'Never write about your grandmother'- Tishani Doshi and Priscila Uppal

On 22^nd April NCLA played host to Tishani Doshi and Priscila Uppal. Two poets whose work takes in a wealth of inspirations- from Doshi’s dancing to Uppal’s work as Canada’s official Olympic poet in residence.

The evening opened with a reading of Uppal’s work. She ignited the audiences interest with poems in which she variously wrestled with Plato, ate yams with Usain Bolt and fenced with Don Quixote. What soon became noticeable was that however eclectic her influences were for each poem they all ended with a final line of great impact. They were variously moving, unsettling and inspiring. As Bill Herbert, introducing the poets for the evening quoted, Uppal is ‘bound to get in trouble in every political system in the world’.

 Tishani Doshi read next, interspersing her poems with anecdotes about the mysterious processes underpinning their development. I was struck by the penetrating and intoxicating rhythm in which she read. 

Poems about ‘blue-skinned gods and magical flutes’, ‘cypress trees and hunts for treasure’ and ‘Madras temple priests’ whirled past in an exhilarating maelstrom of sensations and images. Afterwards questions to the two poets were invited. One audience member perhaps summed up the shared response of the audience, simply saying- ‘I’m stunned.’

 The links between dance, athleticism and poetry were discussed, with Uppal commenting that ‘both athletes and poets process pain for a living.’ The ways in which a poet can remain productive but inspired were also considered. Both poets agreed that the one piece of solid advice a young Uppal had been given- ‘never write about your grandmother’ had to various degrees been broken by both. An innovative approach and a disregard for convention being perhaps two reasons this event was so mesmerising.