Raw Silk

Meena Alexander was born in Allahbad and spent her childhood between India and the Sudan. Now a resident in New York, she writes on subjects that evoke feelings of love, despair and hard-won hope that reflect the often surreal nature of life.

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A deeply moving collection from a poet who crosses borders; New York City poet Meena Alexander was born in Allahabad, India and divided her childhood between India and the Sudan. From her cross-cultural perspective, Alexander writes with moving intensity of post-September 11 events as she evokes violence and civil strife, love, despair, and a hard-won hope. This autobiographical cycle of poems reflects the surrealism of such a life, and is shot through with the frissons of pleasure and pain, of beauty and tension, that mark a truly global identity.