Trace by Pramila Venkateswaran

$14.00

In TRACE, Pramila Venkateswaran’s work beams with fusion of poetic and yogic energy convincing the reader if one can trace “a swiftly vanishing sweetness”, yoga it is.

These exquisite poems are witty and full of wisdom of the poet and the ancient practice. Even a non-believer (of poetry or yoga) is sure to enjoy and surrender to their beauty and discoveries. Instructions to the Maverick Mind presents the essence. So does Cobra, “I am a rope on the ground; Then it lifts its hood .. For my treasure lies buried in the taut twig of my spine.” Reminder is just that; a precise poetic take on what practicing means.

Originality springs line after line, like a fresh breath enlivening each pose. Fish Avatar and Unburdening the Camel are two brilliant examples. The finale of Shavasana literally takes my breath away.

Rating: ***** [5 of 5 Stars!]

I love this new collection by Pramila Venkateswaran. Some of my favorite things: In the first piece, the title poem, is the genesis of “flesh that God/poured into an/imagined form,” the inception of the bond of word and movement, “the line placing/ its seed/ in the body’s /slow steps….” Here there is a unity of breath, spirit, word, the earth and all her inhabitants: “Breath wings in and out of me–a steady / Motion of a bird in mid-ocean.” Here in these powerful poems are the truths of meditation and movement–“…this space larger than the infinite / and smaller than your / tiniest body part.” Here are explored the imperatives of motion and stillness: “Root limbs in this soil / let the earth animate you….” Words discover each other and move closer together, recognizing their relation. In “Mouthing God,” a fascination with “seeds” flowers into the bounty of “feeds.” Everything is animate and the demarcations between self and other vanish. The rope on the ground becomes the snake, the torso “swings forward / like an adventurous banyan,” human becomes fish: “I forget my human form / that I had a spine.” Through the movements and poses of yoga practice, the body becomes fluid, entering its true home: “exhale: flesh and earth join / reverentially.” Pramila Venkateswaran, thank you so much for these extraordinary poems.
–Barbara B.

Rating: ***** [5 of 5 Stars!]

This new collection of poems by Pramila Venkateswaran combines the spirit of yoga practice with the beauty of language. We feel the stretch and pull of the body in the lines and the return to center that comes with practice, both of yoga and of poetry.

Rating: ***** [5 of 5 Stars!]

The poems in Trace moved me along on different planes . . . as I read them, the images and words activated my imagination and swayed in melodic rhythms, conveying wisdom, truths, beauty, emotions . . . “More than god/ behind the weave of mystery/is this body where a hundred/phantoms subtly work, so I / feel one with the steady flow of air/ tethering me gently to the world”–a work of art!

Rating: ***** [5 of 5 Stars!]

In “Trace“, we follow/trace with the poet, her intimate reflections on/through her yoga practice.. Having read Pramila’s poetry before, this seemed similar yet different to me.. More plain/simple language perhaps, which draws you into multiple readings where you discover the layers which were not visible at first (reading)..Like any spiritual practice.. Some closer to prose, others in more poetic rhythm and cadence, I followed calmly, the inner struggles, tensions and joys, moving fluidly between form and formlessness and through the body and breath.. I recommend it to yoga practitioners and all, as a contemplative mindful piece, mirroring to us each of our journeys..

Rating: ***** [5 of 5 Stars!]

Dear Pramila,
I enjoyed reading your meditations during yoga very much. My favorite poems in this book are: “Mystery Body,” “Face of Light,” “Flying Rooted,” and “Shavasana.” Bravo, Pramila, for another fine collection of poems with finely-crafted images and a clear, personal voice.
Sincerely,
–Patti

Rating: ***** [5 of 5 Stars!]

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Trace

by Pramila Venkateswaran

$14, paper

Pramila Venkateswaran, poet laureate of Suffolk County, Long Island, is author of Thirtha (Yuganta Press, 2002), Behind Dark Waters (Plain View Press, 2008), Draw Me Inmost (Stockport Flats, 2009), Trace (Finishing Line Press, 2011), Thirteen Days to Let Go (Aldrich, 2015), Slow Ripening (Local Gems, 2016) and The Singer of Alleppey (Shanti Arts, 2018).

Her poems have been published widely in the United States, Canada, and India in journals such as Prairie Schooner, Patterson Literary Review, Ariel: A Review of International English Literature, Atlanta Review, and Kavya Bharati, and in award-winning anthologies, such as Indivisible: An Anthology of South Asian American Poetry.

She has won first prizes in national poetry competitions such as Two Review and String Poetry, and was a finalist for the Allan Ginsberg Poetry Prize and in the Finishing Line Chapbook poetry contest.

She has performed her poems internationally, most recently at the Internacional de Poesia des Granada and The Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival.

Her essays and reviews have appeared in The Writer’s Chronicle, The Women’s Studies Quarterly, Socialism and Democracy, Journal of Postcolonial Writing, and in anthologies of literature, culture and politics. She conducts writing workshops across the tri-state area in the US and in Chennai, India. She also leads write to heal workshops for breast cancer patients and survivors.

A founding member of Women Included, a transnational feminist organization, she gives talks in both in the US and in Paris, France, including webinars sponsored by the United Nations France.

She is Professor of English at Nassau Community College (SUNY), is actively involved in giving workshops and readings across Long Island and beyond, and is the co-founder of Euterpe, the poetry venue in Emma Clark Memorial Library.

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