Five poems from Somewhere else have been translated into French by poet and collagist Bruno Sourdin and will be published in the French poetry journal Dierese in mid-2025!
Thank you, Bruno!
Somewhere else is published by Graffiti, Kolkata, the publishing press by the late Bengali poet Subhankar Das.
The cover design and cover art is by British artist Paul Warren.
The previous year I had published Who was Sinclair Beiles?, a compilation of writings about the South African Beat poet, through my publishing press, Dye Hard Press, and was trying to get it stocked at bookstores overseas. One bookstore I had approached was City Lights in San Francisco. I had thought City Lights would be an obvious choice, since it had both stocked and published many of the Beat poets. I was astonished, therefore, to receive a response from City Lights stating that it did not stock ‘self-published’ books – which I thought odd, considering the first City Lights Books title was a collection of poems by its owner, Lawrence Ferlinghetti.
I told this news to the Greek poet Yannis Livadas, with whom I had become friends on Facebook. Yannis immediately posted something to the effect of ‘City Lights rejects Who was Sinclair Beiles?’, to which someone named Subhankar Das responded: ‘The old man [Ferlinghetti] is really getting old!’ I then sent Sub a friend request, which he accepted.
It was about this time that Graffiti had published the international anthology of indie art and writing, the stark electric space. I was intrigued by the title, since it clearly looked back at the Hungryalist poem ‘Stark Electric Jesus’ by Malay Roychoudhury, and decided I wanted to buy a copy. I messaged Sub via Facebook, and he said, sure, it costs whatever, just send a cheque in US dollars. I explained that as I was in South Africa, I could not write out a cheque in US dollars. So he said: ‘No problem, give me your address and I will send you a copy for free.’
But Sub was always busy with projects: I never knew him not to be busy writing, translating, publishing or organising events. Always creating – and always generous.
At the same time as I became friends with Sub, I also became friends with a US poet named Erik Vatne, and together with Yannis, I regarded us as the four musketeers of poetry on Facebook – Sub in India, Yannis in Greece, Erik in the US, and me in South Africa – we were certainly well spread, like an international network – an interconnected electric space of poetry.
It was also about this time, early 2011, that I interviewed Sub for my Dye Hard Interviews blog, and I have always regarded my interview with Sub as having been one of the most enjoyable and enriching. In the interview he said: ‘For us Graffiti is a movement … Graffiti is a lifestyle … it’s a pathway of our dream … it’s a protest against the consumerism of thought … and now we have friends worldwide who also believe in this independence of thought and creation.’ Sub and I lived so far apart, and yet I felt we were so close in spirit.
But the most wonderful surprise came when, after Sub had published poetry chapbooks by Erik and Yannis, he approached me, wanting to publish a chapbook of mine too. And so Sky Dreaming was published by Graffiti towards the end of 2011. Sub had asked me to provide my own cover for the book, and so my friend Pravasan Pillay’s wife Jenny designed the cover. I can’t recall why, but Sub wanted to receive the cover printed out rather than emailed to him, and as luck would have it, Sub was on a trip to Europe at the time, and doing a poetry reading in Stockholm, where Pravasan and his wife lived – and so Pravasan was able to deliver the cover in person. Sky Dreaming sold extremely well in India and went into at least two printings. I have never understood why my poetry appealed so much to Indian readers – that’s a question I kept meaning to ask Sub but never got around to.
It was an exciting time for the ‘four musketeers’ and we were determined that one day we all should meet, at the same time at the same spot. We decided that same spot would be India, but could not decide on a time. As it turned out, the only one of our group that I’d meet was Yannis, in Paris in 2016.
In fact by early 2014 our group started to loosen: Yannis had moved to Paris and spent less time on Facebook and Erik left social media altogether. I started a new job that was very demanding plus I was appointed as guest editor of New Coin, one of South Africa’s most prestigious poetry journals, and during the three years that I was editor I had little time for Dye Hard Press or my own writing. I did, however, publish some of Sub’s poems in New Coin.
In late 2019 I received the devastating news of Erik’s death. Sub also took it hard, and I remember him posting a lighted candle in Erik’s memory.
