Emerald Publishers
Poetry
9789392188954
The volume suggests that to mother well, the quick of the female has to be touched by the right male like the Buddha. “In Love with the Universe,” one of the most passionate pieces in the volume, dramatically narrates the story of how maṇimēkalai became a mother-prototype when she came under the influence of the Buddha, though through her mentor, aṟavaṇaaṭikaḷ. The title Gaianjali, to me, is not as innocent as it reads. It expects the reader to be critical of the present-day earth rhetoric. What we need today is not so much “añcali” or worship of the LovelockianGaia as praxis of tiṇai lifeway. Undeniably many of us long for it, and Gaianjali could well be a harbinger of “a new dawn”. Prof. Nirmal Selvamony, (former) Founding Head, Department of English Studies & Dean, School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Central University of Tamil Nadu Maya’s work ‘Gaianjali’ follows in the long tradition of Tamil Sangam poetics. ‘Ammachi’ is an especially moving poem about poverty and the struggles of women in a patriarchal society. Through pain and determination Ammachi gives birth to nine children, she feeds and raises them but her lungs, fed on black smoke, give way. This is an accessible collection of poems that celebrates women’s knowledge of their environment. Its rhythms carry the reader along, her questioning outlook and ecological themes make it an important contribution to contemporary poetry. —Susan Hawthorne, author of Cow and The Sacking of the Muses
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About the Author: Maya alias Dr. P. Mary Vidya Porselvi is affiliated with the Department of English at Loyola College, Chennai. She obtained her BA, MA and PhD degrees from Stella Maris College. Her area of specialization is ecocriticism/ecofeminism/deep ecology and folklore. She has authored books titled ‘Bhoomi Tales’ (2015) ‘Nature’s Voices Women’s Voices’ (2015) ‘Nature, Culture, and Gender: Rereading the Folktale’ with Routledge and Taylor and Francis (2016) and ‘SylvanTones: English through Folklore’ with Macmillan (2017). Asa Fulbright faculty and researcher, she visited the Department of Asian Studies, University of Texas at Austin, Texas, U.S.A in 2019. She has a Diploma in Creative Writing in English and has published poems in academic journals and anthologies. She likes to read and write poetry with nature at its center..
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