Fire's Goal: Poems from the Hindu Year » (1ST WHITE)

The poems of Fire's Goal reflect a year of journeys to sacred river sources in India. Laurie Patton's poems were written after a decade of writing and reading in interpretation of India's most sacred Sanskrit compositions — the Vedas. The book's first half, "Festavals," follows the main festivals of a Hindu year. Each poem is written in the voice of a bhakta, or devotee, as he or she performs rituals of devotion — whether it be floating a flame down a river at Diwali or listening to the bell at a Ganesh temple at Ganeshotsav. The second half of the book, "Crossings," refers to the traditional term tirtha, or holy place. In India, a tirtha is a place where a god crossed over to be on earth. "Crossings" employs the images of Sanskrit learning to think about ordinary moments in contemporary life — a lost lover, running with dogs, an encounter with a spiderweb, what a widow might say about her broken bangles. Fire's Goal is a poetic journey into the spirituality of India, with complimentary text that explains the festivals and sacrifices of Hinduism.

Publishers Weekly

The first half of this book of devotional poetry is structured around festivals of the Hindu year, including Divali, Krsna Jayanti, the Night of Siva and Ganesha Chaturthi. Through the poems, Patton, a professor of Indian religions at Emory University, seeks to evoke the experience of a devotee. "Each [poem] attempts to portray a moment in the mind of such a person as he or she performs rituals of devotion," says Patton. The book's second half takes up the idea of gods crossing over to earth in particular holy places; some of these poems are in both English and Sanskrit. A brief appendix offers descriptions of each holiday and notes on some mythic symbols. (Sept. 20) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.