And then there was the Covid-19 pandemic, with its lockdowns and victims, including the great Hungryalist poet Pradip Choudhuri.
But like some survivor emerging from the ruins, Sub entered a new period of creativity – a furious burst of writing and publishing. He published his selected poems, and used an artwork by the French artist Pascal Ulrich on the cover and was corresponding with Ulrich’s friend Robert Roman in France about publishing translations of Ulrich’s poems into Bengali.
Sub also restarted Graffiti magazine around this time and had used some black-and-white drawings of mine for the covers. Then when he published an A4-sized edition of Graffiti with a full-colour cover, he used a collage of mine. Sub was overjoyed with the cover art and said all copies sold out at the Kolkata small magazine book fair.
I held off for a full year before I was ready to send the collection to him, and so my second chapbook to be published by Graffiti, Somewhere else, was published in March 2024. About the same time Sub interviewed me for a Bengali literary magazine, Boier Duniya, about my poetry and Dye Hard Press, as well as my views on the Hungryalists, the Beats and others. It reminded me of my interview with Sub that we had done 13 years before. It was like a return to the early days. At the time he was also working on a book about his trip to Europe in 2011.
The last photo I saw of Sub was of him smilingly holding up a small artwork by Pascal Ulrich. And his widow Sabina has told me that the last song he listened to on his computer was Nina Simone’s Feelin’ good. That is so ironic and sad, but at the same time it makes me smile.
As we say in South Africa, Hambe kahle (farewell) my friend. But the spirit of your creativity and generosity lives on. Graffiti will continue, and new voices will emerge.
Gary Cummiskey
This tribute was published in Graffiti, Kolkata, December 2024.
The cover collage is by UK artist Paul Warren, who is also designed the cover.
Gone Fishing is a collage by UK artist Paul Warren, inspired by my prose poem 'Gone Fishing' from my latest collection, Somewhere else, published by Graffiti in Kolkata.
The poem is as follows:
The fish with the face of a judge moves slowly as always, just breaking the surface. There is no sound as you trace your fingers down the length of my spine. The fan in the restaurant turns noiselessly round and round. The waiters stand in the doorway, casting over our table. Hooks lodge in our lips, so we dare not move.
You can order Somewhere else from Clarke's Bookshop in Cape Town here.
My latest poetry collection Somewhere else is now available from Clarke's in Cape Town. You can order online or visit the shop in Long Street, Cape Town.
Somewhere else consists of 26 poems and is published by Graffiti Kolkata, India. It was the last book published before Graffiti's founder, poet Subhankar Das, passed from a sudden heart attack.
Somewhere else is a collection of 26 poems by Gary Cummiskey and was published by the late Subhankar Das's Graffiti in Kolkata, India.
Some good news, though, is that Santanu, Subhankar's widow Sabina and others are planning to continue with Graffiti publications.
Thank you, Sabina.
Somewhere else is published by Graffiti Kolkata, the publishing venue of the late Bengali poet Subhankar Das.
The cover collage and design is by UK artist Paul Warren.
Two of my poetry collections published by Subhankar Das of Graffiti Kolkata, India. Sky dreaming was published in 2011 (cover design by Jenny Kellerman Pillay) and Somewhere else in 2024 (cover art and design by Paul Warren). It was an honour to be published by Subhankar. RIP my friend.
He recently published my new collection of poems, Somewhere else, and had also published my collection Sky Dreaming in 2011. He has also published poems of mine in various journals and used my artwork on covers of his poetry journal Graffiti.
The above photo shows a joyous Subhankar holding an original artwork by Pascal Ulrich, in January 2023. Photo courtesy of Robert Roman.
Somewhere else is published by Graffiti Kolkata in India.
The cover collage and designed is by Paul Warren.
Thanks Alan Finlay and Pravasan Pillay for reading the manuscript and making suggestions.
Somewhere else, a new collection of 26 poems by Gary Cummiskey, published by Graffiti Kolkata, India, has arrvied from the printer!
Cover art and design by Paul Warren.
Email the publisher Subhankar Das at subhankar.das@gmail.com to order.
