritya prakashan, TVM, 2007
  7. The Aroma of spices’ (Bilingual), Publication by Kritya prakashan,TVM, 2011
  8. ‘Kavita’ (Hindi), Publication by Kritya prakashan, Trivandrum, 2014
  9. ‘Poetry’ (English), Publication by kritya prakashan . Trivandrum, 2014.
  10. Scripted in the Streams- Translated by Seth Michelson, Published by Poetry walla, Mumbai-2017
  11. Khandhar me selfy- Under publication

Work Translated in to international languages

  1.   ‘Ottos barre A Una Finestra’ (Italian), by Federico Federici, edizioni di cantarena, 2008, Genova.
  2.   ‘Rogha Danta’, (Irish), by Gabriel Rosenstock kavita, kritya  prakashan, Trivandrum, 2013.
  3. hoianpihus Kardemonikupraid ( Estonian ) Translated by Margus Lattic, Mathura2015
  4. Mo Duoc Song Vung Dat Khac ( Vietnameese ) translated by Pham Van Binh Dich 2015

Travelogue 

  1. ‘Cheenti ke par’ (Hindi), Yash Publication Delhi. 2012

Memoire 

  1. ‘Everything is past tense – A memory lane to Ayyappa Paniker’ (English), Kritya Prakashan , Trivandrum, 2012

 

Translations by Dr Rati Saxena

From Malayalam to Hindi

  1. ‘Naivedya’, Hindi Translation of a collection of Malayalam poems of the famous Malayalam poet, Balamoni Amma, Vani Prakashan, New Delhi,  1996.
  2. Ayyappa Panniker Ki Kavitaen’,  Hindi Translation of Malayalam poems  of the famous Malayalam poet, Ayyappa Paniker, Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi, 1997.
  3. Karoor Neelkanta Pillai: Chuninda Kahaniya‘, Hindi Translation of Karoor Neelkanta Pillai’s short stories from Malayalam, Sahitya Academi, New Delhi, 1998.
  4. Rassi’, Hindi Translation of Takazhi Sivasankara Pillai’s novel KAYAR from Malayalam, National Book Trust, New Delhi, 1999.
  5. Apoorna Aur Anya Kavitaen’, Hindi Translation of K.Satchidanandan’s collection of poems from Malayalam. Rajkamal Prakashan, New Delhi, 2001.
  6. ‘Meri Deevar Par’, Hindi Translation of K Ayyappa Paniker’s collection of poems from Malayalam, Gyanpeeth , New Delhi, ( Under Publication)
  7. ‘Tanava’, Hindi Translation of K Ayyappa Paniker’s selected poems from Malayalam, Pipariya, M.P., India, April-June-2002
  8. ‘Hakalahat’, Hindi Translation of K. Satchidanandan ‘s collection of poems from Malayalam, Aloka Parva Prakashan, (Co-Translator)  New Delhi, 2003
  9. ‘Nirmadalam Pootha Kalam’,  Kamala Das’ Novel, Translation from Malayalam into Hindi. ( Under Publication)
  10. ‘Kurukshetra’, Hindi Translation of K Ayyappa Paniker’s long Poem from Malayalam,Trivandrum, 2006
  11. ‘Das Baje’, Hindi Translation of K Ayyappa Paniker’s collections of poems, Trivandrum, 2006

From International languages into Hindi

  1. ‘Genda ki udhan’,  Odveig Klyve’s poetry, kritya publication, 2011
  2. ‘Alabama’Helge Torvund’s poetry , kritya publication, 2013
  3. Selected poems of Menna Elfyn, A welsh Poet 2011
  4. Alap – Pratilap – Poems of My Van Phan, Vietnam -2016

Research Papers

Apart from poems and stories, Rati has written several articles particularly regarding Atharvaveda. She attempts to make a fresh reading of the Atharva veda from the point of view of (a) its contemporary relevance, (b) its literary and poetical quality, (c) its basis in the Indian folk tradition, (d) its socio-psychological orientation and (e) its closeness and similarity to modern scientific perceptions of the universe. Keeping this view in mind she has written several papers, which have been published in Indian and internet journals. Few of her works can be seen in,

