Contemporary Authors

• The Better Monsters ( poems) Mansfield Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2017

• Puneet Dutt Home Page - https://puneetdutt.com/about-2/

  About
  F6BU0161=1

  Puneet Dutt’s debut collection of poetry, The Better Monsters (Mansfield Press, 2017), was Shortlisted for the Raymond Souster Award. Her poems have appeared in a number of literary journals, such as Canadian Literature, Event and World Literature Today, and in the anthology Imaginarium 4: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing, with an introduction by Margaret Atwood. Her chapbook, PTSD south beach (Grey Borders Books), was a Finalist for the Breitling Chapbook Prize (Phantom Books). She holds a MA in English from Ryerson University and is an editorial board member at Canthius and a creative writing workshop facilitator with the Toronto Writers Collective. Dutt was born in India and is a dual citizen of the United States and Canada, and currently lives in Toronto with her husband and son. To reach out, follow her on Twitter @puneet_dutt.

  CV
  EDUCATION

  MA English – Literatures of Modernity
  Ryerson University, Faculty of Arts (ON, Canada)
  September 2013 – October 2014
  AWA Certification – (2016) Workshop Leadership and Training, Amherst Writers & Artists Method
  Certificate in Higher Education Teaching, Level I and II – (SEDA UK)
  Ryerson University, Faculty of Arts (ON, Canada)
  September 2013 – March 2015
  BA – Communication and Journalism ‘Cum Laude’
  Certificate of Academic Excellence
  Seton Hall University, College of Arts & Science (NJ, USA)
  September 2003 – December 2007
  EVENTS, READINGS & TALKS
  Upcoming, Featured Poet – CIUT 89.5 FM Radio HOWL, June 5, 2018, 10-11 p.m.
  Upcoming, Featured Poet – AMAZING NEW STUFF, May 19, 2018, Field Trip Cafe, 3 Westmoreland Ave, Toronto, ON, 7:30 p.m.
  Upcoming, Featured Poet – Art Bar Reading Series, May 8, 2018, 10-11 p.m.
  Upcoming, Featured Reader – Somerset Poetry Group, Bridgewater Public Library, 1 Vogt Drive, Bridgewater, New Jersey. Date TBC.
  Upcoming, Featured Reader – Tree Reading Series, 4 Carraway Private Ottawa, ON, Date TBC.
  Upcoming, Featured Reader – Rowers Reading Series, Toronto, ON, Date TBC.
  Upcoming, Featured Reader – Poetry Takes the Nite – A Welland Reading Series, The Black Sheep Lounge, 64 Niagara St, Welland. (2018 Dates TBC: June 30, July 28, August 25, October 27).
  Featured Poet – CIUT 89.5 FM Radio HOWL, Tuesday, January 30, 2018, 10-11 p.m..
  Toronto Book Launch, Mansfield Press Fall 2017, Sunday, November 19, 2017, 2 p.m. @ Monarch Tavern.
  Featured Reader, Brockton Writers Series, Nov. 8, 2017, @ Glad Day Bookshop, Toronto, ON.
  Montreal Book Launch, Mansfield Press Fall 2017, Tuesday, October 24, 2017 at 7 p.m. @ Dazibao, Montreal.
  Featured Reader, 100,000 Poets for Change, September 30, 2017, @ Jekyl And Hyde Pub, Toronto, ON.
  Featured Reader, Tartan Turban Reading Series #4, Sept. 21, 2017, 7 p.m., @ Barrett and Welsh, 577 Kingston Road, #301, Toronto, ON.
  Featured Reader – Shab-e She’r (Poetry Night), Aug. 29, 2017, 7 p.m., @ Church of St. Stephen in-the-Fields, 365 College St, Toronto, ON.
