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Kirun Kapur

Picture
Kirun Kapur is a poet, editor, teacher and translator. She is the author of three books of poetry, Visiting Indira Gandhi’s Palmist (Elixir Press, 2015) which won the Arts & Letters Rumi Prize and the Antivenom Poetry Award; Women in the Waiting Room (Black Lawrence Press, 2020), a finalist for the National Poetry Series; and the chapbook All the Rivers in Paradise (UChicago Arts, 2022). Her work has appeared in AGNI, Poetry International, Prairie Schooner, Ploughshares and many other journals. She serves as editor at the Beloit Poetry Journal and teaches at Amherst College, where she is director of the Creative Writing Program. Learn more at kirunkapur.com. 


March in the Garden
 
Cutting back the climbing rose in paradise,
Your fingers learn: a bush of thorns grows well in paradise.
 
The ground still grooved in mud and ice--
My heart is wrapped in shawls. One night it froze in paradise.
 
I miss you. I miss you. I miss and miss –
Good God, grief’s tedious! It gusts and blows in paradise.
 
A high wind clears the last leaves from the cherry.
Only storms of tears dissolve the snows in paradise. 
 
The languages you taught me, the poems you knew by heart--
Where did they go? I must coax them to regrow or I foreclose on paradise.
 
The garden is divided into four rooms, like a heart.
Today, each chamber’s occupied by the crows of paradise.
 
Your heart sports shining feathers. Your death flies back and forth.
Bees bump the limes and pomegranates, reincarnation’s pose in paradise.
 
Look, poet, not much is lost forever, or so the garden claims:
White double cosmos bloom again—no end to the embroidered clothes of paradise.
 
-Kiran Kapur

Poems
https://missourireview.com/i-ride-upon-a-tiger-kirun-kapur/

https://www.narrativemagazine.com/issues/poems-week-2021-2022/poem-week/grackle-kirun-kapur

https://yorkshiretimes.co.uk/article/Poem-Of-The-Week-Anthem-By-Kirun-Kapur

Reviews
https://pionline.wordpress.com/2015/09/07/book-review-visiting-indira-gandhis-palmist-by-kirun-kapur/
 
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/kirun-kapur/women-in-the-waiting-room/
 
https://sundressblog.com/2020/10/14/sundress-reads-a-review-of-women-in-the-waiting-room/

Interviews
https://masspoetry.org/new-book-kapur/

https://www.thecommononline.org/some-voice-has-spoken-an-interview-with-kirun-kapur/

https://wordmothers.com/2015/05/28/interview-with-poet-kirun-kapur/
​​
http://artsandletters.gcsu.edu/interview-with-kirun-kapur-past-poetry-prize-winner/
​

Other Links
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oeapj4rb4wY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cgcrg4uYpV8
​

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YI7BqDLXtI

Contact
Email: [email protected] 
Website: ​kirunkapur.com

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MATWAALA

WEBSITE CONCEPTUALIZATION BY USHA AKELLA
LOGO, BRANDING AND WEBSITE DESIGN BY FRANCISCA LI
  • Home
  • People
    • Directors >
      • Usha Akella, Founder & Director
      • Pramila Venkateswaran, Director
    • Matwaala Ambassadors >
      • Kashiana Singh
      • Zilka Joseph
    • Advisory Team
    • Volunteer Poets
    • FRIENDS of Matwaala
    • Matwaala Poets
  • Festivals
    • 2015
    • 2017
    • 2018
    • 2019
    • 2020
    • 2021 - 23
    • 2024
    • 2025
    • Poets-of-color Series: 2021-2025
    • Testimonials
  • Projects
  • Publications
    • MAPS
  • Media
  • Critical Work
    • Interviews
    • Articles
    • Reviews
  • Matwaala Youth - Sync Poetry
    • Key Initiatives
    • Our Team
    • Poetry Submissions!
    • 2021: A Beginning >
      • July 2021 Open Mic: Confidence
      • September 2021 Open Mic: Connection
      • October 2021 Ghost Stories and Poetry: Creation
    • 2022: Outreach >
      • Week of Expression! >
        • Open Mic: July 25, 2022
        • Speed Poetry: July 26, 2022
        • Repetitive Poetry: July 27, 2022
        • Style Mirroring: July 28, 2022
        • Let's Play a Game: July 29, 2022
    • Personal Projects >
      • Sara's Work
      • Diya's Work
  • Resources
  • Contact