Ants and Lotus

The poems written by Ruxandra Cesereanu and Usha Akella harmonize and become a unique song in two voices. Usha is more realistic, Ruxandra is more mystical, but the two poets fly together like the wings of a single bird. This could be the first in a series of collaboration between poets from different cultures breaching the walls of the imperial language.

—Andrei Codrescu, poet, novelist, essayist, Peabody award & Pushcart Prize winner

These poems are moments of transparent truth captured by two poets of kindred spirits, Usha Akella and Ruxandra Cesereanu. The spontaneity of the creative dialogue flows unhindered with no doublespeak, nor any ego tussle; this is a coming together. Sometimes there is the frenzy of a whirling dervish, at times the stillness of a baby in deep sleep. A new language is sought if only to find the old elemental one. The dialogue, in reality, evolves as a reflective monologue, a gradual merger of two distinct voices seeking to locate poetry with the meter of friendship. Each poem embraces the reader’s consciousness into its folds…outside of time, outside of space.

Usha’s poetic salutation to the nine goddesses invites Ruxandra’s response in her nine evocative captures of ‘godliness’ of poetry. The two pilgrims emanate faith in the power of idioms, making their passage through the tunnel of language vibrant, and their ‘seeking’ wholesome. This book of poems is a counter-archive to the contemporary cacophony of self-advertisement or sheer political propaganda.

—Sukrita Paul Kumar, Aruna Asaf Ali Chair, Delhi University, poet and artist

The universal importance of poetry is best exemplified by such bold and unique projects where two poets from different cultural, linguistic, and poetic backgrounds put together their disparate but sound experiences, poetic skills, and imaginative wealth in order to compose an unprecedented, intricate epistolary work where all these elements crisscross each other, upgrade, and blend into a body of magnificent verse.

—Zoran Anchevski, poet, academician, & former director, Struga Poetry Evenings

What a pleasure to enter this lively, joyful conversation between two poets. Usha Akella and Ruxandra Cesereanu have distinct voices but harmonize across nations, languages, and pages. Ants and Lotus forges a shared lyric world, circling questions of identity, belonging, loss and the nature of poetic practice. Like standing in the midst of birdsong, this is a duet you won’t soon forget.

—Kirun Kapur, author, Women in the Waiting Room