  Open Mic. Shab-e She’r (Poetry Night) LIII July 25, 2017, @ Church of St. Stephen in-the-Fields, 365 College St, Toronto, ON. Featured poets: Mugabi Byenkya and Heather Wood.
  Featured Reader @ Joseph Sherman Memorial Reading – Reading for New Members, June 11, 2017, 12:30-5 p.m., @ 192 Spadina Ave, CSI Building meeting rooms, Toronto, ON
  Featured Reader – listen to a poet on Tour of Toronto – The League of Canadian Poets w/ Doors Open Toronto, May 27, 2017, 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., meet at intersection of St. George and College St., Toronto, ON.
  Featured Reader – Draft Reading Series, March 26, 2017, 3 p.m., @ Flying Pony Cafe, Toronto, ON.
  Featured Reader – Pivot Reading Series, March 8, 2017, 8 p.m., @ The Steady Café, Toronto, ON.
  Moderator – Feminist Art Conference (Poetry Presentation) @ OCAD University w/ the Art Gallery of Ontario, January 21, 2017, 2:45-3:45 p.m.
  Featured Reader, The Art Bar Poetry Series, December 20, 2016, 8 p.m., @ Free Times Cafe, Toronto, ON.
  Open Mic. Shab-e She’r (Poetry Night) 4th Anniversary Event November 29, 2016, at Beit Zatoun, Toronto Featured poets: Anne Michaels (Fellow Open Mic Reader, George Elliot Clarke).
  Featured Reader, EMPIRE Reading Series by Phantom Books @ Art Cafe+ Bar, Brooklyn, New York, October 21, 2016.
  Featured Reader, Big On Bloor Festival @ Card Yard – Emerging Writers Ultimate Poetry Reading, July 24, 2016, Toronto, ON.
  PTSD south beach Toronto Launch @ Another Story Bookshop, June 12, 2016, Toronto.
  Featured Reader, Niagara Literary Festival 2016 @ The Niagara Falls Museum, June 2, 2016, Niagara Falls, ON.
  Featured Reader, Hannalore Headley’s Bookstore, April 30, 2016, St. Catharines, ON.
  PTSD south beach chapbook launch with Grey Borders Books @ Fine Grind Cafe, St. Catharines, ON, April 30, 2016.
  Flushed February Readers In Conversation Emerging Writers Reading Series Video Interview, April 9, 2016.
  Featured Reader, The Emerging Writers Reading Series @ Duffy’s Tavern, Toronto, ON, February 9, 2016.
  Dutt, Puneet & Kim, Michael. “Ryerson’s Graduate Student Professional Development in Teaching Program“. Poster session presented at Ryerson University Faculty Conference; May 21, 2015; Toronto, ON.
  Speaker, Fiction Panelist – Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA) 46th Annual Convention – Mad Women in the 21st Century Panel, “Dragons in Their Hearts” (short story) Fairmont Royal York, Toronto, ON, April 30-May 3, 2015.
  Speaker, Professional Panel – Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA) 46th Annual Convention – “Pursuing Alternative Career Paths” Profession and Pedagogy Division, Fairmont Royal York, Toronto, ON, April 30-May 3, 2015.
  Featured Speaker, Poetry – White Wall Review Launch, Ryerson University, 2014, Toronto, ON.
  TEACHING & WORKSHOPS

  Mentor and Workshop Instructor for TWC’s Write On! Program, with support from the Toronto Public Library.
  Creative Writing Workshop Facilitator @ Fred Victor Transitional Housing Centre via Toronto Writers Collective and Ve’ahavta.
  Introduction to Fiction (TA) – English 108 (Fall 2013), Ryerson University, Toronto, September 2013-January 2014.
  AWARDS, MEDIA, PRESS & RECOGNITION

