Bramah and the Beggar Boy

By Renée Sarojini Saklikar

One afternoon, in an old house in an abandoned village on the outskirts of Perimeter, in the place they call Pacifica, Bramah and the beggar boy find fragments of an ancient text in an oak box. Hunched over scraps of parchment and broken computer disks, they blow the dust off a cover, and so our story begins.

Steeped in the tradition of fairy tales, The Heart of This Journey Bears All Patterns (THOT J BAP) features a world in which a small band of resisters and survivors meet heartbreak and destruction with rhymes and resourceful skills such as soap and glass making, and a belief in the supernatural. Many things happen—some good, but most bad—including five eco-catastrophes and a viral bio-contagion. Shapeshifting in and out of it all is the nimble Bramah, a female locksmith, part human, part goddess—brown, brave and beautiful. Ten years in the making and described as “truly ambitious” by Stephen Collis, this work by award-winning poet Renée Sarojini Saklikar spans continents and centuries. Bramah and the Beggar Boy is the first instalment of the multi-part series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Blewointment
• Release date: Jun 12, 2021
• ISBN: 9780889714038

Renée Sarojini Saklikar

Renée Sarojini Saklikar (Surrey Poet Laureate, 2015-2018) is the author of four books and six chapbooks. Her work has been adapted for opera and visual art. She teaches creative writing and has judged our Magpie Award for Poetry. Renée's sci-fi epic in verse, Bramah and the Beggar Boy, was published in 2021, and the sequel is forthcoming in 2024. Her short story 'Man with Golden Helmet' appeared in Pulp Literature Issue 28.

Book preview

Bramah and the Beggar Boy

I’m fascinated by Renée Sarojini Saklikar’s ongoing and expansive lyric assemblage, the multiple trade books across her The Heart of This Journey Bears All Patterns. This is a project that should be revered and studied in the same breath as bpNichol’s Martyrology, Robert Kroetsch’s Completed Field Notes and Dennis Cooley’s love in a dry land. Saklikar has clearly absorbed and understood the myriad traditions of the long poem, and furthers the structures into wildly unexpected places; pushing the boundaries of what writing can do, and the formal possibilities of what bpNichol termed a poem as long as a life.

—rob mclennan

Bramah and the Beggar Boy takes us into a near-future apocalyptic world on an odyssey of our time. Like Melville’s great whaling story, Saklikar’s marvelous tale rivets us with mind-blowing insights into the destructive forces at work right now in our capitalist world and how we might resist and overcome them. It’s a page-turner.

—Meredith Quartermain

With Bramah and the Beggar Boy, Renée Sarojini Saklikar has resurrected the epic poem for the Anthropocene, merged it with the visionary qualities of speculative fiction, and woven diasporic threads into a new and necessary act of world making. The future was such a long time ago—but maybe it’s not over yet. Throw the dice. Jump the fence. Cross the threshold. The carmen perpetuum, the continuous song of THOT J BAP has begun. Only beauty unfolds from here.

—Stephen Collis

Three Hearts of This Journey Bears All Patterns, written in an oval. THOT J BAP, written inside the oval. Bramah and the Beggar Boy, written in large uneven text. Renée Sarojini Saklikar, written across the bottom.sequence of arrows pointing right, three crowns, white hexagona blewointment bookNightwood Editions

2021

Copyright © Renée Sarojini Saklikar, 2021

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior permission of the publisher or, in the case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from Access Copyright, the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency, www.accesscopyright.ca, [e-mail].

Nightwood Editions

Nightwood Editions

P.O. Box 1779

Gibsons, BC V0N 1V0

Canada

www.nightwoodeditions.com

Cover design: Topshelf Creative

Cover art: Nadina Tandy

Typography: Carleton Wilson

Illustrations: Line drawings by the author; pine cone and microscope images (pp. 18, 84, 93) from Wikimedia Commons

Nightwood Editions acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Government of Canada, and the Province of British Columbia through the BC Arts Council.

Supported by the Government of Canada Supported by the Canada Council of the Arts Supported by the Province of British Columbia through the British Columbia Arts Council

This book has been produced on 100% post-consumer recycled, ancient-forest-free paper, processed chlorine-free and printed with vegetable-based dyes.

Printed and bound in Canada.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Title: Bramah and the beggar boy / Renée Sarojini Saklikar.

Names: Saklikar, Renée Sarojini, author.

Description: Poems.

Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20210159022 | Canadiana (ebook) 20210159065 |

ISBN

9780889714021 (softcover) |

ISBN

9780889714038 (

HTML

)

Classification: LCC PS8637.A52 B73 2021 | DDC C811/.6—dc23

sequence of arrows pointing right, three crowns, white hexagon

Let all evil die and the good endure

gray hexagon, sequence of arrows pointing right, three crowns

Contents

Welcome to the World of THOT J BAP

Introduction

Characters

Locations

Part One

Arrival at the Gate of the Winter Portal

That Gate, the Oracle, Her Icy Breath

Fragments of Old Reports Unverified

Consortium’s Song

Resistance Song

From the Wishing Well to Perimeter’s Edge

The Summons: Bramah on a Job

Village Women Gossip

Video Surveillance Monitor, Malfunctioning

Overheard

As Recorded by Several Un/named Witnesses

The Adventures of Bramah and the Beggar Boy

Their First Adventure

Their Second Adventure

Their Third Adventure

The Beggar Boy Meets Bramah’s Grandmother

The Things They See

The Map They Steal

The Things They Take

Grandmother’s Instruction

Video Surveillance: Investigator’s Logbook

Bramah and the Beggar Boy Find an Old Oak Box

The Letter They Find

Partial Transcript: The Rehabilitated Scientists

Photographs of Prisoners

Court Records of the Lost

Bill of Lading for Masks

Scratched Disc: Recording of the Captives

The Notes of the Beekeeper’s Daughter

The Map of the Last Knight

Video Remnant of the Migrants

The Parchment Scroll

Unfurled

Chased to the Gate of the Spring Portal, 2050

The Great Abandonment

The Five Catastrophes

Followers of Aunty Maria

Aunty Maria’s Clandestine Harvest

Aunty Maria Told Us

Scientists on the Run

In the Dry, We Find Our Moments to Rest

Our Comparative Study: The Beauty Bush

Our Observations May Well Go Unheeded

Battle Song of the Streets

After Curfew, Two Masked Scientists, Roaming

On the Desk of the Investigator

Inside Detention Centre C

Orders for Surveillance

The Curiously Disappearing Document

Taken from the Notebooks of Aunty Maria, After the Science Trials

Our Testimony About Aunty Maria

To Be Confiscated: Three Hologram Plates

Plate #1

Plate #2

Plate #3

Song of the Scientists

After the Battle of Kingsway, the Bees

Posted on Cy-Board #6: Aunty Maria’s Lament

The Last Known Observation Report

Captured at the Gate of the Summer Portal, 2052

The Great Dispersal

The Good Doctor, as Posted on Cy-Board #6

The Good Doctor in Paris

The Good Doctor, Witness to the Fate of Children

Resister Statements Pinned to Cy-Board #6

Logbook of the Guards, Paris Fifth Gate

Dr. A.E. Anderson, Person of Interest

From a Transcript Given to the Guards of the Fifth Gate

Partial Record: The Whereabouts of Dr. A.E. Anderson, Tracked

Transport Plane Manifest

Paris to Pacifica, We Stitched Our Fragments

Dr. A.E. Anderson Returned to Pacifica

Found Inside a Consortium Lab, Pacifica

Partial Record #1

Partial Record #2

Partial Record #3

Logbook of the Guards, Detention Centre C, Pacifica

Stolen from Detention Centre C, Pacifica

First Report

Second Report

Third Report

Resisters Brought in for Questioning

We admit to surveying, up by the Eve River

We admit we knew Aunty Maria

We admit to helping the Doctor

We deny knowledge of her chalice

The Resisters Relinquish Dr. Anderson’s Instructions for a Chalice

As Narrated by the Investigator

Conscripted at the Gate of the Autumn Portal, 2055

As Reported to the Investigator, Detention Centre C

Informant #1

Informant #2

Informant #3

The Good Doctor, as Posted on Cy-Board #6

Desiderata

A Guard of the Fifth Lures Betty, Daughter of the Village Spy

The Work of Dr. Anderson as Recounted by the Village Spy

Betty, the Daughter of the Village Spy

Betty’s Statement

Documents Obtained By Guards of the Fifth

The Anderson Family, Paternal Side

The Anderson Family, Maternal Side

Partial Record: The Whereabouts of Dr. A.E. Anderson

Dr. Anderson, Rendered to the Investigator

Dr. Anderson Refuses to Answer

Dr. A.E. Anderson, at Detention Centre C

From a Transcript Assembled by the Guards of Detention Centre C

The Interrogation of Dr. A.E. Anderson

Dr. Anderson After Her First Beating

The Tale of the Silver Sandals

The Tale of Barnston Island, as Then Was Called

Dr. Anderson After Her Second Beating

All My Aunties

Those West Coast Trails

Dr. Anderson Hallucinates

Dr. A.E. Anderson, Broken by a Brand

Dr. Anderson Learns of the Kept Women

Dr. Anderson, as Kept by the Investigator

Dr. Anderson, Collaborator

Dr. Anderson Sings Herself to Sleep

Dr. Anderson: Testimony

The Last Dream of Dr. A.E. Anderson

The Last Words of Dr. A.E. Anderson

The Spy’s Tale to the Investigator

The Information

Tribunal Meeting of the Consortium

After the Meeting, a Verdict

After the Verdict, Orders: Signed & Sealed

The Execution of Dr. A.E. Anderson, 2057

The Song of the Stonebreakers’ Yard

Smuggled Out of Detention Centre C

Report of the Guards of the Fifth, After a Search for the Little Beggar Girl

Four Aunties at Perimeter’s Edge

Aftermath: Resisters and Migrants Imprisoned

At the End of the Parchment Scroll

The Adventures of Bramah and the Beggar Boy Continued

Return to the Winter Portal

Bramah Teaches the Beggar Boy About the Stars

Honey Hunting in the Wilds of the Western Borealis

Search for the Bitter Green Willow

Bramah and the Resisters

The Battle of the Whispering Trees and After

What Bramah Learned, She Taught

Grandmother Hears News of the Four Aunties

Around the Campfire Called If Only…

The Tale of the Girl and the Disappearing Streams

The Tale of the Girl with a Thousand Pockets

The Tale of the Girl with Far-Seeing Eyes

The Tale of the Boy with the Red Canoe

The Tale of the Girl Who Slept with Spiders

The Things They Discover About the Old Oak Box

Inside the Old Oak Box, the Beggar Boy Finds Another Map

Inside the Old Oak Box, the Beggar Boy Finds a Document

The Old Oak Box, Gone!

