Annus Mirabilis, or Year of Wonders

To British poet John Dryden, the Year of Wonders, Annus Mirabilis, was 1666. That was the year of a “great” British naval victory over the Dutch, as well as the date of the “great” London fire in which 80% of London was destroyed. (Notice how everything about Europeans and what they did is always “great”?) Anyhow, also, that year, a hurricane hit Guadeloupe, Martinique and St. Christopher and killed thousands.

And I’m pretty sure Europe didn’t rush over aid to the islands that time either.

Finally, legend has it that Sir Isaac Newton may also have been hit in the head by an apple that same year.

Can you tell where this is going?

December 2020!

Dear Friends and Readers, Is it possible? Is OUR Annus Mirabilis almost over? Really? 2020 is not going to jump back and take another swipe at us, sink down with us to the bottom of the ocean, turning off our living daylights?

Maybe. I hope so. And hope is power. And power is good when it’s used to create more good. As Biden and Harris did last month and, as I believe, they will continue to do so. 

I’ve been thinking a lot about endings and beginnings (can you tell?), like Annus Mirabailis and all that stuff, only not in Latin. On that note, then, I want today to share a few recent pieces I wrote, and some upcoming news.

First, it took my breath away to be in the same issue of the fantastic and fun Bombay Review that has this cover image! Ooo, now that’s my kind of Annus Mirabilis.

Annus Mirabilis Bombay Review Issue 36 published my poem “Flight in terza rima”.jpg

Yes, yes, as always you’ve guessed absolutely right, that’s our Lady Kamala,or even MA KAMALA as some naughty Bengalis have been calling her (after Ma Durga, Kali, you get the drift), and in this issue 36 of the Bombay Review, I have the honor of having a poem in honor and memory of my mother, Chandana Bhattacharya, who passed away seven years ago. Seven years, they say, is the time when all the cells in our bodies are remade. I know, though, that not a cell in my body, old or new, doesn’t miss my mother every day.

(You’ve already checked it out by clicking on Kamala’s gorgeous smile. Annus Mirabilis, Amen! Harris and Biden!)

My Ma, always in my heart, at the beginning and at the ending.

On another note, I had a lot of fun telling my body who’s boss in this poem published in Funny Pearls, a magazine of humor by and for women….

FUNNY PEARLS. Cool name, innit?

And finally, while saying goodbye to the horrors of the Trump years, I wrote a piece about immigration, ICE, deportation centers, and the bestial treatment of human beings he’d labeled as ‘illegal.’ No human is ‘illegal,’ okay?

Here you go — “Gehenna.”

But Oh, the fun never stops in December 2020!

You are cordially invited to a Reading on December 10th if you got a spare hour to listen to some very good writers reading at the Facebook Live Event “Readings on the Pike,” at 7-8 PM EST. That’s EASTERN STANDARD TIME, OKAY? Bring your own cordials.

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Thanks to everyone who has cared and supported, Love’s Garden is doing well, new furniture has been ordered for readers (hahaha)

and pleasant reviews and good vibes keep coming. THANK YOU!

Well, so much for December, but for the much longer future, HOORAY for the latest and best ANTONYM Magazine and its feisty and doughty editors, looking to publish new talent and fearless writing. Bishnupriya Chowdhury, Biswadip Sen and others are looking for your best, boldest, your most MIRABILIS! SUBMIT!

Always happy to share the love, and I hope you will share your comments with me if you want….

PS: You are receiving this letter because you are a contact of mine and we’ve had some positive engagements with one another and you at some point said you’d like to stay in touch. However, please unsubscribe from this list or let me know if you’d like to be unsubscribed. I don’t want to clutter your inbox or your life, and I wish you the best in every case, always.