  Longlisted, 2018 Raymond Souster Award, The Better Monsters (2017).
  (Radio Broadcast) – HOWL, CIUT 89.5 FM On-air (Air Date January 30, 2018, 10-11 p.m.) @ Hart House, Toronto, ON.
  Book Review: The Better Monsters – MichaelDennisPoet.Blogspot.ca, Thursday, December 21, 2017, Review by Michael Dennis.
  Interviewed for Asian Canadian Writers, December 3, 2017.
  Interviewed for Canadian Immigrant Magazine. November 22, 2017.
  Alumni Notice: Ryerson University Website, December 2017.
  (Radio Broadcast) – CKLN FM 88.1 On-air (Air Date TBC) Recording of Pivot Reading Series, March 8, 2017, 8 p.m., @ The Steady Café, Toronto, ON.
  Chapbook Review: PTSD south beach – Broken Pencil Magazine, Issue 74, February 17th, 2017, Review by Klara du Plessis.
  English 1001 ‘Introduction to Fiction‘ November 26, 2016, York University (Tutorial Discussion led by Kristen Smith, PhD TA: Poetry after Postmodernism, local emerging poets in Toronto, ‘the fields‘ (poem) featured in discussion, along with PTSD south beach, and the use of chapbooks as a medium).
  (TV Broadcast) Featured Poet, RogersTV, Omni, International Poetry Month segment, April 2016 Airdate April 16, 2016.
  2016 Breitling Chapbook Prize, Finalist, Phantom Books “PTSD south beach” (Grey Borders Books).
  “The Sculptor” (poem on exhibit) Poetry & Art V, Mail Art Exhibition – (Curator,
  Lois Anne) The Good Tern Coop Gallery and Café, Maine, April 1st-30th, 2016.
  4th place, “#BrinkLegislation” (flash fiction) Flash Future Contest,
  The Molotov Cocktail, Portland, Oregon, 2015.
  A 2015 Worth a Read, “#BrinkLegislation” (flash fiction), Stephen Vramey, Blogger and Author of ‘Glass Animals’ (Pure Slush Books).
  National Poetry Month’s, New Poet Selection, “The Lonesome Lunch” (poem)
  League of Canadian Poets, Toronto, 2013.
  VOLUNTEER WORK

  Judge, 16th Annual “Words from the Street” Creative Writing Contest (2017).
  Mentor and Workshop Instructor for TWC’s Write On! Program, with support from the Toronto Public Library.
  Editorial Board Member, Canthius.
  Judge, 15th Annual “Words from the Street” Creative Writing Contest (2016).
  Creative Writing Workshop Facilitator @ Fred Victor Transitional Housing Centre via Toronto Writers Collective and Ve’ahavta.
  EDITORIAL WORK

  Newsletter, (Design and Editorial) Toronto Writers Collective TWC Newsletter, September 2017.
  Anthology, Front Lines: Voices from the Toronto Writers Collective, Toronto, July 2017.
  Newsletter, (Design and Editorial) Toronto Writers Collective TWC Newsletter, December 2016.
  PUBLICATIONS

  Books

  The Better Monsters (Mansfield Press) (October 2017)
  PTSD south beach (Grey Borders Books) (2016) Chapbook
  Anthologies

  Imaginarium 4: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing, ChiZine Publications, Toronto, ON, 2015.
  The Molotov Cocktail: Prize Winners Anthology, 4th place, “#BrinkLegislation” (flash fiction) The Molotov Cocktail, Portland, Oregon, TBD.
  Journals

  “alien alien” (poem)
  World Literature Today (Online), Norman, OK (U.S.A.), July 4, 2017
  “i’m from where the towers fell” (poem)
  World Literature Today (Online), Norman, OK (U.S.A.), July 4, 2017
  “scars and prayers” (poem)
  EVENT 44/2, New Westminster, BC, 2015.
  “with eliot, with us” (poem)
  White Wall Review, Issue #38, Toronto, ON, 2014.
  “Salon” (poem)
  Canadian Literature, Vol. 217, Vancouver, BC, 2013.
  “Brains, Brains, Brains” (poem)
  Apex Magazine, Issue #66, Lexington, Kentucky, (U.S.A.) 2014.
  “The Lonesome Lunch” (poem)
  League of Canadian Poets, National Poetry Month’s New Poet Selection, Toronto, 2013.
  “#BrinkLegislation” (flash fiction, 4th place)
  The Molotov Cocktail, #FlashFuture Mega-Issue, Portland, Oregon (U.S.A.), 2015.
  PUBLICATIONS (Non-Fiction)

