‘A 320-page poetry anthology, entitled, Eternal Snow, dedicated to the internationally renowned poet Yuyutsu Sharma has just been published. Subtitled as ‘A Worldwide Anthology of One Hundred Twenty-Five Poetic Intersections with Himalayan Poet Yuyutsu RD Sharma’ the book explores the interactions, collisions, and intersections of over 125 poets from four Continents with the Himalayan poet.
Edited by distinguished American litterateurs, David Austell of Columbia University, New York, and Kathleen D Gallagher, of University of Akron, Ohio, the mammoth anthology is “a testament to the power of words to inspire, encourage, and heal across vastly disparate cultures and distant places.”
Yuyutsu Sharma is a Himalayan poet whose works have gained a global recognition. This anthology, in particular, is a homage by poets who’ve interacted with Sharma during his legendary world tours. The poems reflect praise, appreciation, and gratitude to the mountain poet, Yuyutsu Sharma.
Not only poets, the book contains poems written after meeting or listening to Sharma’s Himalayan recitals by people from various walks of life including teachers, scientists, social workers, photographers, priests and Yoga teachers.
“When you first meet Himalayan poet Yuyutsu RD Sharma,” says, James Ragan, Professor Emeritus of English from the University of Southern California, “you are taken immediately by his quiet passion and reverence for the art and purpose of poetry, which, when taking the stage, he transforms into a voice that crosses continents and soars like the snow in wind that permeates “the solemn silence of sacred sounds” in his beloved Nepal. Through his intercession, poems become chants of eternality.”
Ragan adds, “He has sought the same in the poets represented in his anthology “Eternal Snow,” a hundred voices who, like him, give reverence to the power of words in translating truth through passion into a universal poetic of sacred sounds.”
In the Preface to the Anthology, Professor David Austell, opines, “Yuyu has touched the hearts and minds of a multitude of people and writers around the world, as evidenced in this wonderful book… It is my delight and honor to be among such a cloud of witnesses.”
“No matter where the poets live, from a small city to large, to countryside or village,” points out Kathleen Gallagher, editor of the Anthology, “Yuyutsu’s poetry and teachings transform writers from across the world, allowing them to reach into their own writing dreams and visions.
“Indeed, each poet no matter his or her walk in life, whether professional poet, performer, professor, minister, or word-loving hairstylist who scribbles down thoughts about her love for her dying mother,” Gallagher discerns, ”all have discovered his or her own creative awakenings when encountering Yuyutsu Sharma’s work. Yuyutsu’s work has far-reaching effects in personal transformation.”
In addition to scores of literary luminaries like David Ray, James Ragan, Ravi Shankar, Eileen O’Connor, Gorka Lasa, Pascale Petit, Elena Karina Byrne, Chuck Joy, Amarendra Khatua, Ruth Danon, Tim Tomlinson, Verónica Aranda, John Clarke, David Axelrod, Tony Barnstone, Art Good Times, Robin Metz, Barbara Novack, Hélène Cardona, Irene O’ Garden, Carolyn Wells, Diane Frank, Bill Wolak, ‘Eternal Snow’ is also special as it contains nearly a dozen Nepali poets including Bishwa Sigdel, Arun Budhathoki, Revegya Joshi, Shreejana Bhandari, Barun Bajracharya and Civa Bhusal.
At a local poetry gathering in Kathmandu when Nepali poet Arun Budhathoki last met Yuyutsu, he said, “With the publication of this book, I can finally pause and take a deep breath.” He added, “It’s humbling to know I have been able to speak to the world’s most sanguine voices during my decade long ramblings across the far flung continents. Not all poets have the fortune to get touched so meaningfully in their life time as I have. Now I finally can rest in peace.”
The book will be launched in New York at Yoga Sole, Brooklyn on Oct 21, 7:30 pm.
Nirala News in association with News Agencies
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