In God’s Messy Workplace: New Poems by Yuyutsu Sharma

Description

In God’s Messy Workplace is the Himalayan poet Yuyutsu Sharma’s poignant response to the recent pandemic era. Known worldwide for his evocative verse, Yuyutsu weaves an epic narrative that captures both personal and collective turmoil during these extraordinary times.

Set primarily in Kathmandu, where Yuyutsu spent two years in isolation, and tracing his tentative efforts to resume a suspended global tour, the book chronicles a humble life lived under the shadow of brooding glaciers. It opens with the arrival of the monsoon in a verdant glade, as the protagonist awaits his beloved’s footsteps on the creaking stairs of his riverside home.

He holds his breath to hear distant and disheartening news—a “noxious prophecy of impending doom”—while pressing his ear to the ground to catch the fleeting “bolero of joy” that momentarily disrupts the silence engulfing his world. Alone in his room, “trapped by a despot racing over fields of humanity’s joy,” the poet dreams of seagulls crying across distant oceans. As the pandemic deepens, he finds himself running out of ink to capture the agony of human and animal suffering across the globe.

Witnessing the staggering loss of lives, Yuyutsu rails against the indifference of callous rulers who turn a blind eye to the plight of migrant workers trudging back to their desolate homelands in his own subcontinent. Ultimately, the book transforms into a sweeping saga of humanity’s struggle to find solace amidst the century’s gravest crisis.

The collection concludes with his travels in Ireland, where Yuyutsu seeks to regain his equilibrium and reclaim his role as a wandering bard. These intensely vivid poems of love, loss, quiet protest, and healing stand as a testament to resilience during turbulent times—a true gift from the Himalayan poet.

“World renowned Himalayan poet”

—The Guardian

“He is a United Nation of poetry with absolute integrity and honesty, a great poet W.H. Auden and William Carlos Williams would applaud. If the Lord were in the audience or classroom, he would applaud too…”

—Stanley Moss, American Poet

“Yuyutsu Sharma is one of  the finest poets on Planet earth.”

—Sean Thomas Dougherty

“Yeah! And Yuyutsu is … a perfect example of the cosmopolitanism of literary work.”

, Tom Lutz, American novelist, Los Angeles Review of Books