  “Jamaica Farewell and the Divided World: Guadalupe Muro’s Interview Questionnaire – 10 Questions with the Author of Air Carnation” BookThug Blog, August 1, 2014.
  “An Interview with Guadalupe Muro, the author of Air Carnation” BookThug Blog, July 28, 2014.
  “The Romances of Lorca, Odes Like Neruda: The Inspiration and Recording Process Behind Guadalupe Muro’s, Songs For Runaway Girls” BookThug Blog, July 4, 2014.
  ” ‘I Only Have Eyes For You’: Live readings by Aisha Sasha John and Julie Joosten at the words(on)stages reading series” BookThug Blog, June 24, 2014.
  “The Mysterious Figure Who Leaves Books All Over the City — My thoughts on Air Carnation by Guadalupe Muro and Other Things” BookThug Blog, June 9, 2014.
  “Life Actually or Never-Ending Frontiers — The Jacob Wren Interview Part 2” BookThug Blog, May 29, 2014.
  “ ‘I Have Never Watched Pornography’: Jacob Wren’s Interview Questionnaire – 11 Questions with the Author of Polyamorous Love Song” BookThug Blog, May 27, 2014.
  “Broken-Winged Blackbirds: A Delicately Scripted Interview with Sandra Ridley” BookThug Blog, May 26, 2014.
  “A Reading that Made ‘the Audience Feel Pure Joy’ ” BookThug Blog, May 13, 2014.
  WORKSHOPS, MEMBERSHIPS, ORGANIZATIONS & AFFILIATIONS

  The Native Women’s Resource Centre of Toronto – Associate Member (Self identifying non-Indigenous woman)
  Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop Society (2017)
  Black, Indigenous, People of Colour (BIPOC) Caucus @ OCAD University
  League of Canadian Poets (Full Member, 2017)
  PEN Canada (Writers in Exile)
  CWILA (Canadian Women in the Literary Arts)
  Editorial Board Member, Canthius
  Creative Writing Workshop Facilitator @ Fred Victor Transitional Housing Centre via Toronto Writers Collective and Ve’ahavta
  Member – The Arts and Letters Club (2016-present)
  Member – Science Fiction Poetry Association (2015)
  Ongoing Participant, Poetics Workshops, (Toronto, ON, Jack Spicer, w/ Hoa Nguyen)
  Participant, Poetics Workshops, (Toronto, ON, Lisa Robertson, w/Toronto New School of Writing)
  Host – The White Couch Creative Multidisciplinary Salon (2014-2015)
  Member – The Musings Collective of Writers (2014-Present)
  Participant, The Writers Studio, Fiction and Poetry (Greenwich Village, NYC, w/ Sheila Welch, 2008)

• Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop - http://www.asiancanadianwriters.ca/2017/12/interview-with-puneet-dutt-author-of.html

  QUOTED: "I think the shape of the narrative first started to form itself around the series “Cider and Whiskey in Hotel Rooms”. I had started researching experiences of military and non-military personnel who work abroad for the government, and then a richness of their voices, stories and narratives began to come together to form that work. A blend of those voices and the research first grounded the collection, and then the experiences of migration and immigration. A common thread of violence tied it all together."
  "in mentioning secrets, a number of stories, experiences and voices either held back information, shared items off-the-record or certain sections or whole poems were redacted. What interested me were the silences marked by these voices. How they chose ... leave out certain things. That is why this worked well as a book of poetry rather than non-fiction."

