This Week in Poetry: Srinivas Rayaprol (1925–1998)

Professor Nedumaran introduces an episode of “This Week in Poetry” featuring Srinivas Rayaprol (1925–1998), born in Secunderabad, educated at Benares Hindu University and later Stanford, trained in civil engineering, and influenced by modern poetry discovered in the United States, though critical of some contemporary American poetry; he founded the magazine East and West and was admired by poets including William Carlos Williams. The script notes Rayaprol’s three books: At the Writers Workshop, Bones and Distances (1968), Married, Love and Other Poems (1972), and Unselected Poems (1995). Several poems are read, including “I like the American face,” “Married love,” and reflective pieces on routine life, fleeting greatness, and the struggle to write, before the host closes and invites listeners to share the episode.

00:00 Welcome to the Series

00:21 Rayaprol Life and Influences

01:00 American Poetry Critique

01:43 Books and Poem One

02:03 I Like the American Face

02:59 Married Love

04:06 Living the Days

05:04 When the Fire Fades

06:00 Closing and Farewell

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