India-Based Poetry Book Sparks U.S. Customs Interest

My good friend Subhankar Das in Kolkata is a poet and publisher "at the epicenter of the underground movement in Bangla literature" as a colleague accurately and aptly puts it. He's a deep and passionate writer, great thinker, funny guy, and can out-chain smoke you...

In 2009, Subho expanded his activities: going online with vengeance, he is now curating and publishing poets from across the globe and getting some of his and other Bangla writers' works translated into other tongues.

These publishing efforts are documented on the Graffiti-Kolkata blogzine , and recently culminated in the printing and publishing of The Stark Electric Space, an international anthology of indie writers. It also includes, btw, work by Albuquerque-based Yasmeen Najmi (some collaborations are in the works).

What's frustrating for Subhankar and followers of his output is the recent detention at US Customs of several copies of these books. According to Subhankar, he put these in the post in Kolkata on Feb 2 with the proper paperwork. "Usually a speed post package takes around 8-10 days to reach, so I started tracking it from 10th Feb.," wrote Subho.

Subho supplied the following additional info:

Package 1 with 10 books retained at NY customs

Package 2 with 2 books retained at San Fran customs

Package 3 with 2 books on its way...

All these packages are speed post recorded delivery with proper custom papers

the rest I am posting like a letter which people are still receiving.

This is the first time I am facing this kind of trouble.

One more thing: the anthology has Bob Rosenthal's Anti-Bush poem printed in it.

People who are getting individual copies are receiving them but at least two people reported on Facebook that their packages had been opened and resealed.

He also got this response yesterday from US Customs:

Recently you requested personal assistance from our on-line support center. Below is a summary of your request and our response.

If this issue is not resolved to your satisfaction, you may reopen it within the next 7 days.

Thank you for allowing us to be of service to you.

CBP officers examines packages to look for drugs, counterfeit goods, items that require duty, prohibited food, and other reasons. Usually packages are released within a few days, but if you know which CBP postal facility the package is being held at your friend can call them up for more information. Sorry I cannot provide a better answer, but I hope this helps and that the package arrives soon.

Going on 7 days at the customs holding cell is a little more than ' a few days' in my book.


As contributor Jim Wittenberg wrote, "As a contributor to the anthology I can’t see anything in its pages that would make this necessary. It includes poetry, stories, pictures and art. Is it because it’s coming from southern Asia? The last I heard the United States was not at war with India. Has something happened in the news that has slipped by me? "

The arts can be strong, provocative agents of change, but its interesting that U.S. legal and security concerns would be so offput as to hold a poetry book for a week. If theyre worried over contraband , the dog sniffers would be over it in 15 minutes.

But if they've had it for a week, I hope theyre having a good read. Maybe its speaking to a customs official or two, giving them pause to reflect and be moved. Maybe they're moved by it, and have kept the copies for themselves; If so, they need to pay Subho for them, at least.

Pen 1; sword, 0.