These verses move between solitude and society, memory and becoming; tracing the emotional landscapes of contemporary life by reflecting art, war, identity, language, and longing. These poems invite readers into a journey of self-discovery and vulnerability, and show what it means to search for life amidst uncertainty and change. And … Read more →
Autumn Thought 2025
Showkat Khaliq Bhat Why does spring dance with joy, while autumn whispers sorrow, despite both wearing vibrant hues?
Autumn Poems 2025
THE AUTUMN SONG Whirling wind plays the flutes, the autumn song gracefully unmutes. Rustling leaves sing melodious songs, garden birds join merrily along. Mesmerizing sunsets turn crimson, the maple trees tune in their violin. Dancing moonlight in the streams that flow, guitars strumming soft and slow. Shrivelling valley’s desperate hum, … Read more →
The Banality of Desolation
Ghulam Mohammad Khan I am Desolation. I am the unauthored text, a narrative in search of a scribe to inscribe my meaning upon the world. I am a chameleonic resonance, assuming myriad shapes and hues. I am the breath on the windowpane of a lonely room, the hollow echo in … Read more →
Fragmented Geographies / Fragmented Selves
Madiha Tariq Srinagar runs in every memory that burns and cools and burns again. My home is an outline traced in memory, a door that swings open in dreams but refuses to appear in waking life. It is where, betrayed by the cruelty of all which is not home, something … Read more →
APNA TIME AAYEGA — A Primer for an Artivism-Driven Online Performance
Compay Lizardi APNA TIME AAYEGA (translated from Hindi as “My/our time will come”). You see this motto on this red T-shirt as a battle cry of individual resilience. For the common Indian, and particularly the Indian youth, it is a saying that represents the overcoming of struggle to reach a … Read more →
Language of Resistance
Epistemic violence constitutes the very foundation of the pyramid of violence. The reason is that it is much more lethal, and has the power to transform the subjects or to rally an entire community against another based on the distortions scripted in the language in the form of histories, folk … Read more →
Survival by Ashaq Hussain
(I) How do you bear the separation While your home is under siege: By recalling an army of metaphors Or dead clichéd caterpillars of hope? How do you bear separation alone While you oscillate between awful Dregs of despair and the hazy Halloweens of commercial ads? (ii) How do you … Read more →
Two Poems by Sayan Aich Bhowmik
Bridges Across the Jehlum A narrow passage Down the hall And I find you seated On a boat That has never been moored. Your fingers move Carelessly across your face Tracing alphabets of a race That swore by the chinars in Kashmir And died by guns of the occupying army. … Read more →
Zoon by Salik Basharat
I sprint down the stairwell and rush through the backdoor to hear the laments of a hundred faithful; while of a hundred thousand more I do not hear, but feel – like an ache in my bones. this veiled support and this willed support has opposed – And so have … Read more →
Verse-journal of the Kashmir Siege
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 →
I am a Soul by Dr Muhammad Qasim
My origin, presence in body. My departure is mystery I know no bearers, accept no restrictions, I am free I take a journey whenever and wherever I wish to I am beyond time, space and your imagination I am the Soul I am not made for Power, wealth and fame, … Read more →
It’s not safe outside by Azhar Wani
Agar firdous But heaven is an archive. And it has been full Since before us, as the History of man, Fills rooms and lush gardens. Kohl Eyed Virgin Archivers Look around to read, forever, And Cry. Bar royye But Dearest, our faces are left to shine under A moon, so … Read more →
Resistance is our inheritance by Zahida War
Resistance is our inheritance “In the dark of the night – The snare was laid out Prisoned in our own homes, At gunpoint, lips sealed Our hearts silently crying And yet there is no empathy From those who call us their own, Rather, as a Kashmiri woman I am objectified … 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 Mudasir Firdosi
Half Widow My eyes, vacant, gaze into the deep space wondering how did you become a brute? I ask about my beloved, caged in far off places or buried in no man’s land. Does my pain make you conquerer of the realms? Or numb like my heart? The blots on … Read more →
Kashmir for India – A poem by Tapaswinee Mitra
Here we present our case- Kashmir for India: Kashmiris are so beautiful, like foreigners. Like brand ambassadors of a Fair and Lovely ad. Fair like Shashi Kapoor and lovely like Shammi. The only 2 Kashmiris we know, other than Pandit Nehru. Kashmir is the perfect honeymoon destination; Come and experience … 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 →
The Many Sins of Meaning- Review by Huzaifa Pandit
Sin of Semantics by Saima Afreen Copper Coin Books, New Delhi Price: Rs. 299 One of the first lessons one learns in an introductory class on language and literature is that language works on two levels: syntax and semantics. While the former decides which word combinations and word order are … Read more →
Green is the Colour of Memory – Reviewed by Wani Nazir
Green is the Colour of Memory – Huzaifa Pandit Publisher: Hawakal Publishers Year of Publication: 2018 Price: INR 220.00 Kazuo Ishiguro in his famous novel, Never Let Me Go has put it, “Memories even your most precious ones, fade surprisingly quickly. But I don’t go along with that the memories … Read more →