Histories of the Future Perfect

by Ellen Kombiyil

Poetry. Asian & Asian American Studies. HISTORIES OF THE FUTURE PERFECT by Ellen Kombiyil is a book of poetry inspired by concepts in astrophysics. Canvassing across time and space to provide a luminescence unafraid of the big ideas, the book itself has what Kombiyil calls a quantum structure. Here we find Galileo's thumbprint, Kurt Cobain Las Vegas, and Mary Lincoln communing with the dead. The poems themselves are never narrowly historical but rather cosmic in their inflections, taking on subatomic particles, DNA, and black holes, not simply as scientific props but as the very impetus for lyric motion. The book is published by The (Great) Indian Poetry Collective, a mentorship model literary press, specializing in first and second books by authors with a connection to India/Indian diaspora.

"HISTORIES OF THE FUTURE PERFECT is a shimmering book, both delicate and bold. This is a poet who can toggle between bikinis and trilobites, between astrophysics and pop culture, between elegy and premonition. 'Let sprinklers equal X, an absence that is manifest. / Now solve for bare feet glisten. Now step on constellations.' This is a poetry of rigorous, ingenious, warmhearted exploration."—Maureen N. McLane

"Innovative, ecstatic, and emotionally potent, these poems shimmer with their skill and acumen…it's been a long time since I've been as excited about a new book as I am about this one."—Ravi Shankar

Genres: Poetry

94 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2015

About the author

ELLEN KOMBIYIL is the author of Histories of the Future Perfect (2015), and her micro chapbook, Avalanche Tunnel, is forthcoming with Ryga. A fellow at the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program in 2013, Kombiyil’s poetry and fiction have appeared in Beloit Poetry Journal, BOOTH, Spillway, Poemeleon, and Tinderbox, among others. She is a four-time Pushcart Prize nominee, a Best of the Net nominee, and has read, performed or taught workshops at the annual Prakriti Poetry festival in Chennai, the Raedleaf Poetry Awards in Hyderabad, and Lekhana in Bangalore. She is a co-Founder of The (Great) Indian Poetry Collective. Originally from Syracuse, New York, and a graduate of the University of Chicago, she is a recent transplant from Bangalore, India, where she lived for nearly eleven years. She currently lives in New York City.

Reviews

[hh · Rating 4 out of 5]

witty titles and engaging set ups. Interesting and varied use of history, science, and lyric.