Dania Rajendra

  • diaspora daughter

    I’m not Muslim and I’m the right kind of brown and I called my family in Mysore today as I do most Sundays because #daughterofanimmigrant and they asked, as they often do, “when are you coming to visit?” And I said, “now it is so hard” and I could hear… Read more ⇢

  • new moments need many forms of writing

    I’ve got a non-fiction piece up at JewSchool about standing strong in my Jewish values in this post-election moment. Any day I get to reference Sparticus  — the second movie credited with ending the Hollywood Blacklist under/after McCarthy —  is a good day! Read more ⇢

  • “An unassuming grace”

    Of [my] poem, BK, AM, Randall Mann wrote: “‘There are so many things to admire…a delicacy; a charity of things left appropriately unsaid; an ease that looks easy, but isn’t.”” My poem and the lovely things Randall said are here, on the Podium site. I’m very honored he chose it for a prize… Read more ⇢

  • April showers, May flowers…

    After a long, long fallow period, I feel super sunny that my byline has popped up twice this spring.  Fruit: New Year’s Instructions, in Alimentum’s 2014 Menu Poems — my first foray into published poetry. I’m thrilled my new little lyric found a perfect home, in a journal I admire so often.  Cold water holds Spilled sweetness Bean: Cloudy… Read more ⇢

  • My Writing Process Blog Tour

    Thanks to Esther Cohen, poet, book doctor, and badass organizer for inviting me to participate in this blog tour. Esther and I have been labor-organizer/worker-arts friends for many years. Lately we are poet friends and drinking friends and friends who frequent hat sample sales, in addition to our ongoing political commitments. … Read more ⇢

  • Oulipost #11

    The catch up is a cheat, as is using an article dated yesterday on the web but in today’s paper. My excuse? The paper wasn’t delivered yesterday (or was stolen). Also, it was Shabbos (still is, nonetheless). here is a univocal poem. All the words must be sourced from the… Read more ⇢

  • Oulipost #10: Snowball

    On this first day of real spring I am struggling with “snowball” on many levels. But the show must go on:    “oy”   A On Far… Poof? Verge Future, [Verge] Discuss Appeared Jerusalem Insistence, Authority   Kershner, Israel, “Israel Says It Is ‘Deeply Disappointed’ by Kerry’s Remarks, New York Times, 10… Read more ⇢

  • Oulipost #9: Headlines

    The prompt: Compose a poem whose body is sourced from the headlines in your newspaper.    I used most of the headlines in the front section of today’s Times. Paper edition. Plus an ad for Land’s End.    A Deal with the Devil, Or, Poachers Attack Beloved Elders   Beloved… Read more ⇢

  • Oulipost #8: Beautiful Inlaw

    The prompt: Make a poem out of only the letters of a name in your article. Much like other high-stakes endeavors, it’s all about picking the right person. Johnson, Luke, “Elizabeth Warren Picks a Fight with Paul Ryan,” The Huffington Post 7 April 2014. Blitz the hater, Liz. He, wealthier,… Read more ⇢

Dania Rajendra

writes to showcase solidarity across many kinds of difference.

thanks for reading my words