SONGS OF KABIR - KABIR trans. By ARVIND KRISHNA MEHROTRA

I just had a brief personal debate about how to even title this entry, since it isn’t totally clear who should be credited as the author of this slim volume. Obviously it’s by “Kabir” but as the two intros make quite clear, Kabir is some sort of collection of poems, authored by many people and groups, sometime from the late 1300’s to early 1500’s in Northern India. On top of that Mehrotra gives a very eclectic and idiosyncratic translation including references to “Sing Sing” and using phrases like, “a bootlicker’s smile” that makes the poems feel more visceral and less like an assignment. But they do make them a product of Mehrotra’s artistry as well. I would definitely like to seek out more translations of Kabir after this, the poetry is really striking and spiritually charged. Given how popular Rumi is in the West, I’m pretty surprised that Kabir isn’t well known here. Hell, I only picked up this book because it was short, I wanted to read some poetry and I’m always interested in whatever Wendy Doinger has to say, and he wrote the preface to this book. Kabir tills much of the same ground as Rumi does, the poems are about spiritual truths beyond Hinduism and Islam, the major forces in Kabir’s India as well as two systems that Kabir has a deep understanding, respect and criticism for. “What’s your problem muezzin? / Can’t you see you’re a walking / Mosque yourself?.../Cut the throat of desire, / Not a poor goat’s, if you must.” Sentiments in that vein. Kabir is also deeply interested in a form called ulatbamsi which Mehrotra renders as “ poetry in an upside down language” which is very full of paradox and contradictions like, “a tree with flowering roots'' or “Fish spawning / on treetops;”. enjoyed the combination of light and breezy language and verse, packed with nonsense and profundity. Nice little break from the head-y stuff, some of these lines will stick with me for a while. Would love to read more Kabir and more Kabir by different translators.