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.