Ather Zia August When I asked if there would be a war, they replied “did it ever end?” and continued their song. 8/4/19, the siege begins next day * our hearts are sinking, but our prayers are rising, Azadi, Azadi, Azadi 4th day of the Kashmir siege, 8/8/19 * … Read more →
Two poems by Huzaifa Pandit
I am no Yusuf, Father I am no Yusuf, Father My brothers aren’t content to push me down the well. They tear me – tender limb to tender limb with their sleeved hands sharp as the crescent and fling my torn body down the well. I have lain in this … Read more →
Two poems by Naveed Ul Hassan Bhat [Urdu]
اس دورِ بے آر میں اس دورِ بے آر میں پھولوں کی آبرو پہ سوال ہے – کانٹوں کے قہقہے میں گلشن کے رندوں کی جوانی ہے- نظامِ حسرت میں چند گلابوں کا کھلنا ہے- یہ رات کے جاموں میں زنداں کی روانی ہے- شاعروں کی نظموں … Read more →
Two prose poems by Sambuddha Ghosh
November Light (I) The magpies of my forgetting are such that perched on the chiselled granite steps of my own mausoleum, they tell themselves stories of rivers and streets of unfrivolous peace. The wine was silent they knew, made out of a dank, perhaps inconsequential cellar of grapes left fermenting … Read more →
Kasheer by Mrinalini Harchandrai
You are that mansion allowed to evanesce still the innocence of light seeps through your chandeliered heart nature’s cashmere façade creeps on your silken carpets the Himalayas landscape your upper storeys, they sweep and staircase around you grandly like bannisters your roses sit embroidered with ballroom grandeur ghostly sweetness against … Read more →
Curfew the Night by Amjad Majid
Curfew the streets, the schools, our homes, curfew the news, the newspapers, the radio, the internet, the television channels Curfew our speech, our movement, our protests, our mourning, our plight Curfew the truth Curfew the night Curfew freedom itself if you will if you dare Curfew hope Curfew life and … Read more →