Dr. Sharanpal Ruprai, photo supplied
The University of Winnipeg’s Dr. Sharanpal Ruprai (women’s and gender studies) is launching her new book of poems, Pressure Cooker Love Bomb (Frontenac House), on Friday, May 10 at McNally Robinson, 1120 Grant Avenue.
Here is an excerpt to the poem sweet like jalebi
i let the words fly
like a lover tossing her lover
a rope to climb kiss me for real
you kissed me
that day i had my eyes closed
body navigates
knows love
like it knows heat
over skin sunlight bright
to open eyes
Poems masquerading as recipes, poems masquerading as survival guides, poems simmered in love, Pressure Cooker Love Bomb is a humorous collection of poems. Ruprai’s second collection is infused with intense sexuality, racial tensions, and questions of gender conformity. With various textures of poems, the collection reads as woman of colour’s manifesto with instructions.
Ruprai is an assistant professor at UWinnipeg. Her debut poetry collection, Seva, was a finalist for the Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry by the Alberta Literary Awards. Her poetry is featured in a number of anthologies: GUSH: Menstrual Manifestos for Our Time, The Calgary Renaissance, Red Silk: An Anthology of South Asian Canadian Women Poets, and Exposed. Pressure Cooker Love Bomb is her second collection of poetry.
