Dothead Poems [Paperback]

A captivating, no-holds-barred collection of new poems from an acclaimed poet and novelist with a fierce and original voice

Dotheadis an exploration of selfhood both intense and exhilarating. Within the first pages, Amit Majmudar asserts the claims of both the self and the other: the title poem shows us the place of an Indian American teenager in the bland surround of a mostly white peer group, partaking of imagery from the poet’s Hindu tradition; the very next poem is a fanciful autobiography, relying for its imagery on the religious tradition of Islam. From poems about the treatment at the airport of people who look like Majmudar (“my dark unshaven brothers / whose names overlap with the crazies and God fiends”) to a long, freewheeling abecedarian poem about Adam and Eve and the discovery of oral sex,Dotheadis a profoundly satisfying cultural critique and a thrilling experiment in language. United across a wide range of tones and forms, the poems inhabit and explode multiple perspectives, finding beauty in every one.

“Supurb….inventive, playful….Majmudar finds poetry in the modern world where we least expect it.”—Bookpage
 
“Especially perceptive about manhood and its meanings…Dotheadis charming and urgent in equal measure.”  —Dwight Garner,The New York Times
 
Library Journal listed DOTHEAD as one of their Spring poetry picks of 2016 for pointedly offering commentary on those who aren't always at home in America.

Dotheadamounts to nothing less than a torrent of poetic inventiveness driven by the inexhaustible poetic energy of Amit Majmudar. His delight in deploying his formal skills combines remarkably with his wide range of interests to produce a collection of poetry both riveting and enviable. Drones, torture, immigration, weaponlã