Overview

Poetry is the language of the soul. In translation, what does it become? Khas Pidgin is a poetic memoir of an alien non-native speaker in both Nepali and English. "Most of the Khas-Nepali poems collected here were written in Kathmandu before 2005. These early poems possess a kind of raw intensity and emotional authenticity that do not come easily to a poet focused solely on style, excellence in craft. The attempt to translate these proved to be a challenging experience--they fail, obviously, if translated word by word. The earliest works of a poet may not be excellent, but they serve a critical, social or historical function; they help us re/discover the lost, suppressed or forgotten ways and territories of their being in their contemporary society, and the world." (- from the introduction to "Khas Pidgin")