In Hindi

  1. Ph.D. Thesis – ‘AtharvavedIyaPadArthyojana’, Supervisor Dr. Sudheer Kumar Gupt, 1978, Rajasthan University.
    2. Atharvaveda and folk culture, MadhyBharati, Sagar, India,1991, Madhya Pradesh
    3. Vedic –Lokachar, chwmasa, Bhopal, 2000-2001, Madhya Pradesh, India
    4. Marriage ceremonies in Vedas, chowmasa, 2000, Madhya Pradesh, India
    5. SmrIti and Adim rag in Astha –Visvas , Marhai, Nov 1999, Chattisgarh, India
    6. Khandit rag kiakhandta ka Alap, Marai, Nov 2000, Chattisgarh, India
    7. Mratyu our Ved-
    8. PRikrIti versus sanskRiti, Rachana, April, 2000, Madhya Pradesh, India
    9. LokachetanakIprathamabhivyakti, Rangayana, -1997, Rajasthan, India
    10. Women in Vedas and their freedom, Majara,- 2001, Rajathan
    11. Kabir and atharvaveda , Bhasa,-1994
    12. Holistic medicine and Atharvaveda, MadhyBharati, 2002, Madhya Pradesh, India
    13. Vedic hinsa hinsa na bhavati- Lakamat-2010
    14. Ved ka kaal Nirnaya -2014

Any many more

Some Important work in English

  1. AthavaVeda and folk culture, Journal of Sukritindra Oriental Research Institute, Kochi, India, October 2000.
  2. The Vedic Quest – Concerning the Universe, Space and Time- Indianest. Com June 2002 and Journal of Sukrindra Oriental Research Institute 2002
  3. Taking vedas to the Common Man, The Indian Express, June 7 , 2003
  4. Hindi literature related to the freedom struggle.- Bodheswaran Foundation December 11, 2004
  5. Ayurveda in Atharvaveda, Dept. Of  Vedant, Kalady.
  6. Translation in Practice. Malayalam Department, National seminar, SSUE, Kaledy
  7. Aesthetics of Translation, Sree Sankaracharya University, Kalady. Centre for         comparative Literature, National seminar on Comparative Literature a: current trends, March 2007
  8. Religion Marketing – National Seminar in Dpt of Pholosophy inSSU Kaledy

 

Presentations/Participations

She has been invited for poetry reading in prestigious poetry festivals

  1. “PoesiaPresente” in Monza (Italy), 2009
    2. Mediterranean Festival (Rome), 2009
    3. International House of Stravanger (Norway), 2010
    4. Struga Poetry Evening (Macedonia) , 2010
    5. ‘3rd hofleinerdonauweitenpoesiefestival 2010, Vienna ,
    6. Poetry festival in Medeliin (2011)
    7. Iran’s Fajr Poetry Festival ,(2014)
    8. International Istanbul Poetry Festival (IIPF) Turkey, 2014
    9. Poetry festival in Medeliin( 2014)
    10. 4th international Eskisehir Poetry Festival. 2014Turkey
    11. China’s Moon Festival 2014, Chaina
    12. Asia pacific poetry festival 2015 Hanoi , Vietnam.
    13. Special poetry reading in A Caruna , Spain ( 2015)
    14. Poetry reading at Foundation Vicente Risco, at Allariz ( Spain ) 2015
    15. International female poetry festival, created and host by Fundación Casa de la, Cultura,Cereté-Córdoba (Colombia) 2015.
    16. Poetry Reading in Rome on the 5th of Febraury at Piazza di Pietra 2015.
    17. 2016 Twin rivers International Poetry Week at Suiyang Country,Zunyi City, Guizhou Province.
    18. Shangai International Poetry festival, China, August 2016.

She has been invited to some American Universities like Mary Mount University in Los Angeles and University of Seattle ( USA) also to talk about Vedic poetry and recite her own poetry in 2014

She is the founder member of the World Poetry Movement. She is the only Indian whose poem has been chosen in popular book of china, ‘110 modern poems of the world’.

 

