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Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma

author, poet, teacher, and performer

  • Books
    • THE KURAL: Tiruvalluvar’s Tirukkural
    • The Safety of Edges
    • Give, Eat, and Live: Poems of Avvaiyar
    • Body and Earth
    • A Feast for the Tongue
    • Juan Rulfo’s Pedro Páramo
    • Other Writings
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“Don’t Think to Conquer” from Avvaiyar’s Moothurai | அடக்கம் உடையார் அறிவிலர் என்றெண்ணி

June 28, 2021

A poem about restraint, patience, and surprise, from the 12th century Tamil woman, poet, and saint Avvaiyar.

Don’t think to conquer the one who holds back,
Concluding he must lack sense.
                                                     Perched on the sluicegate
Letting the running fish run, the white crane
Waits for the catch.

Moothurai 16, “Adakkam udayar arivilar.”

Translated from the Tamil by Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma
GIVE, EAT, AND LIFE: POEMS OF AVVAIYAR
Red Hen Press, Los Angeles

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“Recess” from The Safety of Edges

June 10, 2021

A poem about sensing beyond what people say.

“Recess,” by Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma
THE SAFETY OF EDGES
Marrowstone Press, Seattle

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“To Behold a Good Person” from Avvaiyar’s Moothurai | நல்லாரைக் காண்பதுவும் நன்றே

May 29, 2021

A poem about staying close to goodness, from the 12th century Tamil woman, poet, and saint Avvaiyar.

To behold a good person is good. To hear
His words full of goodness is good.
                                                           To speak
Of a good person’s character is good. Good
To find a place in his company.

Moothurai 8, “Nallarai kanbathum nandre.”

Translated from the Tamil by Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma
GIVE, EAT, AND LIFE: POEMS OF AVVAIYAR
Red Hen Press, Los Angeles

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“The Walk Home” from The Safety of Edges

May 21, 2021

A poem about springtime in springtime and beyond.

“The Walk Home,” by Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma
THE SAFETY OF EDGES
Marrowstone Press, Seattle

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“Like Water Birds that Leave” from Avvaiyar’s Moothurai | அற்ற குளத்தின் அறுநீர்ப் பறவைபோல்

May 7, 2021

A poem about true friendship by the 12th century Tamil woman, poet, and saint Avvaiyar. From her collection, “The Word that Endures.”

Like water birds that leave a dried-up lake
Those who flee trouble are not friends.
                                                                Like the lilies
And lotuses staying in that lake,
Those who stick with you—friends.

Moothurai 17, “Atra kulathil aruneer paravai pol.”

Translated from the Tamil by Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma
GIVE, EAT, AND LIFE: POEMS OF AVVAIYAR
Red Hen Press, Los Angeles

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“Hushed” from The Safety of Edges

April 29, 2021

A poem about the inner source of music.

HUSHED

In the library the young girl
her mother checking email
sang a little song she was
making in the moment it wasn’t
being sung for her mother
or herself it wasn’t being sung
for anyone around her it was only
being sung for the sake
of being sung her heart and mouth
moving in the movement of the song
and I knew who she was
beyond what I knew she was me
as a child singing to be singing
and I knew that her mother
in the library would stop her
would tell her to be quiet
how could she not but oh
for the singing that seeks
no applause and is ours
even in the silence

“Hushed,” by Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma
THE SAFETY OF EDGES
Marrowstone Press, Seattle

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“Tough Does Not Beat Tender” from Avvaiyar’s “Nalvali” | வெட்டனவை மெத்தனவை வெல்லாவாம்

April 23, 2021

A poem about true strength: “Tough Does Not Beat Tender,” from the 12th century Tamil woman, poet, and saint Avvaiyar and her book Nalvazhi, “The Right Road.”

Tough does not beat tender. Arrows
Pierce elephants, not cotton.
                                                Rods of iron
Cannot crack stone, but a tree’s green roots
Split rocks.

Nalvazhi 33, “Vettanavai methanavai vellavam.”

Translated from the Tamil by Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma
GIVE, EAT, AND LIFE: POEMS OF AVVAIYAR
Red Hen Press, Los Angeles

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“Senior Year”

April 8, 2021

I was honored to have a story published in the Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber this week as part of the Literary Project of Open Space for Arts and Community and their !Attention! Artists at Work program. The theme for the project was “Close to Home.”

SENIOR YEAR
By Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma

Janelle stared at the computer screen with dread. Her granddaughter had talked her through using Room or Boom or whatever it was called more times than she could count, but getting ready to do it always made her feel nervous. “Just follow your list,” she heard Gweneth saying. Now that Gweneth was almost done with college, she called herself Gwen, but Janelle still thought of her as Gweneth. Gweneth told her it was fine, “You have grandmother’s rights,” but Janelle still wanted to honor her wishes.

Outside the window she saw Barbara, her closest neighbor, taking out the garbage with her purple-pink mask. At least when she talked on her computer Janelle didn’t have to wear a mask. How else could she make herself understood?

Gweneth’s helpful list, which Janelle had taped to the tabletop beside her large mouse, said the next thing to do was to click the link in her email. She’d managed to find the link and clicked the left button on her mouse with her right index finger, watching the screens open and close. Join with video? Yes. Join with audio? Yes. But when Gweneth appeared, her screen looked different than last time.

“Grandma,” Gweneth said, “can you hear me?” She seemed to be standing outside. Janelle had expected to see Gweneth’s bedroom, since she was home from college for the month.

“Loud and clear, my dear,” she answered.

“Oh good,” said Gweneth.

“But Gwen, for some reason, your picture looks different. There are these bars on both sides of your face. Do I need to adjust something?”

“Oh, that’s fine, I’m on my cell phone, Grandma.”

“You can use Joom on your cell phone?”

“Yes, Grandma, you can use Zoom on a cell phone. I’ll show you sometime.”

“Zoom, yes, of course.” Janelle picked up her pencil to write down the name, then saw that she’d written it already. Why hadn’t she remembered to look? Maybe she should write the letters a little darker.

“Grandma,” Gweneth said, “I have a surprise for you.”

Actually it wasn’t completely a surprise. During their last “Grandma Tea,” Gweneth had mentioned she might have a surprise for her next time. Still, Janelle felt a little rush of anticipation, as if she herself were the granddaughter, not Gwen.

“Just talking to you is a surprise, my dear. I’m still amazed I can get this thing to work.”

“This is a bigger surprise than that. Look out your front window, Grandma.”

“The window?” She looked out again and instead of Barbara with her mask she saw Gweneth, standing with her phone. “Gweneth! What are you doing out there?”

“Well,” she said, her voice coming from inside and outside, “I can attend class from anywhere now, so I quarantined myself and got myself tested. Would you mind some company for a time?”

And Janelle stood from her chair unable even to say, “No, not at all, come in.”


Read the story in the Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber.

Open Space for Arts and Community designed !Attention! Artists at Work to fund artists financially impacted by COVID-19 to create public art. The entire Literary Project collection will soon be available online for free.

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