  December 3, 2017
  Interview with Puneet Dutt, author of The Better Monsters

  Puneet Dutt is the author of The Better Monsters, her debut collection of poetry published by Mansfield Press, 2017. Dutt's past work includes the chapbook PTSD south beach (Grey Borders Books), which was a Finalist for the 2016 Breitling Chapbook Prize. Her poetry has been published in a number of journals and in Imaginarium 4: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing. She is an editorial board member at Canthius and a creative writing workshop facilitator with the Toronto Writers Collective.

  A commentary about your poetry collection is that it "negotiates[s] the cultural complexities of politics, violence, and war in the new century, and explore the lingering effect of racism and the ideas of borders, belonging, and home in North America and beyond."

  Indeed, starting from Speak American to Throwing Stones, the poems movingly recollect memories of growing up in the US and the internal and external struggles that are experienced. Could you speak more to how you shaped the narrative of this collection?

  I think the shape of the narrative first started to form itself around the series “Cider and Whiskey in Hotel Rooms”. I had started researching experiences of military and non-military personnel who work abroad for the government, and then a richness of their voices, stories and narratives began to come together to form that work. A blend of those voices and the research first grounded the collection, and then the experiences of migration and immigration. A common thread of violence tied it all together.

  What literary pilgrimages have you gone on to inspire your writing?
  I never intentionally took any physical journeys to write this book. The geographical locations and places both mental and physical all came from past stories shared by a number of voices who were willing to share them. Additionally, my experiences first as an immigrant from India to America, and then from America to Canada were also incorporated. But it was the way in which Asian bodies moved in different parts of the world, why and what they left out during our talks or research was what interested me more. The ideology of a place, such as the idea of India is mentioned in a quote by Nehru, how military and civilian government personnel work abroad and how America deals with them when they return back “home” and the immigrant experiences of my network were all ideas I became interested in.

  What was an early experience where you learned that language had power?
  When I first immigrated to the U.S., I had to take ESL classes in public school. I was taken out of standard classes with the rest of my cohort, and tucked away separately in a basement room. We would repeat words until we memorized them. I realized that unless I learned to speak the language of the country I was in, I would never be able to communicate effectively, and thereby, have no power of my own. Language and reading and writing became an obsession after that.

  Do you hide any secrets in your books that only a few people will find?
  There are no intentional or metaphorical “secrets” in the book. The readers will interpret the work for themselves, and understand it as they would want to. But in mentioning secrets, a number of stories, experiences and voices either held back information, shared items off-the-record or certain sections or whole poems were redacted. What interested me were the silences marked by these voices. How they chose to skip, rush through, or leave out certain things. That is why this worked well as a book of poetry rather than non-fiction. I became aware that the form of poetry in the use of spaces lent itself well to this atmosphere of silence.

  What is the most difficult part of your artistic process?
  The editing process becomes difficult because it sometimes means deleting whole poems or sections you may love, and leaving in the ones you may not be so attached to. In the end, you realize it’s for the best, and the work is polished in a way that you as a writer could not have done alone.

  How long on average did it take you to write this collection, from conception to publishing it?
  Over three years. Some of the earlier concepts formed the body of my chapbook, PTSD south beach, where I was initially exploring ideas of violence, terrorism, and speaking to military personnel. From there, another year of writing this manuscript and then another year between when it was accepted by Mansfield Press, and editing it for publication.

  Have you ever written fiction? What are the differences when you shift from one to the other?
  I do write fiction, although not as much as poetry. The mind shift is intense. I can’t work on both genres simultaneously. In fact, after this, I hope to begin on fiction again. The differences start with what I read. When I’m writing poetry, I can only read poetry, and when I’m writing fiction, I can only pre-read fiction. Pre-reading fiction because when I’m writing fiction, I can’t be distracted by anything else. Although with research, I can read non-fiction at either time. Poetry is a working person’s best friend. It allows me to work for short bursts of time, without the dedicated long hours in the day. Fiction requires a daily ritual and longer hours, which I did not have the time to put in. But with my upcoming leave, I intend to use my time wisely.

