Things My Grandmother Said
Poems
Failed to add items
Sorry, we are unable to add the item because your shopping basket is already at capacity.
Add to cart failed.
Please try again later
Add to wishlist failed.
Please try again later
Remove from wishlist failed.
Please try again later
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
New to Audible Prime Member exclusive: 2 credits with free trial
1 credit a month to use on any title to download and keep
Listen to anything from the Plus Catalogue—thousands of Audible Originals, podcasts and audiobooks
Download titles to your library and listen offline
₹199.00 per month after 30-day trial. Cancel anytime.
Things My Grandmother Said
Narrated by:
Amit Majmudar
Buy Now for ₹377.22
-
Narrated by:
-
Amit Majmudar
-
Written by:
-
Amit Majmudar
About this listen
This marvelous collection opens with the practical wisdom and unforgettable wit of the poet’s grandmother, who said (among other things), “Turmeric can heal anything / but a broken heart” and “Read that to me at / my funeral, boy, right now my show is on.” From the foundation of the matriarchal, Majmudar turns to the impact of women as lovers and partners, exploring the contours of passionate, romantic, and married love; he and his wife are “two fireflies/ scooped out of the same evening” to meet in the jar where their constancy contains and sustains them. In the end, all this love transforms into the gift of language: Majmudar writes of how the Goddess in all her forms has charmed his life, giving rise to the creativity and personhood that allows him to seek and find his mother country in poetry.
A remarkable work from a man celebrating the power of the feminine to shape us and define who we are.
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_c
Critic Reviews
“Things My Grandmother Said is an elaborate altar to those ‘necessary beings / who . . . keep on cradling you, unseen.’ It’s also a set of variations on themes at once domestic and cosmic, as the figures of (grand)mother, memory, language, and poetry merge. The variegated labyrinth through which this remarkable poet leads us is embellished not only by his technical virtuosity but also by his compassion, curiosity, and candor.” —Rachel Hadas, author of Ghost Guest
“A tour de force. . . . Formally dazzling. . . Majmudar pay[s] homage to the women he admires, from his grandmother, mother, wife, and daughter, to Wonder Woman, Hindu goddesses, poet friends, and a nurse in a kill zone. Couplets such as ‘Time is a circle I can put to use: / a wheel to roll things back, a crown, a noose,’ butt up against the sagacity of his grandmother, whose old-country pronouncements are a highlight: ‘Sure, the Ganga is holy, / but who told you to drink from it?’” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Majmudar celebrates the eternal feminine in this collection of sharp-witted and playfully humorous poems dedicated to his mother, sister, wife, and daughter. Majmudar invokes his grandmother through a series of amusing quips (‘India invented recycling, we called it karma, / but trash now is trash later’), refreshing conversions of familiar words into surprising verbs (‘Mother us our terror. Enwoman us our wonder’), and profound reflections on inevitable loss and eventual death (‘ring finger withered in the ring— / so soon to grow, too soon to grieve’).” —Diego Báez, Booklist
“A tour de force. . . . Formally dazzling. . . Majmudar pay[s] homage to the women he admires, from his grandmother, mother, wife, and daughter, to Wonder Woman, Hindu goddesses, poet friends, and a nurse in a kill zone. Couplets such as ‘Time is a circle I can put to use: / a wheel to roll things back, a crown, a noose,’ butt up against the sagacity of his grandmother, whose old-country pronouncements are a highlight: ‘Sure, the Ganga is holy, / but who told you to drink from it?’” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Majmudar celebrates the eternal feminine in this collection of sharp-witted and playfully humorous poems dedicated to his mother, sister, wife, and daughter. Majmudar invokes his grandmother through a series of amusing quips (‘India invented recycling, we called it karma, / but trash now is trash later’), refreshing conversions of familiar words into surprising verbs (‘Mother us our terror. Enwoman us our wonder’), and profound reflections on inevitable loss and eventual death (‘ring finger withered in the ring— / so soon to grow, too soon to grieve’).” —Diego Báez, Booklist
No reviews yet