1. The Valley of the Blind- A crow chronicle. a pellet is a precious pearl. soft as a grain of rice. kisses the eye like a lover. caresses the pupil like your mom. crows are vile birds, traitors, who predict the arrival of armed guests in riot gear and armoured … 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 →
Two Poems by Insha Muzaffar
(1) In the mirror the hangman looks so like my silence that I wish I was born as a million tongued word meaning freedom there are no flowers like that of moon (eclipsing over old mountains) no resurrection other than its absurd cycles but then the way some people longingly … Read more →
Pashmina, Tombstones have names & Witness by Sayen Aich
There have been evenings When my grandmother would weave stories, from the pashmina threads of memory. That still kept her going. With such delicate threads one had to be careful. A little lie here, a little too much effort And a castle of stories would crumble down. She would … Read more →
To a half disappearance & If wishes were horses by Zabirah Fazili
Back home we laughed merry laughs, tears streaming down our eyes, a defiant smile on the face offsets familiar aches felt by us. we lost him in our strength and frailty yet we hugged and held each other back home to shelve our shrieks we smiled at our helplessness. we … Read more →
‘When Kashmir wept, I wrote a poem’ by Premjish
To the Kashmir I’ve never visited, not even in my dreams. I know you will understand, my fear for the uniforms, the masculine parades, the gun holding men who look like Indian gods with elongated genitals, who look like my father with their moustaches, you know I despise my father, … Read more →
‘The City’s Lament for a Messenger’ by Asad Alvi
We cry out, in the darkness, for asylum: no one responds – the wind does not carry his name. The holy city’s arms are lacerated – she does not open them, welcome us We are waiting for the messenger. I am tired, wrestling with the wind’s torrents it does … Read more →
Two Poems by Arnab Chakraborty
1 Today, like most days There were a lot of people in the market Of poetry. The highest were of course Like finest chinaware Created with love devotion and sacrifice, And like all great things in the market Received little attention And littler reward. The 200 rupee poems were being … Read more →
At the Foothills
At the Foothills I gather my summer dreams tuck them in yearning for winter — my savior at the foothills hauling a burden of sanity I wander uphill, my delirious memories rest at the foothills a weaver worries, will pashmina slip through a razor-wire knot? At dawn, colored threads tremble … Read more →