18 pages • 36 minutes read
Amit MajmudarDothead
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2016A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Further Reading & Resources
Related Poems
"To the Hyphenated Poets" by Amit Majmudar (2012)
In this poem, Majmudar celebrates the state of being in between cultures or linking two cultures (for example, Indian and American) in one’s life and work. The message of the poem is instead of feeling divided or incomplete, people with multicultural roots should feel enriched and empowered by their hyphenated identity.
"T.S.A." by Amit Majmudar (2012)
T.S.A. refers to the Transportation Security Administration, an agency of the US Department of Homeland Security that has authority over the traveling public. People who staff security checkpoints at airports are T.S.A. officials. The poem describes the suspicion and confusion that “a young brown male” (Line 9) is likely to face in his encounters with T.S.A. agents.
"The Adventures of Amit Majmudar" by Amit Majmudar (2016)
The title of this poem alludes to Mark Twain’s novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Majmudar weaves well-known details from that classic American tale into his poem to emphasize differences between his experiences and those of Twain’s teenage characters Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer. As a child of Indian immigrants, Amit felt that he could never be quite like those all-American boys, Huck and Tom. The poem conveys a yearning, perhaps gently ironic, for their typical American childhood.
Further Literary Resources
"A Radiologist and Poet Explains How He Sees the World in Patterns," National Public Radio interview with Amit Majmudar (2016)
In an interview with NPR’s Renee Montagne, Majmudar discuss his poem “Dothead”; the way the history of India was taught in his mostly white school; how both poetry and medicine are about finding patterns; and more.
In this interview for Marginalia Review of Books, Majmudar explains his writing process, choice of subjects, and his influences. He also makes some revealing statements about the influence of his career as a diagnostic nuclear radiologist on his work.
"Soul and Dual: “Dothead” by Amit Majmudar" by Caitlin Doyle (2016)
A brief but insightful review of Majmudar’s collection Dothead, published in the Los Angeles Review of Books. The reviewer emphasizes wordplay in Majmudar’s poems to give some lightness to his serious subject matter. She praises his poems for being both erudite and accessible, both witty and profound.
"Using Formalism to Explore U.S. Systems of Power" by Calista McRae (2021)
This essay published in the Boston Review analyzes how Majmudar employs traditional poetic forms to address very contemporary social issues. The author focuses primarily on Majmudar’s 2020 poetry collection What He Did in Solitary.
Listen to Poem
In addition to “Dothead,” Amit Majmudar reads two other powerful poems—“The Miscarriage” and “DEFCON 1”—in front of a live audience.
