Muhammad Zahid They never came back once they left, with promises to come back at night, bringing smiles for kids, love for wives and hopes for their parents too. They never came back and those at home kept the doors open all night, their eyes kept looking far across the … Read more →
Poems: Cherry Tree, Chestnuts, and Invisibilities
Insha Muzaffar I through the branches of old of cherry tree I see you (the way I always see you) lonely amid the throng of contented faces writing angry letters to God while the coolness of gloaming seeps into the tepid skin of our sweaters and moon slips through the hedges … Read more →
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Inder Salim I said to them, spontaneously Take away your Kashmir, Just take away, It is all yours. They laughed, then looked At each others faces with disbelief, But grabbed quickly: The Azadi Freedom in their hands was water As pure as one drinks At the beginning of a river. … Read more →
From Exile with Love
Poems by Amjad Majid In memory of going to an “Indian passport office” to get a passport: 1. Pehchaan Patr (“Permanent Residential Address:”) They drafted it out From ink and paper Printed and laminated Stamped, notarized, authorized From bureau to bureau From a filing cabinet To stained yellow decrepit bureaucratic … Read more →
The Summer of Our Discontent
Poems inspired by 2016 Summer Uprising in Kashmir Defiance This summer too They came Trampling my dreams Under their heavy boots This summer too They came Tearing my body With their sharp pellets This summer too They came Drowning my voice Under their shrill rhetoric This summer too They … Read more →
Poems for those lost in Kashmir Uprising 2016
Inshah Malik I’m Antsy These beautiful roads, In the golden sunrise While trees in rows, Stand guard, To our desires These army jeeps Meander in the roads of our woes, While, a young motorist Feels breeze in his hair riding in the line of fire A peep-hole carved on his … Read more →
Three Poems for Kashmir
By Amit Kumar 1.1 For a Murderer Its Friday, All faithful are running for the Namaz-e-Juma Somewhere a Brahmin is reciting the sacred mantras Every devotee is hand-folded, sitting in reverie I could never understand the ‘Arabic verse’ la illah ila allah mohammed rasoul allah Grandmother’s fairy-tales appealed more than … Read more →