  You're a working professional. How do you weave in time for your own writing? What's a day like for you as a writer?
  When I was writing this collection, I had the privilege to work with a writer’s collective that would meet regularly. While nothing from those sessions was published in this book, it helped me to extend out of my comfort zone and not work entirely alone. I had a chance to workshop items I worked on at home, and I was exposed to writers I wouldn’t have otherwise engaged with. Since this collection has launched, I’ve been devouring books again, and taking time off from writing just read for pleasure. But starting in December, I intend to use my mornings, as most writers of fiction I know do, to write. The only way to write while working is to carve out an hour or two before the workday starts. I wouldn’t have been able to do it otherwise. That means, waking up at 5:30 a.m. everyday and writing for an hour. Fiction will require much more time.

  You are a Mentor and Workshop Instructor for TWC’s Write On! Program at the Toronto Public Library. What does mentorship mean to you? How do you nurture writers?
  Mentoring writers started out from my own personal frustration. I have never been able to connect with anyone to mentor me. Any opportunities for these extended ongoing relationships or connections were shut down very early on, or weren’t a good fit. And sadder still, the reluctance I tend to get is from women-identified writers. It’s the change I want to see in the world, particularly for people of colour. I want to provide what I never had. A mentor is anyone who reads the writer’s work, provides feedback or edits, connects the writer to publishing opportunities and other writers, editors and those in the community without expecting anything in return. In the last workshop, I met a wonderful writer who went on to apply to the Banff Centre, and has now returned with new work. I continue to check on her to ask if she is still working, connect her to publishing opportunities, and meet with her to keep up our relationship. It’s been extremely rewarding. But on the reverse side of it, the one receiving the mentorship should believe in themselves. TWC workshops instill this in every person, that everyone is a writer. Also, it’s not “if” but “when” you publish. I like to reinforce that when we speak.

  What's your next writing project? Can you give us an idea of it?
  I tend to lean towards writing and reading speculative fiction, so the next work is possibly a speculative novella. It’s a work in progress, so nothing is firm yet.

  Do you have an author you would like to recommend for an interview with ACWW? Please send them to director@asiancanadianwriters.ca

QUOTED: "Thankfully, Dutt's collection is a productive contribution to a conversation about inclusion and tolerance and not a rehashing of stereotypical attitudes."
"an exciting poetic work that lives up to its emotional and linguistic potential."

Dutt, Puneet: THE BETTER MONSTERS
Kirkus Reviews. (Feb. 15, 2018):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Dutt, Puneet THE BETTER MONSTERS Mansfield Press (Indie Poetry) $17.00 11, 19 ISBN: 978-1-77126-156-2

A complex work of poetry about seeking one's rightful place in the world.

Poets have long used the topics of arrival and departure to explore feelings of belonging. In this debut book, Dutt gives us a glimpse into what a foreigner's arrival to the United States looks like: "how to then shed this skin / wrapped since youth / how to speak American / when we arrive / without our imagination / to bring down bodies." This sense of displacement festers in this book, which effectively presents a portrait of a family lost between two cultures and two generations: "We can't talk / about what we did how sometimes it's different / from the way it's shown but they think they know / and we can't tell them we can't even tell each / other." The family systematically struggles with preconceived notions that some Americans have about the Indian population. This subject matter is nothing new, especially in the modern era, but thankfully, Dutt's collection is a productive contribution to a conversation about inclusion and tolerance and not a rehashing of stereotypical attitudes. Despite the tumult of arrival in a new place, daily life is shown to function as prosaically as it did before. In "Over Cider and Whiskey in Hotel Rooms," the speaker compares the generational gap that exists between her and a figure who appears to be her son. The poem builds as the stakes get higher, though it ends on a small instance of everyday life: "we'd be so annoyed / when someone would slap the car / to pass and cross // we'd all have to get out / and check." It's these moments, when the poems seep through the speaker's humanism, that make the collection so gripping. And at times, Dutt takes readers by surprise with tragically poetic stanzas: "all those stones / go home to your country / my country? / where we are on any map."