Some Important Participation In India-

  1. National Seminar for literature- Udaipur (Rajasthan) 21 June to 23 June 1997
  2. POETRY READING in ASMITA, SahityaAkedemi Auditorium New Delhi-7 April, 1999
  3. International Seminar on Sanskrit theatre, Dr, Hari Sing Gowr University, SAGAR, 5.1.2000
  4. National Seminar for women, Govt. Arts and Science College, Calicut, 2,3, March, 2000
  5. Invited as a Special Guest by BakshiSrijanpeeth , Chattisgarh and presented poetry in different cities of Chattisgarh State, April 4 to April 10
  6. Poet – Translator Meet, SahityaAkedemi, Bombay, 20 October.2001
  7. Meet the Author, Book Fair, Rajasthan Patrika, Jaipur, Jan.2002
  8. Poetry Reading in Asan Memorial Celebrations, Thiruvananthapuram , April 2003
  9. All India Radio, Rajkot January 2003.
  10. National Seminar in Hindi, StreeVimarshavamhindinatakvikasyatra, Dept. of Hindi, Payyanur college, PAYYANUR-Feburary-2004
  11. National Seminar, Krishna Cult in North India, SahityaAcedemy. Payyanur, Feb-2004
  12. LOK me PRATIRODH. ShreRamanandSaraswatiPustkalaya, jokharaAzamGarh, 13-15 March, 2004.
  13. International seminar on Mahabharat, SahityaAcedemy, New Delhi-2004
  14. Seminar for translation, SahityaAcedemy, New Delhi-2004
  15. National seminar on Translation and Resistance organized by The culture institute of Indian language, Mysore and Samyukta -2004
  16. National seminar on Vedas and inter disciplinary studies organized by KadavallurAnyonyaparishath november.15 to 25 –2004
  17. National seminar by Bodheswaran Foundation on Tradition and Modernity in Hindi literature related to the freedom struggle. on December –11 –2004.
  18. National seminar on Vedas and inter disciplinary studies organized by KadavallurAnyonyaparishath november.15 to 25 –2004
  19. National seminar for folk literature- Sahitya Academy and Ramnika foundation, Ranchi Bihar- 2005-March. ( paper on folk elimants in Vedas)
  20. 3- days lectures in SreeSankaracharya University , Kaledy Kerala Feb. 2006-
  21. Ayurveda in Atharvaveda- paper presented at SreeSankaracharya University Kalady, march-2006
  22. Poetry presentation in Kavyabharati, Kerala SahityaAkedemy and KerlraSahitya Academy –April 2006
  23. Lecture on functional Hindi—MARATHAANASIUS COLLEGE , KOTHAMANGALAM , KERALA – on 22.01.2007
  24. National seminar on Vedas and inter disciplinary studies organized by KadavallurAnyonyaparishath November.15 to 25-2006
  25. Kavita Utsav-2, J & K Acedemy of Art, Culture and language. – Gust of honor
  26. Translation in Practice. Malayalam Department, National seminar, SSUE, Kaledy
  27. On 2.Feb.2007
  28. Rereading of Vedas- SreeNeelakanta Govt. Sanskrit College of Pattambi- Kerala,     8 Feb. 2007.
  29. Central Institute Of Hindi, Mysore centre, Ministry of Human resource Devolopment Govt. of India March 8-9, 2007-03-23
  30. Aesthetics of Translation, Sreesankaracharya University, Kalady. Centre for comparative Literature, National seminar on Comparative Literature a: current trends. 2 March 2007
  31. Religion Marketing – National Seminar in dept of Philosophy in Sreesankaracharya University, Kalady.
  32. SahityaAkedemi, Ludhiana Punjab.
  33. Kendriya Hindi Sansthan, Mysore, , BhashaprodhyogikikevibhinnAyam Feb 25-26 2010
  34. Poetry reading at Hydrabad literary festival –Jan,2014,
  35. Goa Literary Festival – Nov – 2014
  36. SARJANAA ODISHA, Litrary festival,  Odisha Feb- 2015

Awards-

  • Fellowship by Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts in 2004-5
  • Sahitya Akademi Award for Translation 2000
  • Sate Bank of Travancore Award for poetry 2001
  • Naji Naaman’s Literary Prizes ( International)  for 2016

She is the only Indian whose poem has been chosen in popular book of China “110 modern poems of the world” Her poem was also part of space mission by Jaxa, Japan, along with 24 other poems Right now she is residence in Artist in Villa Wardbreta, Munich-August-Septmber-2016.

