Two interesting poetry blogs: Khahish-E-Sang is Raza Yaseen’s Urdu ghazal blog and The Tree of Voice features his English ghazals. An excerpt from one his English ghazals:
I FEEL THAT DEATH WILL TIGHTEN ITS SKIN
WAITING FOR ME TO SHAVE THIS WORLD
FOR GOD’S SAKE DO NOT BELIEVE IN GOD
OR ELSE HE WOULD ENSLAVE THIS WORLD
WHEN YOU LEAVE [...]
Archive for the 'Poetry' Category
Kamala Das, RIP
Published by May 31st, 2009 in Books, Culture, Literature, Patriarchy, Poetry, Society and Women. 1 CommentGift him all,
Gift him what makes you woman,
The scent of
Long hair, the musk of sweat between
The breasts.
The warm shock of menstrual blood
And all your
Endless female hungers. Oh, yes,
Getting a man to love is easy but living
Without him afterwards may have to be faced.
Don Suseelan remembers Kamala Das:
Madhavikutty, Kamala Das, Amy, Kamala Suarayya. Each equally hated [...]
The Mystic’s Muses
Published by March 16th, 2009 in Blogging, Poetry, Politics and South Asia. 0 CommentsWould like to introduce to our readers a new interesting blogger from Pakistan, Le Mystique. He blogs on a wide range of issues- politics, social entrepreneurship and even poetry. Here’s an excerpt from a translation of his Urdu poem (Aarzi) in a recent post:
Madly why I desire a mere illusion?
What to say of staying if [...]
Art Futures Kolkata
Published by March 16th, 2009 in Art, Culture, Literature, Music, Personal, Photography, Poetry, Society and Theatre. 0 CommentsRama, fellow Blogbhartian, has started a new art blog, Art Futures Kolkata, with this admirable goal: Making Art Accessible, Relating Art to Community.
In the latest post, Rama questions the been-there, seen-that smugness of some Kolkatans:
Do they visit other painting or scuplture exhibitions of local or Indian artists in galleries or museums in Calcutta or elsewhere [...]
Kuffir has a series of blog posts with the English translation of Telugu poems. Check out the posts in his blog.
four of them, united, standing up for four feet of land
deserve, for that crime, to be shot
land to the limit of his padayatra
the one who claimed as his own
crossing nations
the one who gave up whole [...]
What more does one want other than a cup of hot tea in these winter months ? Come lets have it.
एक कप चाय, गरम है भाई
केतली में बनी है एक्सट्रा
सोचा, किसी को पिला दूं
जोर की आवाज दी
घर के पास गुजरते हुए राहगीर को
Go and read Aarushi’s enchanting poem about a winter morning:
I devoured with my eyes.
I did not know that
I would be so starved
For the vision of you.
Now the cold winds anger
The architecture called space.
The Muslim Mother Weeps
Published by December 8th, 2008 in 26/11, India, Poetry and Terrorism. 1 Comment Firoze Shakir has described today’s mood of India through his poetry. Hop over to his place for more.
a few weeks to go
before bakra idd
in a dinghy they came
killing in the name of Allah
the jehaddi game
non state actors
Muslims to name
operating from
Pakistani territory
Islam defame
Some poetry on Mumbai- an excerpt from River’s A Ghazal:
Listen, let’s scratch images in the base dust.
Words will grow weapons in the plays on Mumbai.
A last message screams–hidng undr d bed.
What about my home in this craze for Mumbai?
Slayers saunter in black Versace t-shirts.
It seems like they have learnt the ways of Mumbai!
Rana Bose speaks [...]
Child Sexual Abuse
Published by November 21st, 2008 in Activism, Blogging, Children and Poetry. 1 CommentFrom the poem Bread.Pieces, by Pali Tripathi:
Man. Thin. Tatters
Eyes. Cold. Piercing
Gazes. Afraid. Numb
Sound. Loud. Harsh
Child. Tears. Gurgle
Bread. Pieces. Gone
Faces. White. Wounded
Mouths. Pained. Dry
Door. Shut. Bang
This poem won the recently concluded Blogeratti Contest for best poems on Child Abuse. Read more about the contest and about Elaan- Combat Child Sexual Abuse Community.
‘Today, I am ashamed of all my songs’
Published by November 8th, 2008 in Books, Human Rights and Poetry. 0 CommentsRaza Rumi on how the voice of the liberal and the idiom of resistance in Pakistan is being appropriated by the conservative and the status quoist:
It was the lyrical, direct poetry of Habib Jalib that stirred the street for decades, echoing the vision of the world from below. Jalib’s expression was popular and immediate, and [...]
An open challenge to Raj Thackeray
Published by October 24th, 2008 in India, Poetry and Politics. 36 CommentsRajeev gives an open challenge to Raj Thackeray.
अपनी गली में तो कुता भी शेर होता है...
