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 →
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 →
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 →
Two poems by Shabir Ahmed Mir
GHAZAL Eyes of porcelain. Dreams of stone. Pieces of porcelain. Screams of stone. These impotent idols, this adamant priest, This tyranny of faith, these regimes of stone. A mouthful of dust; a handful of bones: What castles of ambition! What schemes of stone! The thirsty artificer sculpting … Read more →
Two poems by Aakriti Kuntal
An event in the neighbourhood I adopt a movement like air Wading along the mind’s eye through the obvious, the oblivious, the steam of all perspiring things The moon stares at nothing— cold eye of the sky, the quality of a stone in its eternal passiveness Someone died in the … 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 →
Two poems by Ra Sh
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 →
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 →
Asiya Andrabi: A Lifetime of Fighting for Freedom
Rahiba R Parveen From the archives [ First published here in 2014] – Asiya Andrabi is currently jailed You may agree or disagree with her ideology but the founder of the first women’s organization of Kashmir, Dukhtaran-e-Millat (Daughter of the nation) Asiya Andrabi remains one of the most important women … Read more →
Response Poetry
We called poets to write us “Response Poems” We asked them to recall any favorite poem that spoke to them or inspired them or was a companion to them when no one else is. Then we asked if they ever have written a response to it in the form of … Read more →