Love, dreams and dystopia: Karen Chase’s ‘Two Tales’

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The writer Karen Chase was born in New York City but spent a lot of time living in and around Salisbury, Connecticut.
Chase is the author of several poems, stories, essays and books including a memoir about having polio when she was ten years old. Her new book, “Two Tales: Jamali Kamali and ZundelState,” consists of two narrative poems. The first is a long, free-verse poem about an imagined homoerotic love between two men who are historical figures from 16th century India, and the second is what one could call a “science fiction poem,” written mostly in free verse, and centered on a man and woman living in a dystopian techno-state a thousand years from now. Because Chase’s free-flowing poems align with “automatic” or “free association” writing, with a few forays into Dada-like absurdities, the best approach to reading them is to go with the flow.
Despite the fact that “Jamali Kamali” was written several years ago, and “ZundelState” completed only recently, the author considers them to be of a piece. Her free-verse structure offers a cornucopia of love, longing, sexual passion, dreams, art, history and science. The two stories are riveting, but absorbing the full impact of the artistry requires a big-time “suspension of disbelief.” Passages range from the lovely and loving to the jolting and violent. Sometimes things feel incomprehensible, sometimes perfectly logical, and sometimes we’re simply struck by beautiful phrases — “stinging sky,” “butterfly laugh,” or “the past shivering alive into now.”
Centuries after their death, Jamali and Kamali, whose names form the eponymous title of the first story, lie side by side in a tourist-destination tomb in Delhi that Chase visited while on a month-long residency in the city. Little is known about Jamali other than that he was a court poet and Sufi Muslim in the Mughal Empire; nothing is known about Kamali, or about the nature of the relationship between the two men.After visiting the tomb, without having any plan, Chase set about writing her story of their forbidden love, finishing the poem a few years later, after returning home.
“Jamali Kamali” is filled with details about 16th century India that Chase discovered through extensive correspondence with Bruce Wannell, a British scholar who specialized in the history of the period. What’s intriguing is the way Chase weaves these factual details together with her own details taken from direct observations of whatever happened to be in front of her while she was writing. While working on the poem in Nova Scotia, for example, she would look out her window and, noting the fog, sky, or flocks of birds, directly drop descriptions of them into her poem.
Chase writes compellingly about the deep love and intense sexual bond between two men and doesn’t hesitate to go deep into their super-charged sex lives. Chase says her fiction relies solely on her imagination, and she’s not interested in writing about herself. That imagination is enriched by a broad range of cultural and historical references, which is why “Jamali Kamali,” which isn’t written in the dactylic hexameter of classical poetry, recalls nothing so much as Homeric poetry — indeed, the name Homer appears early on in her poem.
In “ZundelState,” the second story, we again focus on two lovers who are “outsiders” in their society. Instead of being set in the past, we’re in a dystopian state a thousand years in the future, one where time is not linear, and a human being can even go talk directly with Socrates. A mysterious autocratic State that bans history and dreaming controls everything. Human beings divide their lives between the “Agora” — the public realm — and “Home,” where they are private. Home is where “people are like snowflakes, each one unique. Elsewhere [the Agora], they all match.”
A dutiful State apparatchik named Marianna feels stirrings of dreaming — and more dangerously, love — after meeting Joe, a rebellious sort. Against the rules of the State, Joe has discovered this thing called history, and walks long distances to reach “Junkyards” located deep inside forbidden territory where he forages for abandoned fragments of it.
“ZundelState” recalls the psychological TV thriller “Severance.” Both concern the “form and pressure,” to use Shakespeare’s phrase, of our times, where the techno-state, and the rise of the techno-state human being, threaten to obliterate freedom. An anxiety that human beings will eventually be emptied of their humanity hovers over both.Reading the “Two Tales: Jamali Kamali and ZundelState” drives home that our beloved humanity rests not in our capacity to reason, but in our wild, imaginative spiritedness that lives in our dreams and loves. Should these fall away, we are finished.
The author will be giving a talk on Thursday, June 26, at the David M. Hunt Library in Falls Village at 5:30 p.m.
Laurie Fendrich is an abstract painter, professor emerita at Hofstra University and vice-president of American Abstract Artists. She lives in Lakeville.
The HVRHS boys rejoice around Jackson McAvoy after he scored the game-winning goal against Shepaug with just two minutes left to play.
WASHINGTON — Housatonic Valley Regional High School’s boys varsity soccer team advanced to the Berkshire League tournament final after a 1-0 win over Shepaug Valley High School in the semifinal game on Friday, Oct. 24.
Jackson McAvoy scored the game-winning goal with just two minutes remaining.
The victory marked HVRHS boys soccer’s first victory over Shepaug since 2020.
“Finally,” said HVRHS Coach Adolfo Portillo after the game.
HVRHS will play top-ranked Nonnewaug High School in the BL final. Nonnewaug advanced to the title game by beating Northwestern Regional High School in penalty kicks (4-3) after a 1-1 draw in regulation time.
The championship game will be played at Nonnewaug beginning at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 28.

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Students dressed in neon lined the soccer field for senior night under the lights on Thursday, Oct. 16. The game against Lakeview was the last in a series of competitions Thursday night in celebration of Homecoming 2025.
As homecoming week reaches its end and fall sports finish out the season, an air of school spirit and student participation seems to be on the rise across Housatonic Valley Regional High School.
But what can be attributed to this sudden peak of student interest? That’s largely due to SGA. Also known as the Student Government Association, SGA has dedicated itself to creating events to bring the entire student body together. This year, they decided to change some traditions.
Spirit week from Oct. 14-17 was unlike those of the previous years. From wearing Housatonic merch to Boomer vs Baby day, this year’s spirit week held a little friendly competition to see which grade could participate the most.
“I think that students are bored of the same old activities and events, so it’s good to switch things up even slightly to incentivize interest within students,” said SGA president and senior Mollie Ford. “Plus the point system is super beneficial because it gives students a reason to participate.”
The school spirit sentiment can be seen outside of just the school. Senior Simon Markow is known for his photography throughout the community, and has dedicated time to help Housy sports teams’ social media posts.
“Since I’ve started photography, I think school attendance [at sports games] has gone up,” Markow said. “I feel this year, students will be more aware of games and are more likely to be at the games.”
Whether it’s a pink-out volleyball game or an under the lights soccer match, it’s likely you’ll see some familiar faces.
Social media has played a large role in this over the years. Almost every student organization at Housatonic has an Instagram account, and it’s helped reach students more efficiently than a poster or email would.
“The increase of social media use, with the help from me but as well as the teams themselves has definitely increased student interest,” Markow said. “With Housy teams posting more about their upcoming games, and my help showing the cool goals, spikes, or touchdowns, it’s enlightened students to watch the games themselves.”
In a small school, promoting pride has proven to be a challenge. But this year’s senior class has made some adjustments in the hopes to change that.
“The SGA community has spent the last few years really focusing on student participation, because we think it’s the students who contribute to a better climate,” Ford said. While Housatonic’s student body may be small in size, it seems they certainly aren’t small in spirit.