poetry picks
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‘Dreaming of her hunger, I sob in my arms’: Read six new poems by Ashwani Kumar
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‘Substitute this betrayal with yet another’: Five poems on grief and memories by Salma
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‘The irony of desire in boxes’: Six poems to remind us of life (and death) on Zoom during Covid-19
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Mangalesh Dabral (1948-2020): ‘It’s my heart, not my feet, that’s traversing this vexed world’
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‘You say nothing, you speak of no one, we hear each other breathe’: Eight poems by Anupama Raju
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‘A New World Symphony’: A sequence of poems by actor Soumitra Chatterjee
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‘We are going to meet soon’: Read these post-modern love poems in the bhakti tradition
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‘The great leader’ appears in Varanasi in this poem about the city’s past and present
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‘A Kind of Freedom Song’: In life and mythology, women find a voice after violence in these poems
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#NaPoWriMo: 10 poets from India who are embracing (and excelling at) National Poetry Writing Month
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‘Faith is trapped in the teeth of fire’: Two poems by Gulzar on India today
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‘Out of Syllabus’: Three poems from Sumana Roy’s dazzling debut collection
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‘We have heard your call’: Gulzar replies to Javed Akhtar’s stirring poem asking writers to speak up
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This new ghazal by Javed Akhtar is a clarion call for writers to wield their pens in dark times
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Politics, history and memory merge in these poems on Kashmir (and beyond)
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‘Terrarium’: Five poems that engage with the complexities of health with vivid originality
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Six poems by Meena Alexander (1951-2018) that explore memory, body and place
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‘Cosmopolitician’: Eight poems by Mustansir Dalvi that merge dreams and reality
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Pride month: Seven poems to remind us of desire in all its forms
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As temperatures soar, Kalidasa’s classic text ‘Ritusamharam’ provides verses for summer
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Halfway through National Poetry Month, here are some #NaPoWriMo poets from India worth following
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Freezing the moment: A celebration of Haiku by poets from India
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Jonahwhale: Five poems from Ranjit Hoskote’s new book that listens to the histories of the seas
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Five newly published poets reveal new directions for Indian poetry in English
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Five poems to celebrate December with dance and music
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These translations of poems by Kunwar Narain (1927-2017) show why he defied slotting into any genre
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Five poems (or five ways) to go to the sea in November
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Delhi Queer Pride: Ten short poems by a city-based queer poet to mark a decade of pride
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‘Malgudi’: A poem to remember R K Narayan, creator of India’s most loveable town
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In October (and autumn), six poems about age
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Throwback in September: five poems about being young
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Eight melancholic, introspective poems by Parimal Hansda on being a Santhal today
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Five poems for a hungry August
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Eleven contemporary poems that remind us to substitute violence with empathy (especially right now)
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July journeys: Five poems for ‘the pilgrim soul in you’
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Five poems for a rain-drenched June
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Five poems of longing for the sizzling month of May
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If April is the cruellest month, here are five poems to take you back home
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Nostalgia on a March morning: Five poems mixing memory and desire
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Eight poems by Gulzar we need to read on Republic Day
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Javed Akhtar’s poem ‘A New Decree’ may remind you of the world we live in
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A ghazal that Ghalib did not write for Ambedkar (but could have)
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From the poet of ‘We Sinful Women’, two poems for the times
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Poetry and photographs for Kashmir: Is this or is this the dream I came home to?
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‘They want us to write. In blood.’ Four poems on Kashmir
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‘Go To Pakistan’. Or, how a modern proverb is born.
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‘Unhappiness is a kind of yoga…’: Five poems by Jeet Thayil
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Summer Requiem: Three new poems by Vikram Seth
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Trivenis: On Gulzar’s 81st birthday, twelve poems in a form of his invention
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Three emerging Indian women poets with voices you cannot ignore
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Six poems by India’s most reclusive English poet
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Video: On World Poetry Day, listen to the works of ten Indian poets
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Ranjit Hoskote: Portrait of a poet as historian
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Nine poems from the book that won the Khushwant Singh Poetry Prize
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Eleven books of poetry you should read this year
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Verse you must read: the very best English poetry of 2014