The Daily Glance
Pat Clifford and Aryanil Mukerjee's chaturangik/Squares is a multilingual book printed on pages that look like a small chess board--that's significant because the book, they tell us in a note, is inspired by the film Shatranj KiKhilari (The Chess Players). The book places the poems in the spaces of the chess board, but it's not clear who wrote what. Does Clifford know Bengali, or is this Mukherjee writing in Bengali alone? Is he translating bits of Clifford's work into Bengali? Is the Bengali being translated into English? I wish that I could read the Bengali to know how the poems work or do not work together. As it is, the English poems are full of linguistic play, so alone they are fascinating. In addition, the book contains images and also a note page which lists "inspirators," a page which includes more than 10 sources. How much are these sources being incorporated into the work? Did they just inspire the pieces? Or are they used as places for found poems?
the dice rolls out of the
calendar. no intention to
bring up weather-talk. no
seasonal spice thrown in. a
compass spins inside
dreams. just four ways to
escape the pain of
undistraction. the diceless
fame it is. I get the hunger.
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