आ के देख मैदान ए जंग में... देखें कौन. ..कहाँ... कैसे ढेर होता है
Do you agree with him ?
Cinderella posts a wonderful poem which reaches out beyond the boundaries of time:
Would you tell me a fairy-tale?
Of elves and pixies,
and their winged dreamy desires
swathed in lacey indigo blues ?
Of lovers and friends,
And faraway dreams
knitted together with serene sunshine ?
Together with the visual design of the page and the image she has posted alongside, it [...]
Anthology of Dalit Poetry - capable translators required in all Indian languages
Published by August 21st, 2007 in Books, Dalit, India, Language and Poetry. 19 CommentsDr. K. Purushotham, Associate Professor of English, Kakatiya University, has undertaken the challenging task of bringing out an anthology of Dalit Poetry. In his own words:
I am planning to bring out an anthology of Dalit Poetry in English translation from different languages of India. This task cannot be accomplished without the cooperation of the [...]
let it rain upon me,
I who knows so
many types and shades of ochre,
because I intend to
live no matter what
no matter where
and I will never ask
why if I am
always reminded how
That’s from Duende (The Gypsy Prayer), a poem by Sharanya Manivannan who is working on her first novel, Constellation of Scars.
On Translating the Progressives
Published by July 7th, 2007 in India, Literature, Poetry and Politics. 0 CommentsNakul Krishna writes on translating the writers of the PWA (Progressive Writers’ Association) and also translates some lines by Viqaar Ambalavi
They eat the workers’ share
(barking at the working man)
work them dead by day
(drain them of their tears by night)
and their hungry children wail
(and [...]
Hemant Sareen interviews Jeet Thayil:
It’s a pleasure to be asked such a question, because it means you hear poetry as speech. [Not] just [as] words on a page. Reason why lots of us don’t hear poetry is because a legion of school teachers come between us and the poems. They tell us that poetry has [...]
Mousumi Karmakar has a number of renditions of Rabindra Sangeet, with translations in English (the posts are dated, but I think worth a visit on the 146th anniversary of Tagore’s birth).
Link via Indianwriting
Shahnawaz Warsi introduces us to Dr.Naseem us Zafar Baqri, a doctor who is also an accomplished poet:
zakhm e ahsaas na hijrat na safar maaNgegA
ye musaafir to sarai nahi ghar maaNgegA
shahzada abhi kamsin hai to phooloN pe hain paoN
kal jawaaN hogA to insanO ke sir maaNgegA
Is he talking about Rahul Gandhi?
Sufi Poetry Blog Carnival
Published by May 5th, 2007 in Announcement, India, Poetry, Religion and Secularism. 2 CommentsSadiq Alam is hosting a Sufi Poetry Carnival at his blog Inspirations and Creative Thoughts. If you admire Sufi poetry, do participate to make Indian presence felt.
In Sacred Remembrance of Divine, Tiel Aisha Ansari and me, Sadiq will be hosting the Sufi Poetry Blog Carnival on May 28th. Blog Carnival is collection of blog/site links [...]
Small Talk reviews the book ‘A Poem for CRY’, a collection of poems by famous Indians.
There are some amazing Urdu poems (thank god for the translations) - Shabana Azmi’s choice is a poem of her father’s as is Amitabh Bachan’s; and Yash Chopra chooses a Sahir Ludhianvi one. Kaifi Azmi’s poem is particularly moving. It [...]
Karbala and Hind
Published by April 23rd, 2007 in History, India, Poetry, Religion and Secularism. 10 CommentsA clan of Brahmins from the Punjab are said to have fought in the battle of Karbala on the side of Hussain. The Dutts (like in Sunil Dutt) trace their ancestry to this clan. I was reminded of this reading this couplet by Indian (the post has couplets in Urdu and romanized Urdu, no English [...]
Looking for Waris Shah
Published by April 8th, 2007 in India, Poetry, South Asia and Travel. 1 CommentShirazi visits the place where Waris Shah had composed ‘Heer’, and finds, among other things, relics of the Parnami sect.
It is this ‘Hujra Waris Shah Da’ that I had come to see in Malka Hans. Waris Shah had composed an illustrious Punjabi folk romance (now a film) sitting in this hujra. The underground 8 x [...]
Maqsood Quereshi writes on the life and art of the Urdu poet, activist and film lyricist Kaifi Azmi.
When the Leftist Indian People’s Theatre Association was set up, the poet was one of the earliest members. Azmi’s immediate audience, in this period, was the Urdu-reading public of Bombay, especially the residents of the inner-city areas of [...]
New Indian Writing- Old Wine in New Bottle?
Published by April 2nd, 2007 in India, Poetry and Politics. 0 CommentsR.K. Singh on the new Indian English writing that reflects a growing politics of rejection after the emergence of a sole super power.
A new colonialism of the right wing, the American and the British, is taking its hold in developing countries, which have become a playground for long-term exploitation by the newly empowered colonialists within. [...]
Recent Comments