The worse for wear

Bangalore, Jan 2022  Ashfaq Saraf today takes only so much from yesterdayas may serve to make life bearablenothing ever is as it was before, things change –age, morph, decay so thatone sees in the mirror, sees their own faceand exclaims with relief at the awareness: I did love is it … Read more →

The Voice

O Kashmiri   I tried telling The Voice, To let me go my way, But it spoke too loud, And the words were too strong, I couldn’t resist following, It, the way it led me, To an edge of a Cliff,’ I thought I heard the waves, Call my name from … Read more →

Graveyard of empires

Syed Jesarat   The postman hasn’t Left the post office since Two decades, My Dream’ letters – to the Broken mirror of Himalayas Will never reach you But the scattered carcasses.   The pocket letters of Our times’ are hollow shadows of memories snatched away And kept in a dungeon … Read more →

No Lockdown can overcome us

Abdul Azeem* Nothing is new neither this plague nor its lockdown it came with. All along, we’ve been witness to so many plagues and lockdowns. Not only social distancing, the plague of occupation exposed us to communication lockdowns as well. Since the past seven decades, the continuous tribulations, are meddling … Read more →

Your Brother

iKoshur Your brother walks in shadows, roams the land in utter secrecy, his image alive in a multitude of hearts that are far too many to count. His feet touch upon the soil like determined whispers of a man whose voice is louder than any force a million strong. His … Read more →

Kashmir – The Invisible and the Damned

Aijaz Zaka Syed   You can look away now The Vale of tears has dried up And a deathly silence stalks the Dal   Deserted towns, burnt orchards and  shadows everywhere. Paradise will ne’er be the same again Nothing will ever be the same again   We, the invisible and the … Read more →

Abandonment 

Daaniyal Hassan   At Srinagar Airport The waiting furniture has grown roots in the frosted floor.   The carpenter’s chisel runs smooth blade in my palms.   Grape leaves are carved on walnut wood.   This is the anatomy of deficient hands without you.   From door to door of … Read more →

The number “four”

Yogesh Mishra   On the way to school Zuni counts One barricade, two barricades, three barricades Green is Pakistan Saffron is India And blood is red It is little Zuni’s new charade The way she learns counting and recalls a color’s name   I do not know whom to blame … Read more →

A poem for Aasif Sultan

Omer Sultan I wrote this poem to address the illegal imprisonment of Aasif Sultan, the Assistant Editor of Kashmir Narrator, a monthly magazine. Aasif, my brother was arrested on the intervening night of 27th and 28th of August 2018. He dropped me to the airport a day before his arrest. … Read more →

When the War is  over

Shabir Ahmad Mir   When the war is over And you can come over To our side I will let you poke Your finger Into the holes left By bullets and pellets And you will feel how much they hurt Still.   When the war is over I will let … Read more →

Refugee by Manisha Manhas

1. when the worm- bitten memories; decided to consume us We offered them a part of our hearts. And took a flight over a river.   To reach a land called Home.   Steeped in the memory of a lane- the silence of a town. A market of corpses,   … Read more →

Two Poems by Arnab Chakraborty

1 Today, like most days There were a lot of people in the market Of poetry. The highest were of course Like finest chinaware Created with love devotion and sacrifice, And like all great things in the market Received little attention And littler reward. The 200 rupee poems were being … Read more →

Incipience and other poems

Taseer Gujral ~ incipience ~   the place i come from does not exist anymore it was a soluble continent a filigree of gold and green fed by a maze of five rivers it survived the wounds of a land divided and a savage holocaust only to hear the sufi … Read more →