In the mail yesterday arrived a copy of Andrew Schelling's latest book, Erotic Love Poems from India. This is a beautifully designed hardback book with a painting of an Indian maiden washing her hair against a rich saffron background gracing the cover. The end pages are a deep orange color nicely mirroring the cover image. These poems are translations of the Amarusataka, the "one hundred poems of Amaru", one of India's finest collections of love poetry. The book is laid out one poem per page and includes both an introduction and aferword by the poet. As I opened the book to browse thru the poems, the cloth bookmarker fell open to the following poems:

8

Your lover sits
dejected
scratching figures in the dirt outside.
Your friends won't eat
their eyes are swollen from crying.
There's no silly chatter from the
household parrots
and you're a wreck.
Stubborn girl, isn't it
time to quit
sulking?


9

Women of intrepid
charm
can't be stopped -
they'll even steal what they want.
Why be timid? Tears cannot bring
satisfaction.
You want him,
he's hungry fo sexual pleasure
try some crudely explicit suggestion
and make
him your own.

If you are not already familiar with Andrew's work, check out his earlier work Dropping the Bow and Tea Shack Interior. I can not recommend his work enough.