The new poem is coming along -- slowwwwwly! But it's happening. As I am moving along with it, I am wondering, to what extent will this poem stand alone! Or is it something I should even worry about right now.To me, my goals are very specific. It's one of the poems that's going to go into my bildungsroman series. From what I have now, it seems, it will be part of a five-poem series. In a nutshell,the series is an exercise on trying to come up with some reflections on things that are concerning me now-- the relationship between gender and creativity, creativity and state or social institutions, the idea of leaving, how much we can leave outside of institutions as individuals etc. I have also tried to engage with some of the conventions of a more conventional fairy-tale narrative, especially the "princess" figure. The first three were relatively effortless (I am not saying, they came naturally. For, they didn't.) Those were also the poems which were primarily about questioning the exclusion of women from more authoritarian narratives or institutions. But I didn't want to stay stuck in there, because it seems to me that that's the space where most of the liberal feminist writings get restricted. I was also trying to think, to what extent I can write about women who are in intermediary spaces. Or, to what extent women fail to provide solidarity to each other because of the privilege of class, caste or cultural capital. The form I am using is mostly lyric-narrative. So nothing much new in there. It is, after all, the dominant form of American poetry these days. Although my poems tend to be longer, more verbose and denser in terms of the language they use than the average American lyric-narrative.
In view of the post I wrote yesterday, about innovation etc., I am thus almost prompted to say, what will be most innovative in this age is to write LONG narrative ballads, which will demand readers' attention for hours, will resist flashification and will leave the reader with a kind of uncertainty after he/she's done. Am I being too demanding? Hmmmm...
Dinner is Patla Machher Jhol and Bhat. I got the recipe from the blog Cook like a Bong. I am using chapila machh, which I bought from Shahi Foods, the new Bangladeshi grocery store in Austin. The packet said "bangladeshi himayita taja maachh" and "Bangladeshi Fresh Frozen Fish."Contradiction in Terms? So, with due acknowledgment and thanks to the writers of Cook Like a Bong, here is the recipe:
Ingredients:
Fish (any fresh water fleshy fish): 200gms
Black cumin (Kalo Jeera): 1 teaspoon
Mustard oil (Sarser tel): 2 tablespoon
Turmeric powder (Halud Guro): 1 teaspoon
Green chilli (Kacha Lanka): 2 / 3 pieces
Salt to taste
Water
Preparation:
* De-scale and wash the fishes well, add ½ teaspoon of turmeric powder and 1 teaspoon of salt to the fish and mix them well.
* Heat oil in a wok and fry the fishes. Don’t over fry, Take them out of the flame just after little frying.
* Add black cumin to the oil in which you have fried the fishes. Add turmeric powder, green chilli, salt and 2 cups of water.
* Let it boil for 2 minutes, add the fried fishes and cook for some more time, till the water takes up the yellowish color.
* Serve with rice and enjoy this non-spicy fish preparation in the humid weather of this summer
The fish is marinating right now, and I have added a little bit of white pepper along with turmeric, mustard oil and salt. Let's see how it goes!
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