Apart from these books her poetry has published in different journal around the world like

versal

http://www.versaljournal.org/versal2/le Voci della Lunna

Private
http://www.levocidellaluna.it/

arabesques

http://www.arabesques-editions.com/journal/rati_saxena/1033305.html
poets International
http://www.theperegrinemuse.com/PoetsInternational/rati-saxena/
prairieschooner
http://prairieschooner.unl.edu/fusion/feast/feast-time

JaXa
http://iss.jaxa.jp/utiliz/renshi/message_pop10_e.html

Samyukta

http://samyukta.info/site/book/export/html/352

Poeticdiversity-

http://www.poeticdiversity.org/main/bLApoems.php?nameCode=ratisaxena&date=2004-02-01

She in media-

the Hindu-
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-literaryreview/what-should-poetry-do/article4155249.ece

Indian express
http://www.internationalnewsandviews.com/five-literary-flag-bearers-indian-poetry-has-been-benefiting-from-2/#sthash.sIKp58Xv.dpbs

Struga Poetry evening
http://www.strugapoetryevenings.com/poets/dr-rati-saxena/?lang=en

Festival Medellin
http://www.festivaldepoesiademedellin.org/en/Festival/XXI_Festival/Comunicados/12.html

Poetry East and west
http://poetryeastwest.com/2011/06/15/%E5%8D%B0%E5%BA%A6%E5%A5%B3%E8%AF%97%E4%BA%BA%E6%8B%89%E8%92%82%C2%B7%E8%90%A8%E5%85%8B%E8%BE%9B%E5%A8%9C-rati-saxena/
http://en.mehrnews.com/TextVersionDetail/102873

Kathmandu post-
http://www.ekantipur.com/the-kathmandu-post/2013/10/25/related_articles/voices–in-poetry-we-trust/255010.html

Literary filmfestival
http://www.literaryfilmfestival.com/
http://www.100thousandpoetsforchange.com/world-poetry-movement/

 

Rati Saxena;s poems

 

With me

 

this time again it happened

they cut me with knife

like water melon

cut in two, than again two

I am bleeding covered with my own juice

 

 

I thought

no problem

wind is there,

with sun with me

moon is there,

with banyan with me

The whole sky is with me

with a feather of birds

 

my juice dried up

from  body

then heart

 

on the earth

I started decaying

earth worm was also there

where I fall

“ every one has to make his place

by cutting the hardness without teeth”

 

I did not thank the earthworm

as I knew

he IS the one with me.

(Translated by  poet)

 

 

I, IN UDAIPUR

*
By that tree, that temple –
Thick with gods, drums and bells.
Longing for an offering, a cow waits –
with fly-flickering tail.

And beside this, that dancing Lake.
The Lake that was –before my birth
The Lake that will remain after me
The Lake that is frozen  in my heart –
The Lake that melting drop by drop by drop
And immersed  emerged it self in me.

And I was a tree by this Lake, and when the cattle
rubbed and rubbed their backs on my bark,
erased, I fell into the Lake.
Then the swimming in my dreams.

And I was the flotsam on the Lake
some kid picked up and tossed;
back I veered (again), out I was flung (again),
and thus flung, again, again, to return
each time nearer.

I am in that lake, and I am the Lake.
In this life.
I, in Udaipur.

**

 

And then I may have been a fruit on the tree by the Lake.
Plop! as I fell, a parrot dived low to catch me.
Then how, oh with what relish, he chewed me.
I remember … that rough beak, that consoling tongue.

And I may have been a bell that fell
from the anklet of the Lake-Palace dancer.
Some anklet tinkles in me today like
The taste of a teardrop tossing  on my tongue.
Someone in me, ever thirsty to step out of the veil.

***

 

At the shore of this Lake
in some middle-class family,
a fourth daughter, born.

No applause –
No drumbeat –
Only the shadow of a silence.

A storm brewed on the Lake
And the tide went out to sea.

A fourth daughter has no heart.
There’s no one she calls her own.
A fourth daughter
Is like the Udaipur Lake, eyes always dancing
Is the anklet of the Lake Palace dancer, tinkle-laughing without a reason.

Today by the Lake
this fourth daughter muses
over her past lives.

****

A woman, have I
nothing to offer
my ancestors?

no rights to sacred drops have?

Not a daughter
but a sour berry?
Not on a stem
but on a prickly bush?

Not a daughter, but a wild berry
sweet sour memories

not a daughter

Not the sweet Lake
But

Brackish backwater

 

( 2000)

 

(Translated by Poet)

———————————–

 

 

 

The Eyes of the Old

 

The eyes of the old:

They are dry wells

Long sobbing tunnels

In the world of light

 

 

The question of the owl

 

The question is not

why the owl is not an owl;

the question is not

why a man is not an owl.

 

The question is why,

with the twin moon eyes,

with the jasmine bud nose,

with the posture of a great yogi,

with a voice shouting against all blackness,

why it cannot become the  quality of man.

 

The question is

why Lakshmi needed this vehicle

while taking flight from the sea of milk. ,

the question is also

how its cleverness changes into foo1ishness.

