What started as an off spring of Outreach activity of Sanskrit department of Harvard Annual Poetry reading on second Saturday of May every year has now expanded in to a quarterly poetry reading group. India Poetry Reading as an event commenced in Harvard University in 1997 and has continued every year in the month of May. 40+ poets from various Indian languages are actively writing and participating in recitations in New England Area.

Poets writing in many Indian languages ad in English participate in the recitation. A large number of poets represented by SAPNE are published in magazines and have their collections of poems, widely recognized here and in India. Many have been awarded literary prizes and subscribed in the syllabuses of Universities in India.

Achyut Adhikary, Prof. R. Bala, Maria Cusumano, Hersh Mehta, Chandu Shah, Prof. Bijoy Misra, Rosie Kamal , Sajed Kamal, Jamunabai Prakash and Jamunabai’s mother Shanti attended the South Asian Poets of New England ‘SAPNE’ group’s quarterly poetry reading meet at the National Heritage Museum in Lexington, MA recently.

Please contact Dr. Bijoy Misra, Convener, Outreach Committee of the Department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies at Harvard University for any further information and participation.  He can be reached by email at bmisra@fas.harvard.edu or by phone at 781.259.0029. The Gujarati poet Chandrakant (Chandu) Shah helps coordinate the event. He may be contacted at chandu420@gmail.com or by phone at 781.983.4941. Compositions and readings in all languages are invited.

Here is a snap shot in English (many poems were in regional languages) on what was presented by poets. (photographs _ by Achyut Adhikary).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
" Same feeling" _ by Achyut Adhikary

No boundry , no land
same faith on our pulpitation
with the murmuring sound.

A Grand Salute to Red Blood, White Blood who made it occurs the End of Slavery.

"Calcutta"_ by Achyut Adhikary

On the  Bridge  of  Hawada
meet your Travelers of East and West.

Do not forget to watch Human mobile
while visiting Calcutte kali (Goddess Temple).

Meet with your Ancestors Sapta Rishi
the dear respectable your own forefathers.
Gather your offerings and
let us go to Gaya Kum kum.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
“Golf in Autumn”_ by Prof. Bala

It is about the pleasures of hitting a perfect golf shot and ruminations about the colorful falling leaves of Autumn and the need for more time to complete one's earthly duties.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

 "Look Around" _ by Maria Cusumano

It was a call to those in the "free whilred" who are serious about living a spiritual life.  
A call that they need to get on with it in this lifetime, because if they look around they will find that there is nothing  what so ever to prevent them from doing so other then the "condition" of their of mind,

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
“Living the Present” by Hersh Mehta
 
Chandu, a bania born in Salaya, moved to Mumbai and became a successful poet/playwright.
Prof. Misra and Chandu in pursuit of art & aesthetics, and culture & heritage, form SAPNE and organize Poet meet at the (America’s) National Heritage Museum. Passionate participants respond sharing poems and warmth in winter. Achyut, Maria, Jamuna, Sajid, Balchandran Chandu and Bijoy double everyone’s joy.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
“Letter Writing”_ by Chandu Shah

Writing letters in the internet email instant communication and facebook domained social media world.

A very poetic description of the process of writing letters and mailing it thru snail mail, which has an intimate personal touch while how writing for fedex is a mechanical process. The poem goes on to detail on the personal expressions and the feelings of drafting a letter meant for mailing thru regular mail and the temptations of mailing the same thru Fedex..

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Satyara Kahani" - the story of truth Oriya_ By Prof. Bijoy Misra

The poem analyzes the nature of truth perceived by a Baby, a Mother, a Father, the Nature and the Life with the response provided by the Truth.  All perceptions could be thought to be true including all
distortions.  The real truth is an internal mirror observed when the appearances disappear.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 "Sweet Death," a poem by Sufia Kamal
(1911-1999,_ > Bangladesh), written in Bengali and translated by her son, Sajed Kamal
read by Rosie Kamal

It's an ode to trees and the love they express through the colorful beauty of their falling leaves.  She writes: "The colors bear such love!/The flame of life radiates before departing./The leaf stems play music of adoration/during this colorful dusk when the leaves fall."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Concrete Leaves," _ by Sajed Kamal
Concrete leaves brings to life the impressions of leaves imprinted on concrete sidewalks where they fell
and eventually disintegrated years ago during the construction of the pavement.  

"Bed Bug," _ by Sajed Kamal

Bed bug is a metaphor challenging today's megalomaniac obsession with the illusion of big power and, instead, appeals to the sanity of real power that lies with kindness, humility, stewardship of the Earth and friendship.  

"The Salad Made by My Mother-in-law, Margaret,"_ by Sajed Kamal
 
The Salad Made by My Mother-in-law, Margaret is both a humorous and loving celebration of the salad-making, which she is capable of doing with "precision without omission" at the ripening age of eighty-seven!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Let Me Be"_ by Jamunabai M Prakash

*Summary:* A single tree [in autumn foliage] sets the stage for the Buddhist reflections of the observer viewing it. Meditations on the tree set in motion a chain of thoughts, that ends in the observer realizing that the same sense of "being" exists not only in the tree, but the observer herself.

|