Writer? Reader?

First, it was too awesome that my poems had appeared in an anthology. And now I have to read them on a stage?

I was a lovely fall evening on September 23, 2021, at the Lubber Run Amphitheatre in Arlington, VA, where we joined a celebration of “Written in Arlington.“ The trees were rustling int he wind. It was the end of September and I was walking towards a stage with chairs socially distanced for 14 poets and 3 mics at various heights. The others were there wearing black or really casual stuff but I was there wearing my Indian clothes—a long red kurta and white churidaar with a white dupatta at my neck, and a black Kashmiri shawl. After all I would be reading my first poem in Hindi and my translation which was in Written in Arlington, edited by Katherine Young. It has 150 poems by 87 poets who lived, worked, or visited Arlington.

I met some old friends after a long time, as fellow writer and Arlington Writers Group member Jess Stork Glicoes was also in the book and reading, as was Susan Notar, and Colleen Moore came to support us as did Mary Louise Marino and John Chapin (not in photo), and Anne Marie McGranaghan was there too. Thanks to them for sharing the photos they took and huge thanks and praise to Katherine for organizing the book project and the beautiful event—all safely. The recording of the reading is now live on the Arlington Arts YouTube page at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWifSIJtOns. I appear at 41:45 with my poem In Summer Camp, translated from the Hindi, Summer Camp Mein, and at 53:45 with Monday Morning & Chai.