Indian Poetry

I collected translations of Sanskrit poetry while still in India. I select poems as subjects for my paintings that I think my Canadian audience can relate to, universal themes of human joy and sorrow, love fulfilled, love lost; the narrative element of Indian poems interests me.

American scholar and translator Andrew Schelling has published several volumes of poems of ancient India that inspire me, 'The Cane Groves of Narmada River', 'Erotic Poems from Old India', and others.

Other translations that have come into my hands include works by Robert Bly, in particular his versions of the songs of Mirabai, her poems describe the penetrating ache of the soul as it longs for union with God.

The poems of Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks, are another favourite of mine.

Listed to the right is a selection of poems of ancient India that stimulate my imagination with rich images for paintings. The love poems in particular I find so exquisitely tender, passionate and refined, they are so fresh, it is hard to believe they were written so long ago. Some things never change, like the journey through the experience of love.