Amit Majmudar is the author of the new poetry collection Dothead. He also has written the poetry collections 0° , 0° and Heaven and Earth, and the novels The Abundance and Partitions. He is the Ohio Poet Laureate, and his work has appeared in a variety of publications, including The Kenyon Review and The New York Times. In addition, he is a diagnostic nuclear radiologist. He lives in Dublin, Ohio.
Q: How did you choose the title of your new collection--which is also the
title of the first poem in the book--and what does it signify for you?
A: The title of the book relates to the title poem, in which
I refer to the dot worn on the forehead by a Hindu woman. Its significance is
that of a poignant personal symbol (related to my mom) and a powerful
mythological symbol (related to Shiva's third eye) that was commandeered by
hatred and turned into an ethnic slur; and which I, by writing the poem, and
the book itself, have "taken back."
Q: Your poems touch on a variety of issues, and you write in
a variety of forms. How do you decide on the form to use for a particular poem,
and is there one that you prefer?
A: I don't decide the form. The poem decides the form, and I
find out the poem's decision as I write the poem.
Q: How did you decide on the order in which the poems would
appear in the book?
A: I put "ethnic" and "political"
content first, to attract the attention to book review editors, who would
conclude that the book as a whole was "relevant" to a larger social
conversation--and hopefully earmark it for review.
In the middle I put some historically based poetry because
non-American history is not a typical theme in poetry. If American poets
write about history, they're usually writing about racism and slavery. I was
writing about World War I and Rimbaud running guns in Africa; one must bury
such things in the middle or end.
At the end I closed out with a poem called
"Invocation," which was just to be contrary--an invocation is
supposed to go at the beginning of a book, not at the end.
Q: You're also a radiologist, and in a recent NPR interview
you described the similarities between seeking patterns in medicine and
language. Can you describe how the two fields coexist for you?
A: Independently, in practice. But I would point out that a
good radiology report, like a good poem, knows when to be precise, and when to
stay ambiguous.
Q: In addition, you're the poet laureate of Ohio. What does
that responsibility involve?
A: Whatever I wish it to! That's the up side to being the
first one. I get to make this up as I go along.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: As always, more. More poetry and more fiction; and,
hopefully, more truth and more beauty.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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