Poetry as Sanctuary – A column where we explore poetry as a means of expression for voices of the South Asian Diaspora. Poetry was never something I imagined to become this significant to me, it was not even a sliver of a dream of an unimagined future. I spent the...
It is not often that one has the opportunity to review the work of a dear friend, but perhaps it is inevitable that when writing for a community magazine, there is a spark of recognition upon reading the name of the author in a review copy. The arts community of...
“Not straight, not gay, not girl enough, miles away from man. Just queer, man, as in queer. I dentif i As queer. I like the way it sounds like the start Of ‘weird’. The way I don’t have a plan. Queer.” —From the poem ‘Queer As In’ by Delhi-based non-binary, femme...
A poet is, before anything else, a person who is passionately in love with language. – W. H. Auden In reading 16-year-old Uma Menon’s debut collection of poetry, it is obvious that W. H. Auden was speaking about her. For that matter, the fact that the author is a teen...
Can you think of major experiences of your life and community, whether it is to celebrate birthdays or weddings, or to mourn a loss or even at the rituals around a funeral, without some music and song, be it folk traditions or prayer chants? Poetry is so seamlessly...
