On December 17, 2015, Ohio Governor, John R. Kasich named Dr. Amit Majmudar of Dublin, Ohio as Ohio’s first poet laureate. By establishing the position of Poet Laureate in 2014, Ohio joins the ranks of the majority of states that have a similar role. All of us at the Antioch Review wish him the very best as he works to promote poetry in Ohio. When asked about his new position, Majmudar said,

I see the Laureateship as a great honor, but only partly as a validation of my own poetry. I believe my selection for it, above all, to be a validation of my twofold approach to poetry in Ohio. I envision a Laureateship that will reintegrate poetry into the already thriving Ohio performing arts scene by organizing performances that hybridize poetry, music, and dance. Simultaneously, I intend to secure poetry’s future in Ohio through the Ohio Future Laureates Program, in which ten established Ohio poets will each mentor standout student poets nominated by Ohio’s ten most underprivileged school districts. More projects will develop over the next two years, establishing, I hope, a dynamic precedent for my successors in this post.

Following is a poem by Amit Majmudar that was published in the Antioch Review, Fall 2011 issue.

BY ACCIDENT
by Amit Majmudar

First she gave me the wound by accident.
Then the tourniquet she tied unwound by accident.

Your friend may want to start running.
I gave his scent to the hounds by accident.

Balloons on the mailbox, ambulance in the driveway.
Bobbing for apples I drowned by accident.

Did someone tell the devil we were building Eden?
Or did he slither on the grounds by accident?

I said some crazy things, but I swear, officer,
I burned her place down by accident.

Only surfaces interest me.
What depths I sound I sound by accident.

“What should we look for in a ghazal, Amit?”
Inevitabilities found by accident.

***

Amit Majmudar is a novelist, poet, essayist, and diagnostic nuclear radiologist (M.D.). He writes and practices in Dublin, Ohio, where he lives with his wife, twin sons, and baby daughter.

© 2015 The Antioch Review