I Missed His Book, But I Read His Name -- John Updike

Guest poem submitted by Ashvin K. George:

(Poem #788) I Missed His Book, But I Read His Name Though authors are a dreadful clan To be avoided if you can, I'd like to meet the Indian, M. Anantanarayanan. I picture him as short and tan. We'd meet, perhaps, in Hindustan. I'd say, with admirable elan , "Ah, Anantanarayanan -- I've heard of you. The Times once ran A notice on your novel, an Unusual tale of God and Man." And Anantanarayanan Would seat me on a lush divan And read his name -- that sumptuous span Of 'a's and 'n's more lovely than "In Xanadu did Kubla Khan" -- Aloud to me all day. I plan Henceforth to be an ardent fan of Anantanarayanan -- M. Anantanarayanan. -- John Updike

Somebody told me that John Updike had written a poem on the name
Ananthanarayanan; simply because he liked the sound of it. (I found this on
google: I hope it has been correctly transcribed). It's quite amusing and
well constructed (if you can overlook the fact that his pronunciation of
Anantanarayanan rhymes with fan rather than fun), with an appropriately
comedic rhyme scheme. It's given me a new appreciation of south Indian names
:). I don't know anything about the real Anantanarayanan, but you can buy
his book[1] on Amazon.com.

Ashvin.

[1] "The Silver Pilgrimage," by M. Anantanarayanan. 160 pages. Criterion.
$3.95.

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Coleridge's poem "Kubla Khan": poem #30