Benares
“No board exams here./ The living are coached on dying,/ the dead on rebirthing,/ the priests on parody…” By Arundhathi Subramaniam.
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from ‘Nacciyar Tirumoli’—Take Me to His Sacred Places
“Uncover me. Why should I wear modesty when the world knows of my barefaced love?…” Translated from Andal’s ‘Nacciyar Tirumoli’ by Priya Sarukkai Chabria.
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Dialogue of the Lady Monsters
“Dear Lady:/ I am sorry to inform you/ your star will someday blaze out/ & die. I know you do not/ hear me nor, if hear, believe…” By Minal Hajratwala.
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From the Margins to Centre Stage: A Sangam (Confluence) of Three Indian Women Poets
“Poetry is, and has always been, the art of uttering multiple truths in a single line. It’s a celebration of plurality, of contradiction… Poetry compels us to confront uncertainty. That makes it the very antithesis of the fundamentalist impulse…” A Sangam (confluence) of three Indian women poets, featuring Arundhathi Subramaniam, Meena Alexander and Priya Sarukkai Chabria.
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The (Great) Indian Poetry Collective: Building Community Through Poetry
“In the U.S… it’s easy to feel like a non-entity in the publishing world which is still dominated by cishet white men (though some aspects are changing). In India, what I’ve experienced is almost the opposite, a lot of openness and welcoming of new ideas…” A roundtable discussion with the members of The (Great) Indian Poetry Collective.
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Flower Gardens
“Lately, I am told, in my native land, mothers stay up long into the night staring at all of the dark…” Weekend poem, by Zainab Syed.
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Spotlight Poets: Zainab Syed & Zohab Khan
Afshan Shafi talks to Zainab Syed and Zohab Khan, the co-founders of the Pakistan Poetry Slam.
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Death in the Museum of Modern Art
“Often regarded as one of the pioneers of women’s war writing in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Lazarevska represents an alternative to the heroic war discourse…” Maida Salkanović on Alma Lazarevska’s groundbreaking ‘Death in the Museum of Modern Art’.
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October Hurricane
“Our hometown seems so far,/and the moments I miss…/even though they were,/more likely, /ordinary, /like any memories—/hooked by human love,/the most relentless of barbs…”
Poem of the Week (February 17), by Domenic Scopa.
Global Warming
“Perhaps desire moves in atoms,/ embedding itself in other hearts…” Weekend poem, by Jane Frank.
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