Episode 10 - Exploring A. K. Ramanujan's Poetic Masterpieces

This Week in Poetry: A. K. Ramanujan on Waiting, Farewells, Returning, and Daily DrivelIn this episode of This Week in Poetry, I read and discuss four poems by A. K. Ramanujan from Uncollected Poems and Prose (Oxford India Paperback, 2001), and I recommend Journey’s: A Poet’s Diary (Penguin Random House, 2019). I introduce “Waiting,” describing a speaker watching a family of four pass by while he waits aimlessly, then I read the poem in full. I move to “Farewells,” reflecting on everyday goodbyes—comic delays at a railway station and an unfinished cooperative-society presentation—alongside poignant, distinctly Indian leave-takings in a dying patriarch’s household. I read “Returning,” which ends with the realization that the speaker is 61 and motherless for 40 years. I close with “Daily Drivel, a monologue” (1992), a fast-paced list of chores contrasted with “you” going to see Othello, and I thank listeners and invite them to share the episode.00:00 Welcome and Reading List00:54 Waiting Poem Setup02:18 Waiting Full Reading03:24 Farewells Essay Connection04:50 Farewells Full Reading06:46 Returning Poem Setup07:23 Returning Full Reading08:19 Daily Drivel Poem Setup09:34 Daily Drivel Full Reading10:55 Closing and Sign Off This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit poetryprofessor.substack.com