 

At the end of all questions,

the question is why

the owl does not want to become a man.

 

——————-

 

The  love  of  big  black  ants

 

One doesn’t know from where the big black ants

Spread on the floor like black stars on rainy evenings

Attacking their prey

 

They do not believe in

The line discipline of the red ants

Nor in their queen’s orders

 

They catch and swallow

Everything white

Like sugar, rice, moths

 

If they want to carry a big dead body

They are united like labour unions

 

They can live anywhere:

The wrinkled skin of trees

Houses of leaves

Roots of any thing.

Those whom they love

Change into them.

The tree they live on-

Not a single fruit can remain there

Nor bird live

 

Their kiss is

Sharper than their sting,

Which changes them  into pieces

 

They are greater lovers than humans!

 

 

Burning blind lamps

 

The eyes of the old

Listen to the footsteps

Of the present

Taking full breath

From unconsumed smells

 

The eyes of the old

Writhing with whiteness

To become spots of sunlight

Melting, sticky  candle

 

The eyes of the old:

They are beautiful

More than the doe-eyed

Telling true stories

Of the grandma

 

The eyes of the old!

 

———————

 

The Wings of an Ant

 

They say an ant has no wings

and that even if she did, she couldn’t fly.

 

And if unable to fly, why suffer

the pain of wings?

 

The ant’s death rides on her wings,

but death itself is flight.

 

The ant started to fly

by pale blue light, bending

her wings to the south,

an illusion of silence amidst noise.

 

Towards the yellow light, she flew

against her life,

carrying flight in her every cell.

 

She saw the seeds of flight

for the next generation.

Translated by  Seth Michelson

——————

 

 

 

 

My Sheet

 

That morning I woke to see

a small hole in my sheet,

the result of being lost in sleep.

So I struggled all day with silken thread

and by night had stitched a window

for glimpsing a few, new dreams.

 

I woke the next day to a new hole

and this time added colored thread.

Before dark I’d built a door.

 

Now my dreams could leave and wander

instead of gazing out a window,

dreams freed to roam the entirety of the night.

 

Each morning brought new holes;

each day bustled with thread and color.

 

Today my sheet is an enormous courtyard

with a banyan tree filled with birds

with red stars in their beaks,

though both sun and moon remain absent.

 

So I spend my mornings searching for holes

where a sun and moon might be woven,

not only in this galaxy

but also across

the many, layered others,

 

knowing at the end there’s a final hole

through which to exit

and join the great beyond

 

in a seamless realm of light.

—————————————–

Incarnation

 

With my first step onto the seventh-story floor

I removed the coolness like a shoe

that I’d brought from the courtyard

painted with cow dung.

I donned the new room like a sweater

with windows, shelves, and walls,

the surroundings climbing my body like bougainvillea.

 

Whenever moving between homes

I carry bits of the old ones on my body.

 

The walls of the next home are made of sunlight

that disappears with darkness.

To put on this home

is to enter dreamfulness

as a road to reality.

 

At the final home, a pillow waits

on my side of a shared bed

beside a window facing south.

 

The south is the house of death.

I make it my body

and lie down on my pillow.

 

Now

I am ready.

Translated by  Seth Michelson

 

 

Five poems of Rati Saxena for Augusta Laar.

 

MY SHEET

 

 

That morning when I woke, I saw        (awoke, woke up?) ( I think, woke up will do)

a small hole in my sheet,

the result of being lost in sleep.

So I struggled with silken thread throughout the day

and by night had stitched a window

for glimpsing a few, new dreams.

 

The next day I woke to a new hole

and this time added paint to the thread.

Before dark I’d built a door.

My dreams could leave now and wander

instead of gazing out a window,

dreams freed to roam the entirety of the night.

Each morning brought new holes;

each day bustled with thread and colours.

 

Today my sheet is an enormous courtyard

with a banyan tree and the red stars in the beak of the birds

though both sun and moon remain absent.

 

So I spend my mornings searching for holes

where a sun and moon might be woven,

not only in this galaxy

but also across

the many, layered others,

 

knowing at the end there’s a final hole

through which to exit

and join the great beyond

 

in a seamless realm of light.

 

 

 

Fünf Gedichte von Rati Saxena für Augusta Laar  – Übersetzung von Bernhard Widder, Wien 2016

 

MEIN LEINTUCH

 

 

An jenem Morgen, als ich erwachte,

sah ich ein kleines Loch in meinem Leintuch,

das Ergebnis eines tiefen Schlafs.

