An anthology of contemporary Indian poetry in English by women poets encapsulates the shifts in sensibility of the Indian woman poet

The death of Kamala Das might have washed away the crumbs of a poetic culture where women poets strictly adhered to exploring the depths of the ‘gender’ question and restricting themselves to ‘womanist’ concerns or issues alone.

“While the poets of the 60s and 70s question their assigned role as women, the poets of the 90s move away from a strident and aggressive tone of assertion,” says Anju Makhija who along with E V Ramakrishnan has edited the anthology titled We Speak in Changing Languages; Indian Women Poets 1990-2007 which was launched at the Crossword Bookstore in Juhu on Friday. “They are concerned with communicating the problems of living in a complex society riddled with consumerism, culture industry and glaring social inequalities.”

The 21 poets in the anthology are from different states, cultures and schools of thought. Thus for a poet like Jane Bhandari, her forte lies in the acute details of her descriptions and the reminiscent tone of her memories. “When I was young my grandmother would pack cheese sandwiches, send us out and tell us not to come back till tea time. I don’t think that’s possible now.” It’s these shining memories that translate into her poems like Catching Crayfish.

On the other hand, poets like Marilyn Noronha and Menka Shivdasani have a more meditative tone and wax eloquent about the internal journey of their lives. “For me, poetry is a way of making sense of who I am and what I’m doing in the scheme of life,” says Marilyn Noronha.

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