LETTER
Written by Piyush Thakkar
Translated from the Gujarati by Dileep Jhaveri
Narrated by Bill Wolak
India
I will give you a letter from the alphabet
Perhaps of a language unknown to you
It is possible that you may forget that letter
After placing it somewhere
It is possible that placing it in a temple’s alcove
You may revere that letter
It is possible that like putting a stone in a slingshot
You may swirl it far into the sky
It is possible that you may spit it out
Like some scrap between teeth
Only you would know what you will make of it
But I will go after leaving a letter with you
Born in 1979 in rural Gujarat, Piyush Thakkar has earned a Master in Fine Arts and has earned several awards. His research on the painters Vasudaev Gaitonde and Gulam Mohammed Sheikh is highly praised. He has been honored by the Sahitya Akademi Delhi that has published his poetry collection. Besides being a poet and painter, he also is a publisher of several books of poetry and criticism by leading writers.
Dileep Jhaveri is a practicing general physician based in Mumbai and a well-known Gujarati poet and playwright. He has published several collections of poetry in Gujarati. Recently, he has published three books of poetry in the United States, Once This Mist Clears (2014), Fire Writes in Several Scripts (2015), Magic and Miracles (2017), as well as a group of non-fiction essays entitled The House of Three Widows all done by The New Feral Press. His latest translation is titled Breath Becoming a Word: Contemporary Gujarati Poetry in English Translation published by Sahitya Akademi Ahmedabad.