Slow Dance by Saleem Peeradina

Abstract

these celebratelife's small beauties . Despite "mushroom clouds" and "markets where. . . cashiers overcharge /thepoor,"thepersona of "The UnnecessaryChronicle" asks,"Whoneedsa chronicle that recordsonlyfraudand pestilence / insteadof a hand reachingto grasptheextravagant day?"In "As If Submerged in Water,"thepersona "suck[s] piecesofthesummer: markets, sparrows / preening their feathers on a watermelon rind. . . such beauty,completely unnecessary to existence,/ but without which/ the worldwould be an unnecessaryplace." Milanovic's "lonelyscribe"findssolace in the Orphicmyth and thenatural cycle, where deathbrings rebirth. "Tripartition for Aleksinac" clearly enunciatesthese themes as thespeakerponderstheNATO bombing ofhisfirst home:Though "bathedin death,/ underApril plum treesin bloom, / between tulipsblown apart by the black hawks'breath," hemustrescuenot Eurydicebut his city.Finallyhe "drag[s]up thewreckofhistory," "return[s] to a faithin the halfdead ,"and"resurrect[s] thosewalls demolished by madness"as "The scattered city hashoisted itself from itssacredground, aliveagain, andit climbs/ totheheavens, towardits children, raising itself." Staircases,hills, and liminal spacespervadethesepoems,as the Orphic personatraces hisarchetypal descentand ascent.Pondering whatmightcomeif,as in Faust's augenblick, a fairmomentshould last,he realizesthat"deathitself willbeprolonged /andthat iswhy itis better, whenthehourcomes, / to push offcompletely, towards thebottom."One mustdie to be reborn. Theelevenpoemsfrom "Doors in a Meadow" recapitulate these signsand themes. As doorsopen "on a silentstaircase"that"rises towards thesky," thepersona asks, "Are we expectingsomeone to arrive, /orisitthat we'redeparting before it'stime togo?"He wonders, "Whyhave we chosento recline here,on thisthreshold, without / a church?" A tolling bell,heardin otherpoems,marks"the passing overthethreshold." In theeighth poem,notingabandonedweapons from all erasofSerbian history, the speakerreflects, "Whoneedsthem now,before thegateofdoom?"The final poem,meanwhile, "ToVerica" (Milafiovic's wife), embodiesresurrection . Thefirst lines ofitsfirst three stanzasbegin,"Before thesedoors we stand,"whileeachendsdifferently :"dear," "transparent," and "purified." Thisprogression enables theconclusion: "before thesedoors through whichonecanonlydepart / we standpureas we oncewere/ before these doorswestand ready to enter /only toleave." Despitethetragic recent history ofYugoslaviaand Serbia,thisfine collection embodies hope: "lovewill meanlove until,/ in thefreezing desert, /itquietly buildsa nestfrom which/ theworldwillbe reborn" ("SmallLampsintheDarkness"). Michele Levy North Carolina A&T University SaleemPeeradina. SlowDance.Roseville ,Michigan. Ridgeway. 2010.91 pages.$15.isbn 978-1-56439-133-7 It is uncommon fora youngpoet todebutwithan anthology ofcontemporary poetswhoarepredominantly olderand moreestablished thanhim.Yet thisis whatSaleem Peeradina,aged twenty-eight and stillunpublished, didwithhisContemporary IndianPoetry in English: An Assessment andSelection (1972). A landmark workestablishing his reputation as a rigorous critic and craftsman, itisstill widely usedand citedtoday. Fortyyears and fourpoetry books later,Peeradina'scommitmentto highstandardsof craftsmanship remains strong, ashislatest collection clearlyand consistently shows.One of thetwinpleasures and achievements of Slow Dance is the masterful arrangement of thepoemsinthree sections as well as theways they - poemsas well as sections - relateto one another and to thecomplexchoreography of thebook.The otherlies in the poemsthemselves, someofwhich areamong Peeradina's bestand,like all genuinepoetry, shouldbe read aloud in ordertobe fully enjoyed andappreciated. Of thethreesections, thefirst providesa slow and atmospheric start witha sequenceoflandscapes addressing thefundamental ambiguityanddeceptiveness ofrepresentationand its objects.The section's centerpiece maybe "Reflections on theOther/' butmostpoemsin this bookoffer perceptive interpretations of thiskeyconceptof modernity; and theydo so in moresubtleand imaginative waysthanthosereflecteduponinthis keynote poem. Themiddlesection features six "poemsbased on thefirst linesof old Hindifilm songsand ghazals." Peeradina grewup listening toand singing these tunes, andalthough he assures that "readers unfamiliar with thesongsor their conventions can readthepoemsindependent ofthat knowledge," this reader found them generally inferior totherest, andwas leftwondering whether thepoet's familiarity withhissources did not work against thenature oftheexperiment rather than initsfavor. SlowDancereaches itsquietclimax in thefinal,eponymous section ,a cadencedmeditation whose melodiceffect depends as much on theorderof thepoemsas on Peeradina'scontrolled dictionand pitch-perfect versification: "Inches from oblivion/ theheartmayyet find itsmoment /tothaw;ina split / secondflooditschambers / with blindingsight."Alternately musing and matter-of-fact, wittyand grave,blitheand bequeathing, it gathers focusand momentum as it unfolds ina Mahlerian adagiothat eventually dissolvesin "The Rite Stuff," a sensiblyfussy, touching, yettongue-in-cheek "setofinstructionsonhowto . . . proceedwitha no-fuss, no-nonsense funeral." The sad ironyof thisparting piece is manifest intheeffort toprovide an illusion ofcontrol, ifnotauthority, over something as unpredictable and ungovernable as posthumous fate: "Ifyouabsolutely cannot burn melikeautumn leavesandtwigs/ In thebackyard or on an open-air pyre onthelakefront, loadme/On a cheap2x6 plywoodpallet, drive meina pickup /Tobedropped off to a designated crematorium site." Yetinthepunch-line postscript, the readerlearnsofan alternative and potentiallynullifying document: "Just doublecheck myliving will.If itstates/ Thatmybodyshouldbe handedoverformedicalresearch, / All foregoing instructions are nulland void."(Editorial note: Two poemsbyPeeradina appeared inthe November 2009issueofWLT.) Graziano Kriitli YaleUniversity...