An exciting poetic work that lives up to its emotional and linguistic potential.

Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Dutt, Puneet: THE BETTER MONSTERS." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Feb. 2018. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A527248040/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=de9949a8. Accessed 17 May 2018.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A527248040

• Today's Book of Poetry
  http://michaeldennispoet.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-better-monsters-puneet-dutt.html
  Word count: 1616

  QUOTED: "The poems in the first part of Puneet Dutt's bracing and honest The Better Monsters come from the voice of an outsider. Dutt's voice has been in camps, heard gunfire at night. But by the time we are finished Dutt is insider enough that she knows exactly how to reach us."
  "Today's book of poetry thought Puneet Dutt's poems were human in a way that allowed all readers to get to the center of them. But once there Dutt isn't reluctant to insist you see the battles and the battle scars from a new position. Dutt aims for The Better Monsters amongst us human beings and emerges at the end of her harrowing journey still embracing hope. That's courage."

  The Better Monsters - Puneet Dutt (Mansfield Press)
  Today's book of poetry:
  The Better Monsters. Puneet Dutt. Mansfield Press. Toronto, Ontario. 2017.

  The poems in the first part of Puneet Dutt's bracing and honest The Better Monsters come from the voice of an outsider. Dutt's voice has been in camps, heard gunfire at night. But by the time we are finished Dutt is insider enough that she knows exactly how to reach us.

  Whether in Jalalabad or Kabul Dutt's world-weary voice always remembers that:

  "to see fighters
  from another country with guns
  in my local market everyday
  not knowing what they were doing
  I would hate them"

  VIII
  Over Cider And Whiskey In Hotel Rooms

  Dutt's voice is also inhabited by those same fighters, lost in a world foreign enough to them to allow any extravagance or insanity.

  Alien Alien
  "he pays cash, that's why he's called Mister."
  - Oswald Joseph Mtshali

  never had an education
  took a talvar to school
  and fled the country

  records of Saturday Night Fevers
  bell bottom stone-washed jeans
  played his youth

  eyes closed
  he reached Queens

  doors closed to his
  dark room body
  doors always closed
  no matter the knock
  we were toes and whispers
  children of his parent's eyes

  he left his records behind
  walled open to VHS's
  CDs
  Deep Purple Aerosmith Bon Jovi
  another hit

  long drives
  alone in a white U-Haul
  and all the trucks he ever haggled for
  that broke down from so many miles

  Hey God, I'm just a little man got a wife and family
  he knew the songs
  the CK jeans
  Yankee's cap
  they sold him

  her and him
  two suitcases each
  so fast they left us
  to get there

  Memphis to New Orleans
  i asked him
  her
  what did you see
  criss-crossed veins
  America
  alligators and beads
  the giant peach
  what did you see

  dekhna kyah tah
  what was there

  we'd long for postcards
  textbooks
  Mount Rushmore Gettysburg America
  highways
  highways
  5 a.m. and stand
  fleamarkets sun under tarp
  until now they can't stand anymore

  i find them again
  on the same street
  weary of motels and rest stops
  bruised soap souvenirs
  of what they've been
  back to where they started
  97 to 95

  from Georgia and back
  all along the coast
  boxes we'd help make
  thought it was a game
  hide and seek
  perfumes scrunchies barrettes
  whatever they could buy

  whatever they could sell
  always afraid of who was at the door

  she kept chipped bottles
  Testers without caps
  fingered blue RI, America
  gifted us Caution: Flammable
  and sprayed
  stars and stripes

  we got through school this way
  not being stinky Pakis
  go home
  we bought
  like good greencards
  when they asked
  we bought
  swore allegiance
  to clothes and movies
  credit card after credit card
  found a way to stay

  that English
  fly tape ensnares flies with appealing colors
  Made in USA
  so much about
  explorers
  Manifest Destiny
  Christopher Columbus

  that America
  and when they try to make the rent
  next month we have it next month
  we scattered
  kids and weddings
  north and south
  they still ask us where
  we're really from

  implies place
  when i slip a hundred in her purse
  even when i dye my hair blonde
  my tongue lashed by ESL
  i can only interpret
  a weekend
  so many of us
  learned
  the odds are bet against us
  we alien alien

  ...