Hiding Out with the Night Stitcher

Bramah Tells the Beggar Boy She Must Leave

Bramah Remembers a Lullaby

Bramah’s Secret

Many Miles to Cross

The Investigator

At the Chapel of the Stone Aunties

The Last Song at the End of the Known World

At Perimeter’s Edge

Part Two

Abigail Discovered

Ruin, a Map for Perimeter

After Curfew, Those Street Sweepers Sing

The Four Aunties of the Wishing Well

As Heard on the Albion Ferry

Found Pinned to a Far Wall, Perimeter’s Edge

Found: One Oak Box. Locked.

Stained Parchment, Engraved

Cotton Scrap, Embroidered

A Blood-Stained Letter & Other Things

Fare Forward, Voyagers: Hologram #1

Fare Forward, Voyagers: Hologram #2

Fare Forward, Voyagers: Hologram #3

Heard Outside Tower Juniper

Abigail and Aunty Agatha at the Farm

Heard Outside Aunty Agatha’s Kitchen, 2058

We Live On Just Like That

Aunty Agatha’s Initiation into Portal Maintenance

Aunty Agatha at the Ash Tree

Aunty Agatha’s Lullaby About the Year 2020

Aunty Agatha Remembers

Aunty Agatha Teaches Abigail Two Farmhouse Songs

Skipping Song

The Widow’s Song

The Young Dr. A.E. Anderson as Told by Aunty Agatha

Aunty Agatha Takes Abigail to the Wishing Well

Aunty Agatha Gossips About Her Long-Dead Husband

Aunty Agatha Tells Abigail About the Before-Time

Aunty Agatha and the Parchment Fragment

These Charts Your Mother Sent to Me

Aunty Agatha Gives Abigail a Letter

The Keepsake

Hologram Message of Dr. A.E. Anderson to Her Adopted Daughter, Abigail

Abigail Abandons the Farm

The Adventures of Abigail

Abigail Up Against Consortium Everywhere She Went

Abigail Accidentally Falls into a Before-Time Portal

Abigail in Paris

Abigail in Ahmedabad

Abigail in Baghdad

The Encounter

Called by the Summer Solstice

Abigail Returns to the Farm

Informers Sent by Consortium

Evening Memories

Around the Circle Called You Could Have…

Abigail Gets Work as a Day Labourer

Abigail and the Android

The Lost Holograms of Dr. A.E. Anderson

Hologram #1: The Summons

Hologram #2: Heeding the Call

Abigail in the House of the Makers

In the House of Clay and Lime

In the House of the Glass Blowers

In the Weavers’ Guild Hall

The Guild Hall Makers Chant Their Secret

Abigail and Bartholomew

Pursued from the Gate of the Autumn Portal

That Time of the Wildfires, Abigail Sends Word

That Moment When They Fell

Abigail and Bartholomew Help a Group of Seed Savers

All the Things That Then Happened

Hunted by Agents of Consortium

One Night, a Bard Sings of the Battle of Kingsway

Leaving Pacifica to Join the Resistance

As Foretold Although She Did Not See It Then

Time-travelling with Bartholomew

Finding Refuge with an Ex-Lover

After Argument, Abigail and Bartholomew Accept a Mission

The Killings

After the Arrest of Bartholomew

Abigail Contemplates Divine Assistance

Abigail Waits Outside Bartholomew’s Prison

Abigail Sends Word to Bartholomew from the Wars

Caravanserai: Abigail’s Quest for Bartholomew

Abigail Searches the Secret Gardens of Paris

Abigail Risks a Meeting with the Butcher of Paris

In Ahmedabad, Abigail Secures a Rendezvous

In Baghdad, Abigail Deepens Her Search

Abigail Indentured in the Bee Palace of Baghdad

Escape from the Bee Palace

Battles and Deprivations

Abigail Secures Bartholomew’s Release from Prison

Abigail and Bartholomew Rejoin the Resistance

Abigail Disputes the Findings of a Stray Oracle

Guards and Informers Track Down Abigail and Bartholomew

Abigail and Bartholomew Arrange a Secret Meeting

Abigail Conceives Her Child

Abigail at the Lake

To That Which Is to Come

Brought to the Portal of the Misshapen Season

The Letters of Abigail and Her Lover, Bartholomew

Migrant Camp #3

Migrant Camp #8

Migrant Camp #3

Migrant Camp #8

Migrant Camp #3

From Migrant Camps