It was an enormous honor and delight to get to speak at the 11th World Tamil Conference in Kuala … [Read More] about The 11th World Tamil Conference
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“This translation provides a refreshing remembrance and illustration (without the usual reprimands and dire warnings) of how to be a good steward of the planet and what it means to live a good life—a much-needed map of astonishingly humane guidance and care.”
—Aimee Nezhukumatathil, author of World of Wonders
Here are two other favorites, both about our sense of home and what it means to live well.
“If we hope to proceed into the future as a civilized country, we are going to need the work and the example of young people such as Mr. Pruiksma.”
—Wendell Berry, from a letter recommending the author
“Thomas Pruiksma’s translations present ancient wisdom-teaching poems in luminous, sparkling English as lively and rich as they must have been in the 12th century Tamil of their author, Avvaiyar. Read these poems; eat these poems; give them away; live with them. They are a joy.”
—Sam Hamill, author of Habitation: Collected Poems
Why Write In a Time of Turmoil?
It's easy to say what I do. I write poetry and prose, translate from Tamil and Spanish, perform original work, and teach for Cozy Grammar.
But it's harder to say why I do it, especially when the times are so tumultuous.
If you pressed me, though, I would stop for a moment and then say what I felt was true.
It might come out something like this:
As night falls on Sunday
the floor swept the rug clean
I can almost imagine
the whole world at peace
without oceans dying out
whole peoples disappearing
fire and smoke rising
as we race to the finish
where all that we know
will be finished
how can one sleep in peace
and yet we must sleep
to keep rising awake
able to walk and
work another way
where resting at evening
as the sun falls away is
peace is enough
is a world in itself
working to be whole
once more
Or at least that's how it came to me in "Sabbath," from The Safety of Edges, which says part of what I'd want to tell you.
But I'm still listening for what else there is to say.
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The Grammar of Possibility
Along with writing and speaking, I'm proud to serve as Language Consultant for the Cozy Grammar Series of Online Video Courses, showing how grammar can help foster and enhance creativity.