Shon Mehta

In Shon Mehta’s “Unrequited Love,” a poet decides to engineer his own tragedy in the name of art. After all, what is a masterpiece without a broken heart? Byron knew that he was destined for literary greatness. Named Brian at birth, he had changed his name to remind the world of his destiny. "They will come around," he told John, his literary advisor. John owned the bookshop around the corner, where Byron spent most of his afternoons. So far, nobody had bought even a single copy of the collection of Byron's finest poems. Byron was a little disheartened -- the low intelligence of the current generation of readers was delaying his fame and riches. "I don’t know what else I can do," Byron continued. "Look at all the publicity I have invested in, all the literary events I have attended. They will come around, John, they have to!" "Poetry collections are hard to sell," said John. He knew the suffering. As the selector, he had read the poems in the...