So mühte ich mich den ganzen Tag mit Seidenfaden

und hatte am Abend ein Fenster genäht,

um einige wenige neue Träume zu erspähen.

 

Am nächsten Tag wachte ich mit einem neuen Loch auf,

verwendete nun Farben mit dem Faden.

Am Abend hatte ich eine Tür errichtet.

Nun konnten meine Träume wandern,

anstatt aus einem Fenster zu starren,

sie waren befreit, streiften durch die ganze Nacht.

Jeder Morgen ergab neue Löcher;

jeden Tag hantierte ich mit Zwirn und Farben.

 

Heute ist mein Leintuch ein riesiger Innenhof

mit einem Banyan-Baum und roten Sternen in den Vogelschnäbeln,

obwohl Sonne und Mond abwesend bleiben.

 

Nun verbringe ich meine Vormittage auf der Suche nach Löchern,

wo Sonne und Mond gewebt werden könnten,

nicht nur in dieser Galaxie,

sondern auch durch die vielen,

geschichteten anderen,

 

wissend, dass am Ende ein letztes Loch ist,

durch das man hinausgelangt

und das große Dahinter erreicht

 

in einem nahtlosen Bereich des Lichts.

 

 

 

 

THE BODY CHANGE

 

 

With my first step onto the seventh-story floor

I removed the coolness like a shoe

that I’d brought from the courtyard

painted with cow dung.

I donned the new room like a sweater

with windows, shelves, and walls,

the surroundings climbing my body like bougainvillea.

 

Whenever moving between homes

I carry bits of the old ones on my body.

 

The walls of the next home are made of sunlight

that disappears with darkness.

To put on this home

is to enter dreamfulness

as a road to reality.

 

At the final home, a pillow waits

on my side of a shared bed

beside a window facing south.

 

The south is the house of death.

I make it my body (?)  I convert the house in to my body, means  my house became my body, we can write any way J

and lie down on my pillow.

 

Now

I am ready.

 

 

 

 

VERÄNDERUNG DES KÖRPERS

 

 

Mit dem ersten Schritt zum siebten Stockwerk

entfernte ich die Kühle wie einen Schuh,

den ich aus dem Innenhof gebracht hatte,

beschmiert mit Kuhmist.

Ich verzierte das neue Zimmer wie eine Jacke

mit Fernstern, Regalen und Wänden,

die Umgebung umrankt meinen Körper wie Bougainvillea.

 

Wann immer ich mich zwischen Wohnungen bewege,

trage ich Stücke der früheren an meinem Körper.

 

Die Wände der nächsten Wohnung sind aus Sonnenlicht errichtet,

das mit der Dunkelheit verschwindet.

Um dort zu wohnen

betritt man Traumfülle

wie einen Pfad zur Wirklichkeit.

 

In der letzten Wohnung wartet ein Polster

auf meiner Seite des gemeinsamen Betts,

neben einem Fenster, das nach Süden gerichtet ist.

 

Der Süden ist das Haus des Todes.

Es wird zu meinem Körper,

ich lege mich auf den Polster.

 

Nun

bin ich bereit.

 

 

 

 

THE WINGS OF AN ANT

 

 

They say an ant has no wings

and that even if she did, she couldn’t fly.

 

And if unable to fly, why suffer the pain of wings?

 

The ant’s death rides on her wings,

but death itself is flight.

 

The ant started to fly

by pale blue light, bending

her wings to the south,

an illusion of silence amidst noise.

 

Towards the yellow light, she flew

against her life,

carrying flight in her every cell.

 

She saw the seeds of flight

for the next generation.

 

 

 

 

 

DIE FLÜGEL EINER AMEISE

 

 

Sie sagen, dass eine Ameise keine Flügel hat,

und wenn sie Flügel hätte, dann könnte sie nicht fliegen.

 

Und wenn das Fliegen nicht möglich ist, warum den Schmerz von Flügeln erleiden?

 

Der Tod der Ameise reist auf ihren Flügeln,

aber der Tod ist selbst ein Flug.

 

Die Ameise begann zu fliegen

in blassblauem Licht, streckte

ihre Flügel nach Süden,

eine Illusion der Stille inmitten von Lärm.

 

Auf das gelbe Licht zu flog sie

gegen ihr Leben,

alle ihre Zellen enthielten Flug.

