Books by Barbara Roether

Saraswati’s Lament conjures the Hindu goddess of poetry, in forms both sacred and profane; exploring how she speaks of every woman who questions what it means to love and create. Written over the course of a year spent alone in Bali, the poems here are part travelogue, part folktale, and part personal inquiry into the nature of marriage and exile. Weaving together images from traditional Balinese literature with contemporary scenes of the island’s exploitation by the tourist industry, Saraswati’s Lament questions what we lose and what we gain, when we leave our history behind.