Ms Mani Rao has lived in various parts of India, and in New Zealand and Hong Kong. She has reincarnated herself in the world of media and is the author of six books of poetry. She has read and performed poetry at cafes, universities and literary festivals, created poetry-based installations in public space, co-edited a poetry anthology and taught creative writing. She is one of the founders of OutLoud, the gathering of poets regularly in Hong Kong. She worked for 20 years in the fields of advertising and television media, specialising in creative, marketing and communications. Wishing to change the commercial realities of poetry and to make poetry thrive in a world of louder media, she has tried what she calls 're-packaging' of her own poetry- with her Poetry on Postcards (1996) and with poetry as graffiti in 'The Writing on the Wall' (1997). She now writes full-time and is based in Hong Kong. She has her own website, www. Manirao.net. She has authored six collections of poetry: Echolocation, Chameleon Press, 2003 ; Salt, Asia 2000; The Last Beach; Asia 2000, Hong Kong, 1999; Living Shadows, HK Arts Development Council, Hong Kong, 1997; Catapult Season, Writers Workshop, Calcutta, 1993; Wingspan, 1987.
1. Mutations
Those love cannot leave alone
Love those cannot leave alone
Cannot love leave those alone
Leave those cannot love alone
Those cannot leave love alone
2. Address
Every evening the trees inhale birds
Swirling back home like a warm shawl
But I still wait for my perch in your arms
Like a peg I would hold so lightly the sheets of your night flights
We would travel in one mind your old lands my new skies
And every morning you would breathe me fly