 

Sie sah die Samen des Flugs

für die nächste Generation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

MOTHER USED TO SAVE

 

 

At any moment,

under any conditions, the storehouse

of mother was never empty,

she saved oils, grains, pickles, beans,

salt in clay pots, glass jars of jaggery,

all of it living for centuries

in her magic storeroom, and available

in an instant

without a single “Open, Sesame!”

 

Mother saved flesh, too:

on her waist and hips, for her

seven hungry children, born

one after another,

and for the next generation:

to love grandma’s soft, sweet feel.

 

And she saved stories, myths,

unknown rhythms, steps (?)  ( dance steps )

for the grandchildren’s dreams,

a way of keeping her with them

after she’s long gone.

 

In her final moments, her last

breaths left her daughters a home,

through which she keeps dissolving

like a sugar packet into water.

 

 

 

 

MUTTER BEWAHRTE AUF

 

 

Zu jedem Zeitpunkt,

unter jedweder Bedingung,

das Lagerhaus der Mutter war nie leer,

sie lagerte Öle, Getreide, Eingelegtes, Bohnen,

Salz in Tontöpfen, Glaskrüge mit Palmzucker,

das alles war jahrhundertelang

in ihrem magischen Lagerraum, und

jederzeit verfügbar,

ohne ein einziges „Sesam, öffne dich!“

 

Mutter bewahrte auch Fleisch:

an Taille und Hüften, für ihre

sieben hungrigen Kinder, die

eines nach dem andern geboren wurden,

und für die nächste Generation:

um Großmutters weiche, süße Berührung zu lieben.

 

Und sie bewahrte Geschichten, Mythen,

unbekannte Rhythmen, Stufen (?)

für die Träume der Enkel,

eine Möglichkeit, sie für sich zu erhalten,

nachdem sie lange gegangen war.

 

In ihren letzten Momenten gaben ihre

letzten Atemzüge ihren Töchtern ein Heim,

in dem sie sich weiterhin auflöst,

wie ein Packen Zucker in Wasser.

 

 

DREAMING IN ANOTHER LAND

 

He wanted her to smile

the dream of living in another land.

 

He wanted her to dance

like a melody on a violin’s strings.

 

He wanted to see in her lap

the milk-stained mouth of a sleeping child.

 

He looked after her

like day-old bread to be relished.

 

He was trying to save her

from the barbed wire

around Albania or Siberia

that bloomed like flowers from stone. (?) ( there are no flower on the stone, but these people, who want to go to another countries, trying to grow flower on the stone> ) means trying imposible

 

He loved her more than his country

but lost her far away like his dream,

 

the same as a young man

of his enemy country. (?)

there are two men in this poem, one singer-another is just youg lover, and bothe belong to enemy countries, but their aim is same, to give a new place to love one)

 

 

# after seeing Goran Paskaljevic’s film honeymoons

 

 

 

 

IN EINEM ANDEREN LAND TRÄUMEN

 

 

Er wollte, dass sie lächelte,

den Traum, in einem anderen Land zu leben.

 

Er wollte, dass sie tanzte,

wie die Melodie einer Violine.

 

Er wollte in ihrem Schoß

den Milch-Mund eines schlafenden Kinds sehen.

 

Er sah ihr nach

wie einem Bissen Brot, den er genießen wollte.

 

Er versuchte, sie vom

Stacheldraht um Albanien

oder Sibirien zu retten,

der wie Blumen aus Steinen blühte.

 

Er liebte sie mehr als sein Land,

aber verlor sie weit weg, wie seinen Traum,

 

das Gleiche als ein junger Mann

von seinem Feindesland. (?)

 

 

 

(nach dem Film „Honeymoon“ von Goran Paskaljevic.)

 

 

© Rati Saxena 2016, Übersetzung: Bernhard Widder, Wien, Okt. 2016.

 

books

 

 

निकोला की माँ

 

उसकी दुनिया बस उतनी

जितनी उसकी रोटी

 

उसका आकाश

खिड़की के पार उड़ता

काला परिन्दा

 

उसके रस

अंगूरों से आरम्भ हो

अंगूरों पर  खतम होते

 

पंजे पर खड़ी हो

वह घूमती है

चारो  दिशाओं में

 

सीमाएँ बनती बिगड़ती

उसके सीने में

भाषाएँ चहचहातीं

दाने चुगती

उसकी  हथेली पर

 

अपनी धुरी पर टिके टिके

देश बदलती है

निकोला की माँ

 

(स्कोप्ये के निकोला कवि की माँ के लिये जिनका घर अब तक तीन देशों की सीमा में आ चुका है।)

Nichola’s Mother

 

Her world is only as large as her bread,

her sky

the blackbird

flying across the window,

all juices for her

start and end with grapes.

