Poems That Touched Me BY MEENA ALEXANDER
Diagnosis
BY MEENA ALEXANDER
So how will it end?
You want it straight?
He looked me in the eye:
You will lose weight,
Become more and more tired.
This kind will not enter your bones or brain.
I stared at him, ravished.
Could not pluck my eyes from his old man face.
This one simply made me sad, and I wanted to share it
Meena Alexander: An Overview
Early Life and Education
A poet, scholar, and writer from India and the United States, Meena Alexander has been known for her incendiary poetry and vivid prose. She was born on February 17, 1951, in Allahabad and spent most of her childhood in Kerala, Sudan, and England until she finally found a home in the United States. This diverse background has deeply influenced her work with themes of dislocation, identity, and intense experiences of being an immigrant.
Academic and Literary Career
Alexander graduated undergraduate at Khartoum University in the Sudan and then made her way to England to take a Ph.D. in English from Nottingham University. She has taught at numerous institutions, among them Hunter College and the CUNY Graduate Center in New York.
This was also complemented by a prolific literary career. To her credit, there are several collections of poetry, novels, and essays for which she gained critical acclamations for her lyrical style and profound engagement with the concerns of exile, memory, and cultural identity. Some of them include:
- Collections of Poetry: Illiterate Heart (2002), Raw Silk (2004), and Atmospheric Embroidery (2018)
- Novels: Nampally Road (1991) and Manhattan Music (1997)
- Memoir: Fault Lines (1993)
Themes and Style
Much of Alexander’s writing leaned on the interplay between personal history and broader socio-political contexts. Her poetry is extraordinarily vivid, emotional in its intensity, and rich in such themes as migration, displacement, and belonging. In her works, one finds a blend of the different cultures encountered throughout her life: from Indian heritage to experiences made in Africa, Europe, and America.