  Time and distance take new shape when you are on the other side of the world from where you started, the earth your toes remember both too far away to touch and too long ago for warmth.

  Punnet Dutt's tender and tragic poems seat the reader in the empty space endured by those who are forced to leave their own terra firma, their own culture, their own countries. Dutt makes it real on the page.

  Today's book of poetry thinks that Puneet Dutt talks from both sides of the invisible fence that impedes all our human travails and this encompassing vision serves her well. As harrowing as some of the moments these poems endure, Dutt's voice ultimately never gives up hope and that's the magic.

  Coordinates

  it's 4 a.m. and clear
  13 degrees centigrade
  in Jalalabad

  Google can't calculate the drive the
  walk or how long it will take by TTC
  only shows the expanse of impossible
  blue
  the mouth of the South Pacific
  the fingernail of Chile
  and Hawaii the crumbs

  i type:
  "calculate distance between two coordinates"
  and receive
  the haversine formula

  to calculate distance between two points--that is
  the shortest distance over the earth's surface
  and the bearing between two latitudes

  purplemath.com promises
  the distance formula its origin its use
  the length of hypotenuse is the distance between two
  points

  another
  says to just type your equations and let the calculator do
  the rest!
  to find the distance between two points
  (X1,Y1) and (X2,Y2)
  all that you need to do is use the--

  but all i want to know is
  how far
  from daughter
  from mother
  from herself she will be
  from me
  when she returns

  ...

  Our morning read was a little more low key than usual. Apparently our entire staff, moi included, decided that we could drink all the red wine we could find in the bar. Amateurs that we are we left three bottles standing at the end of the night but we'd admirably polished off several of their friends. The morning read was subdued intensity tempered by aspirin. But Dutt's voice was clear, despite our fumbling efforts, these poems worked. They have been tempered over hotter flame then any of us will endure.

  Reasons To Throw Stones

  America begins
  this way
  48 Trenton St.
  where i slowly ask
  what i'd thought of for a year--
  why did you leave me behind?

  she sniffs and
  immediately pulls me toward a bath alarmed
  by the size of my long loose undergarments
  stitched in India elastic frills and ribbons at
  each end you can't wear those!
  i'll have to take you
  shopping!
  sluicing me over the head with measuring
  cups of soap

  immediately America begins with a vigorous
  scrubbing immediately i change and please so
  immediately i know America is not for big
  open questions my mother brandishes card
  after card slashing through lines builds my
  closed of each auditions next day don't give
  them reasons to throw stones this she gives me
  now i arrive in Canada i don't know what to
  do immediately when i arrive to Canada what
  to do immediately?

  ...

  Today's book of poetry thought Puneet Dutt's poems were human in a way that allowed all readers to get to the center of them. But once there Dutt isn't reluctant to insist you see the battles and the battle scars from a new position. Dutt aims for The Better Monsters amongst us human beings and emerges at the end of her harrowing journey still embracing hope.

  That's courage.

  Punnet Dutt

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  Puneet Dutt received her MA in English from Ryerson University. She is the author of the chapbook PTSD south beach (Grey Borders Books), which was a Finalist for the 2016 Breitling Chapbook Prize (Phantom Books). Her work has been published in a number of journals and in Imaginarium 4: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing. She was born in India and raised in New Jersey. She now resides in Toronto with her husband, where she is an editorial board member at Canthius and a creative writing workshop facilitator with the Toronto Writers Collective. She can be found online at puneetdutt.com.