The Opening Question

by Prageeta Sharma

Prageeta Sharma's poems offer the reader an unusually modern take on modernity. Her effective program of whimsy, identity, and loneliness--a singularly modern loneliness, replete with the anxiety of community and the despair of belonging--transforms the simple declarations and observations into the stuff of myth.

Genres: Poetry

60 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2004

About the author

Poet Prageeta Sharma was born in Framingham, Massachusetts. Her parents emigrated from India in 1969, and Sharma was raised a Hindu. She has acknowledged the influence of her parents’ religion on her poetry: “I was taught to honor knowledge and books like a religion and so for me poetry keeps this relationship close, true, active,” she told the journal Willow Springs.

Sharma attended Simon’s Rock College of Bard as an undergraduate and earned her MFA from Brown University and an MA in media studies from The New School.

Her collections of poetry include Bliss to Fill (2000), The Opening Question (2004), which won the Fence Modern Poets Prize, Infamous Landscapes (2007), and Undergloom (2013). Sharma has spoken of her work in terms of thought rather than narrative. In Willow Springs, she noted, “It’s important to explore a variety of cognitive experiences in the poem rather than just telling a story.”

Sharma’s honors and awards include a Howard Foundation Grant. She has taught at the New School and Goddard College and is currently an associate professor in the MFA program in creative writing at the University of Montana-Missoula, which she has also served as director.

Reviews

[Emanuela M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Parla in gran parte della solitudine, è molto bello da leggere e non è noioso!

[ryo narasaki · Rating 3 out of 5]

would need to do some homework to better appreciate.

loved "boon", "speach turns orange" and "a just-so poem"

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is fun. Good, clean, intelligent fun.

[C.S. Carrier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once I let go of my expectations, I had one of the most excellent experiences with this book. It doesn't move in expected ways and when it moves, it does so with beautiful nuance.

[Eboni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Her poems were really interesting and had these great images! It was just a little abstract at times and I prefer more concrete stuff. Read it!

[Jen]

I especially enjoyed "A Just-So Poem"...