Anupam has posted a lovely poem:
Archive for the 'Poetry' Category
Smokescreen translates a poem by Telugu feminist writer Jayaprabha and tries to interpret it:
Human selfishness draws boundaries
Not leaping streams
Not forests or waterfalls
Who can say whence
come the clouds bringing rain here!
[...] Although this isn’t a feminist poem in the strictest sense, I’m drawn to it because of my fascination for people whose imagination blurs boundaries. Like [...]
Janabai, poet for all times
Published by October 17th, 2009 in Caste, Language, Literature, Poetry, Prejudice and Women. 2 CommentsJanabai shares dais with her contemporaries Sant Dynaeshwar and Sant Namdev – poet saints of Maharastra. Her 300 odd abhangs have become part of Namdev’s repertoire of devotional songs to Lord Vittal. Here is one where the Lord Vittal works alongside her. These are not household chores as is usually described for a housemaid. This [...]
Guru posts an anthem for ‘natural born hikers’ and I liked it a lot-
Landscapes to pass, Challenges to don!
We are hikers naturally born!!
Call me crazy, call me mad
When it comes of walking, I am not that bad
…
Read the full natural born hikers’ anthem.
If you want to enjoy children’s poems in Hindi, here is a blog full of them. Name is Baal-man (बाल मन ) and I am sure the poems will make you smile. The latest being a chit-chat between famous pair of cat & mouse.
बिल्ली मौसी चलीं बनारस, लेकर झोला–डंडा। गंगा–तट पर मिला उन्हें तब मोटा चूहा पंडा। चूहा बोला– बिल्ली मौसी, चलो करा दूं पूजा। मुझ–सा पंडा, यहाँ घाट पर, नहीं मिलेगा दूजा।
Read on.
jaage hain deir tak,humein kuch der soney do,
thodi si raat aur hai,subah to hone do.
aadhe adhoore khwaab, jo poore na ho sake,
ek baar fir se neend mein,wo khwaab bone do
The above four lines are of a song from movie Guru. Sandeip thought the song was incomplete, and tried to give it a more fruitful, meaningful [...]
Call for Entries
Published by July 21st, 2009 in Announcement, Books, Fiction, Literature and Poetry. 0 CommentsEntries are invited from young poets in India writing in English for the inaugural
Srinivas Rayaprol Poetry Prize.
The Prize was instituted by the Srinivas Rayaprol Literary Trust to recognize excellence in poetry written in English and is being administered jointly by the Department of English, University of Hyderabad. The prize consisting of a cash award of [...]
Rains, electricity failure and darkness. Shruti creates a poetry out of it.
Dark night. Wet, eerie, lonely. Rains lashing. Rains have always scared me.
They wash away with uncaring force- earth, shelter, lives.
I’m indoors, safe. Doors shut. Windows too.
What’s in remains in. What’s out, out.
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 [...]
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. 118 CommentsRajeev gives an open challenge to Raj Thackeray.
???? ??? ??? ?? ???? ?? ??? ???? ??…
? ?? ??? ????? ? ??? ???…
????? ???. ..????… ???? ??? ???? ??
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. 21 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 [...]
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