The product of over four decades of involvement with the craft of writing, this volume will acquaint readers with the full range of Kaiser Haq’s poetic achievement to date. The earliest piece is a prose poem written when he was in high school and in its brutal honesty already hints at what was to follow. There are substantial selections from Haq’s debut collections, Starting Lines and A Little Ado, both published in 1978, the three subsequent collections in their entirety, the new poems added to Published in the Streets of Dhaka: Collected Poems 1968-2006, and a sizeable number of more recent poems. An appendix provides Haq’s personal credo, “An Apology for Bangladeshi Poetry in English.”

Haq’s poetry is rich in emotional content and intellectual implications while being at once, ironic, quirky, zany. He has an eye for the telling image and an ear for the musical phrase. Almost all his poems are rooted in life in his native corner of the planet, but their appeal is universal.

Contents:

Acknowledgements

New Poems > Senior Citizen / Liking It Playing Games / Philosophy with Raina / Pilgrims / Grishma, Barsha / New Year Brainwave / On the Blink / Six Shared Seasons / Poor Man Eating / All is Well / Trees / Dear Sir / Ode on the Lungi / East and West

Published in the Streets of Dhaka: Collected Poems 1966-2006 (2007)>>

Poems 2002-2006> Windows / Figures of Speech / Weltanschauung / Spend, Spending, Spent / Monsoon Poem with Prose Postscript / Truth on the Prowl / Dateline, Dhaka, 25 March 2006 / A to Z, Azad / Battambang / New Year Bagatelle / Bloomsday Centenary Poem In Free Verse and Prose / Lord of a Dark Sun / Two Parodies: The waistline; ms bunny sen / Three Minimalist Poems in Monosyllabic Vers Libre: 1. A Minimalist Credo; 2. Snapshot; 3. Illumination/Nirvana / The Raven / A Rationale for Criticism / As Usual / Published in the Streets of Dhaka

From The Gregorian (1967)> Les Misérables

From Starting Lines (Poems 1968-1975)> Initiation / Two Trees and Time / Pop Portrait of a (Male) Poet / A Poem in Two Versions: 1. Sunset Song 2. Tropical Sunset / Park / Crackdown / Murree / Bangladesh ’71 / Consolation / Baby / Pastoral / Night Is / Aubade / Monsoon Rain / Arriving on a Weekend / Idle Hour

From A Little Ado (Poems 1976-1977)> Street Incident / A Myth Reworked / Calcutta 1971 / Durga Puja / Master Babu / Eleven Serious Warnings / Love Is / Growing UP or Softly Falling / From A Travel Diary / Homage to Robert Lowell / Hitting It Off / Spring in Dhaka / Letter from Hyderabad / Homecoming / Self-Love / Anon

From A Happy Farewell (Poems 1978-1993)> A Happy Farewell / O Clio / Cosmogony / The Leader / Abortive Sketch for Erotica / Two Monsoon Poems / Baby Talk / Peasant’s Lament / My Village and I / Unholy Sabbath / Moon / On a Street / Cousin Shamsu, Durzi / Scholar / Business / Disturbance / A Freshman’s Unsent Bilet Doux / Summer Morning, Warwick / Communication / Ephemera / Slippers / Surreal Morning

Poems in Subcontinental English> Welcome, Tourist Sahib / Civil Service Romance / Sahara Desert / Party Games

Black Orchid (1966)> Imaginary Love / Metamorphosis / Metaphysics / ‘Drink to me only with Thine Eyes’ / Black Orchid / Nirvana / The Border / Purdah / Speaking of Kama

The Logopathic Reviewer’s Song (2002)> The Logopathic Reviewer’s Song / Pebbles on the Beach / Weekend / Darkness / Landscape / Nature / Sparrows / Writers’ Retreat / Writing Home / Strange Pleasures / Your Excellency / Ideas for Poems: A Letter / Graffiti Artist / Itchy Hand / The Firefly / The Distant Sky / Short Shorts / A Bagatelle for____ / Zen Poem in Monosyllabic Free Verse Presented at an International Conference on Melorism / Bananas: A Live Interview / Trust / Dear Reviewer

Appendix> An Apology for Bangladeshi Poetry in English