Infamous Landscapes

by Prageeta Sharma

An exploration of the compatibility of human desire with personal ethics is at the heart of INFAMOUS LANDSCAPES. In these poems Sharma turns away from Romanticism with a certain disconcerted, feminine shame, one that finds her peering through a gendered lens. The landscapes are urban and "natural," inasmuch as both inhere in the human psyche as symbol and metaphor.

Genres: Poetry

62 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2007

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

[Silvia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mi è piaciuto molto! Un po frustrante a tratti ma in complesso bello!

[Jessica Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full of sighs and fidgets, "Infamous Landcapes" tugs the reader along like a poodle on a leash in Central Park. Self-aware, unapologetic, amused and frustrated, Sharma's voice reveals much of her person without ever naming names (aside from places: Brooklyn, Providence.) The vague ground of white thoughts dominates, studded by lines of color:

"New York was an icy dew of Neanderthal meets Oppenheimer.
People fussy with judgement and fuzzy with fabric." (from "The Escape")

and humour:

"Look here/
Between the cherry, the sugar maple, the shagbark hickory/
you stand out like a sore thumb in Bethlehem." ("from Blowing Hot and Cold")

...So that hours after putting the collection down, you might have returned to your own bustling narrative when suddenly Sharma's voice jumps in randomly as it does in her own poems:
"The tiger was stuck up a banyon tree."

For me, such crimped mental energy begs rest, but Sharma does not entirely deny the occasional reward of sinking into present sensations:

"It's quiet enough for me to hear a siren's full call
And drunk laughing people not in the least bit cruel." (from "Against Career")

[Poets.org from the Academy of American Poets]

Prepare for the 2010 Poets Forum in New York City (October 28-30) by reading Sharma's newest book of poetry, and check out the Poets Forum 2010 bookshelf for the latest collections by each of the poets participating in the Poets Forum. Happy reading!

[Anna]

Coming to a theater near you, November 2007.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book is a heady affair having both the shimmering of ripples and the stillness of deep sea. must reread in a month or so.

[Ash Ponders · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy fuck.