IMMORTELLE AND BHANDAARAA POEMS is Lelawattee Manoo-Rahming’s second collection of poetry, shortlisted for the International Proverse Prize for Literature (2009). / Inspired by the Hindu philosophy of reincarnation, many of the poems in this new collection are written in memory of loved ones. But, in the same way that the orange and red flowers of the Immortelle tree flame the forests and plains of Trinidad, these poems are brightened with imagery of hope and rebirth. The brilliant flowers of the Immortelle tree also evoke the flames in Hindu cremation ceremonies. Thirteen days after the cremation, Bhandaaraa puja is performed to help the newly-released soul depart this earthly plane. These poems are like the Bhandaaraa prayers that feed the souls of the dead and the living. Manoo-Rahming’s Immortelle and Bhandaaraa Poems is filled with scenes from the poet’s physical landscape which spans the Caribbean, from The Bahamas, her present home, to Trinidad, the land of her birth. The language of these sensual poems is a syncretism of her East Indian-derived Bhojpuri Hindi and her Trinbagonian creole, peppered with nuances of the Bahamian vernacular. This syncretism is reflected in the themes of the poems. Although many of the poems deal with Indo-Caribbean anthropology, the collection embraces other cultures and religions which are present in the Caribbean, and speaks to the fluidity in philosophy that can exist and flourish, in such plural societies.
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