 

She stands on her toes

and starts to twirl.

 

Borders draw and redraw themselves

across her chest, languages

peeping and pecking grains

from the palm of her hand.

 

She’s been so many countries

without ever moving

from her axis as Nichola’s mother.

 

*Nichola is a Macedonian poet and his mother’s home has been ruled by three different countries in her lifetime

 

————

 

शरणार्थी

 

वे कुछ इस तरह चले आये

इस जमीन पर,जैसे कि

जहाजीय पताका पर लिपटी समन्दरी हवा,

विषुवत रेखीय प्रदेश में उमस भरी भोर में ओस

 

या फिर

बरसाती साँझ में रौशनी की ओर उड़ान भरते पतंगे

 

वे कुछ इस तरह बस गये

इस जमीन पर, जैसे कि

दरवाजों  की सुराखों में तत्तैयों के घरोन्दें

पोस्ट बाक्स में गलत पते वाली चिट्ठी

इनबाक्स में अनचाहे अनजाने मेल

 

वे कुछ इस तरह रम गये

इस जमीन पर, जैसे कि

रंगीन प्यालों पर तैरते बर्फ के टुकड़े

अधूरी बनी इमारत के खण्डहर से लिपटी पतंगे

 

वे हर रात लौटते हैं

दलदल के पार उनपगडन्डियों पर

जिनपर उनके पाँवों के निशां

सर्द हवा में रोंगटों से खड़े हैं

 

टूटी पतीलियों कें पैन्दों मे भूख

जमकर कालिख बन गई है

 

हर कदम लौटते हुए

हरकदम आगे बढ़ते हुए

वे बिला जातेहैं इसी जमीन की हवा में

जो इनकी कभी नहींर ही

 

Refugee

 

They came to this land

as if by sea, the way wind

clings to spar, like the dew

on a humid morning

somewhere near the equator

or the way moths on a rainy evening

fly towards the light,

they took shelter in this place

the way wasps nest in the holes

of old wooden doors, or a letter

with a wrong address in a post office box

or unwanted email in an inbox,

they settled in this land

the way ice floats in a glass of juice,

like kites holding tight to the ruins

of buildings,

they return each night

by marshy paths where

their footprints stipple the land

like goose bumps, their hunger

stubborn as the blackened ash

stuck to the bottom of a pan,

one step backward

to lurch one forward

they disappear into the land

that does not belong to them.

 

—————

 

परदेश की जमीन के ख्वाब सा

 

वह उसे मुस्कुराते देखना चाहता था

परदेश की जमीन के ख्वाब सा

 

वह उसे नाचते हुए देखना चाहता था

वायलिन के तारों पर सुरों सा

 

वह देखना चाहता था उसकी गोदी में

सोते बच्चे के होंठ पर दूध की लकीर को

 

वह उसे सहेजता रहा

अपनी डिब्बे रखी बासी रोटी सा

 

वह उसे बचाता रहा

अलबेनिया और सरबेरिया के बीच

 

तारों से खिंचे बाड़ों में

कलियों की तरह खिल आए काँटों से

 

वह उससे प्रेम करता रहा

अपनी देश की सरहद से कहीं ज्यादा

 

लेकिन वह उसे खो बैठा

हकीकत के कहीं ऊपर की सपनों की दुनिया में

 

बिल्कुल अपने दुश्मन देश के

युवा की तरह।

Dreaming in another Land

 

He wanted her to smile

the dream of living in another land.

 

He wanted her to dance

like a melody on a violin’s strings.

 

He wanted to see in her lap

the milk-stained mouth of a sleeping child.

 

He looked after her

like day-old bread to be relished.

 

He was trying to save her

from the barbed wire

around Albania or Siberia

that bloomed like flowers from stone.

 

He loved her more than his country

but lost her far away like his dream,

 

the same as a young man

of his enemy country.

 

 

Translated in to English by Seth Michelson

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The photo are taken by -Martin Richartz. (please mention the photographers Name

 

 

http://www.ratisaxena.com

www.kritya.in

http://www.krityapoetryfestival.com

http://fistfulwords.blogspot.in

http://ratina.blogspot.in

 

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