Jwmwi Basumatary Mirror’s taunting Neither makes me smile nor cry Breaking of the day Breaks nothing either An emptiness of empty within With no more space to fill A pessimist’s optimism The silence between the musical notes A dying man’s last love Living man’s eternal bitterness Frozen in the maze … Read more →
Faux Democracy
By Dibyesh Anand We do not like to ring you We do not like to come to you We do not like to listen to you We will hang your husband Under due process of law Dangle his body for 30 minutes To ensure he speaks no longer To ensure … Read more →
Cordoba
By Allama Iqbal Written in 1932 on Spanish soil, mainly in the Mosque of Cordoba I Chain of day and night Fashioner of events Basis of life and death Two tone silken thread Fiber of attributes Pitch of prospects Chain of day and night Sitting in judgment Setting a value … Read more →
Horizon
By Javed Ahmed Mir It is here, that Heavens plant a passionate kiss Onto the lips of earth, Imagination is fired A sun is born, that Lights but some faces Scorch many a souls It is here, that Eyes see what hearts adorn Hopes ornate what thoughts admire Real meets … Read more →
Stone Pelter
By Lubaid Khan I’m the brightest cloud in the skies of freedom I want to be the sunshine that eradicates dark In gentle autumn’s rain do not disturb my slumber Don’t cry at my demise, I’m still here. I did not die. Disperse from my grave and exhibit no empathy … Read more →
I: The Stars of My Sky
By Feroz Rather Along that solitary graveled path into a crimson evening, My eyes chase you and chase you until you ask them: ‘Where do these boys go after they kill them?’ ‘What happens to their hearts, the love-lakes, now mad with the tempests of freedom?’ In Kashmir, in my … Read more →
His Favorite Song
By Irtif Lone And we decided to meet again. In the orchards of almonds blooming flowers, shimmering sun the temping smell of garden I waited for long. I looked at Zabarvan, the calmness of Dal, the rowing noise. What on earth could stop him from coming? He never broke his … Read more →
Locks in the Mirror
By Dr. Shahid Iqbal If you are a pregnant door that holds all answers to my questions, I will unlock your billowing shapes and unzip your lips. But, a voice in my head warns, ‘You are the mirror image of what you see in others.’ So tell me, what doors … Read more →
For Milad
By Dr. Shahid Iqbal Mother Kangaroo Teach us the art of Pouch. For we live in the Land of Snakes. Snakes, that swallow, alive, our children. Children, born out Of eyes, not wombs. Holy Tear Drops Trickle down Mom’s Cheeks And pierce Pa’s Heart. Foretellers on seeing our Foreheads, beat … Read more →
Red
By Dr. Shahid Iqbal In the city of red on a red evening with Head on a red pillow in a red sleep I had a red dream. Far at the horizon is the red sky Where on a red planet dwells a red maid Who distributes red roses. From … Read more →
I Was Seventeen When You Were Writing of Kashmir Burning
By Meenakshi Watts (In memory of Agha Shahid) It still burns. This must be a seed planted in Raj Bagh, under the ‘One Inch Himalayas’ On a summer afternoon in your father’s house. Our parents stood around with old times laughing and lost in shared memories and sons that came … Read more →
Poetry Collection
War by Parvez Ahmad Naqash, Kashmir The soldiers without any personal enmity haunted by some vicious spirit cutting, maiming and killing one another the gory sight bearing a testimony to man’s innate stupidity his cruelty to himself the bombardment above razing to dust buildings along with inmates men women children … Read more →