Poetry. The first half of THE DESIRE TO MEET WITH THE BEAUTIFUL, "Mirza's Cave," was written in India in 1994 and precedes the writing of "India Poem." It shows an interest in the use of sacred texts and in the practice of oral transmission from teacher to students. The book's second half, "Paper Sea," completed in 2002, describes a nearly twenty year commitment to the Greek island of Paros and begins an exploration into the early cultural contacts between ancient Greece and ancient India.