What critics say: “I want to write to all the corners of the far-flung universe,” Indran Amirthanayagam announces in “Marked,” and accomplishes this goal magnificently in The Migrant States. These poems engendered by “Heart and Memory,” are hellos and goodbyes, obituaries, salutations, and celebrations addressed to his children, his friends and heroes, his lovers, Walt Whitman, and any other fortunate reader who strays into his orbit.”
— Terence Winch
“ Migrant States is a book where passion and memory meet, a book that calls for open borders of the mind, it is a book that knows that everyone and no one is a foreigner on this planet and that the country of the poets has no customs. With Whitman as his interlocutor, Indran Amirthanayagam takes us on the journey with no return, where our ticket is a moving and beautiful song ”
— Ilya Kaminsky, author of Deaf Republic and Dancing in Odessa
“Indran Amirthanayagam was born in Sri Lanka but he’s certainly American-made. When ideals are shattered, poetry saves; and this book conveys truth from a master storyteller representing the high tradition of poetry with dignity and conviction throughout this powerful collection; and there are no better poems of Walt Whitman than are found here. Amirthanayagam’s voice is a sword of light. “Speak to me. We have/ little time. Though the sun/ will explode long after/ we’ve disappeared.”
— Grace Cavalieri Maryland Poet Laureate
“ An activist poet is rooted in revolutionary change as opposed to a “literary” poet who, like Auden, believes that a poem “does nothing.” It just survives. Sri Lankan-born Indran Amirthanayagam, who writes poetry in 5 languages (Haitian, Spanish, French, Portuguese and most of all in American-English), is one of the truly great activist poets in these United States. Read this book and I’ve no doubt you’ll agree with me. ”
— Jack Hirschman, emeritus Poet Laureate of San Francisco
