presidential election and subsequent insurrection, taking place against the backdrop of a deadly global pandemic, from terror and outrage to euphoria and hope for “Joe and Kamala,” as he refers to the newly elected president and vice president, this familiarity itself a desire for a return to decency and simple human dignity. In TEN THOUSAND STEPS AGAINST THE TYRAN, he encapsulates the full range of emotion surrounding the 2020 U.S. And perhaps no poet is better situated to write of the tumultuous events of the recent past than Indran Amirthanayagam, a true global citizen. There’s an adage that journalism is the first draft of history, but for the flesh-and-blood truth of lived experience, the “news that stays news” has always been poetry.
