Suggestions

January 2023

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Mother’s Tongue

My mother’s tongue is not her rebellion She has never used it for self empowerment or polarity to speak out against humanity or to construct her identity in the ventures of prose or poetry Her tongue is not her weapon
January 25, 2023
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To the Second Book

The bedsheets had different colours with different patterns of creases that spoke of random encounters with a lost and dull civilization. There were nights spent on a lonely continent, with a slowly growing love of the unknown and the foreign, And
January 25, 2023
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Reverie

Is it 9:00 am already? Each day, at this exact hour, a treacherous beam tricks her fellow rays and breaks free into the dark confines of my room. Escaping the opaqueness of a thick brown curtain through a narrow slit.
January 25, 2023
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An Artist’s Burden

Paint the present With past radiant Preserve the glory With pen or brush Glorious, undefiled by the Proliferation of technology Of post-agrarian times…. Down the lane of memory Revisit, recapture and Resuscitate beauty Live present by celebrating past An anchor to
January 25, 2023
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An Epistolary Poem to Patriarchs

This poem is addressed to All those patriarchal pigs and crackbrained clerics Who use the whip of male power to punish dissenting women. You keep asking women to stop “exciting” male lust – This “lust” is neither etched into unquestionable biology Nor
January 25, 2023
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Cloth Hanger Body

I just wanted An unobtrusive Body… One of those bodies You can easily Let a light Linen dress Slide on. One of those bodies That are little more Than clothes hangers And that go unnoticed. Straight and blank Like a table
January 25, 2023
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Caged

I have seen you sitting in the wrinkled sack of a home Your moist, savory stories slapped shut in the folds of your earth, Pregnant, drunk, and raining. I have seen the blue-red shriek, the aboriginal music Piercing through your
January 25, 2023
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A Talk about Colour

Equity and Justice are overpowering ideas Yet everything not legitimate exists today That deserves not a space to hide and attack On exploration of the natural environment around One may come across it as a word – Environmental Racism Taking a toll
January 25, 2023
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The Old Ghost of Saria Lane

Smoke engulfs the air as she stokes the embers briskly. The last of the split wood snaps and crackles, disrupting the hush of a house still settled in sleep. Dawn’s pale light traces her rickety door as she quietly lifts the
January 25, 2023
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Dying Poem

My poem is dying, a scared death in the lobes of my brain, perturbed by noises of the rapid civilisation My poem is a thought entwined with many more thoughts, unable to breathe out the right patterns of my imagination My
January 25, 2023
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Who Are You and Who Am I?

I have been cornered in the schoolyard, white faces laughed at me; You are coloured, you are not one of us! they repeated… not even your mama or papa is coloured you have been bought from the coloured shop… hahaha…..ululululu…. Who
January 25, 2023

Windfall

Behind a ruined cottage ghosts endure among untended trees. Imperfect fruit weighs down gnarled branches. The shadow of a child skips rope, each turn clips hard-packed clay. The sun slips lower. A hungry child her ice-blue eyes, a frenzy of curls, gathering
January 25, 2023

Letters Between Chizuko Ueno and Ryomi Suzuki

The book Letters Between Chizuko Ueno and Ryomi Suzuki, written by Chizuko and Ryomi, explores several contentious topics concerning modern feminism in Japan. This book consisted of twelve letters between Chizuko and Ryomi, which can be mainly divided into two
January 25, 2023
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Peace At All Costs

Father’s mantra ‘Peace at all costs’ Calmed our sibling quarrels Our petty squabbles soon forgotten We resumed our play with dolls and toys. ‘Peace at all costs, he said to me Standing beside mother, facing me as I tried to win an
January 25, 2023
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Nightingale’s Melody

City lights turned off, roads emptied, flash of moon glow illuminated the eyes. Stream of honey flowed in her throat, in the darkest hour, heard an irresistible nightingale’s melody. Kneeled by my wounded heart, feathers caressed sunken cheeks, was comatose for years,
January 25, 2023
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These Dark Days

With wars in the world The covid germs lingering in the air Men and women and children being shot and bombed World war three looming Cancers popping up everywhere The bills getting bigger With people starving and homeless in first world countries
January 25, 2023
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The Hug

The casually slipped arm about the waist the squeeze of the shoulder spoke volumes of the love felt but rarely displayed. A quiet glow spread from the toes upwards spreading its warmth to all the pores driving out the chill felt
January 25, 2023

Language Matters in Mental Health

As humans, we use language to shape how we perceive the world and the people around us. We have a choice of words to describe ourselves and others. Our choice of words influences how we view mental health and well-being. Considering
January 25, 2023

The Mind is Larger than the Body- Often We Forget

The mind and the body are intricately connected, and both play a crucial role in our overall well-being. However, many philosophers, scientists, and spiritual leaders have argued that the mind is more significant than the body. One of the most fundamental ways
January 25, 2023

The Fabricated Reality of Some Instagrammers

Instagram influencers are often criticised for encouraging others to live fake lives by only sharing the most perfect and curated versions of their own lives. This can create unrealistic expectations and make people feel bad about their own lives as they compare
January 25, 2023

The Country of Red Mud

Seva, a city girl, was travelling to a remote school where she had volunteered to teach. Vidyamandir, situated in Laal Matir Desh (the country of red mud), functioned as a philanthropic wing of a mining company. The school was built with neat prefectures of one-storied structures consisting
January 25, 2023

Sirens of Modernity: World Cinema via Bombay

Author: Samhita Sunya The University of California Press, 2022 akira kurosawa vittorio de sica, wyler hitchcock wajda, mizoguchi de palma, wyler hitchcock wajda, brian de palma! akira kurosawa vittorio de sica . . . —Chintu Ji (Ranjit Kapoor, 2009)   Thus begins
January 25, 2023

Kaala and Masaan: An Anti-Caste Analysis

In contemporary Tamil cinema, there has been a rise of anti-caste narratives decrying the oppressive system. A key member of this movement has been Pa. Ranjith, with his 2018 film Kaala having been praised for its subversive treatment of caste and gender norms.
January 25, 2023
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The Consolation

Look at the kites these are still flying Beneath the bright sunlight The sign of morning and dawn’s hue That is life, giving its clue Don’t get fed up, and catch every chance To listen to the rhythm of heartbeat And allow
January 25, 2023

Stop Trying So Hard to be Different

A few years ago, I was travelling from my hometown to my aunt’s place in Patna by train when I saw a girl with a definite Caucasian complexion and hair colour, wearing a cotton salwar kameez, the traditional attire worn by Indians.
January 25, 2023
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Lamps

People have lamps for bodies. When you’re in hurricane love you can see it, the light house, the summer rental for the soul lit up like unexpected fireworks that make a holiday. The human body is an arsonist. At any
January 2, 2023