Category: NAW Poetry

‘Betrayal’ (For Sugirtharani) by Gita Jayaraj

You tell me that I have betrayed my ownBecause I do not write about theStruggles and the persecution.My words do not, you say, reveal theHumiliation faced by mine –Ancestors, Fathers, Uncles, Brothers.You tell me that I have betrayed my ownBecause…

‘Days of Amber and Gold’ by Swathi Sriram

Ah, the mellow yellows of the plump mangoes Your deliciousness is a heady drug’s dose You, the sober blues of lashing waves, your speed and patience last eternal days That comforting gold of the sunlight’s streak, I crave your touch on…

‘Whatever love it’s love’ by Paola Caronni

Whatever love it’s love. It’s a bonfire An autodafe’ Unrequited, Untamed it burns.   Filial, familiar. Like earthquake It shakes the house Tears down buildings Hides in the closet Or under the bed. Doors shut.   Regrettable, forgettable Wrinkled bed…

‘The making of a Goddess’ by Mona Dash

resplendent Goddess when you become we will worship you with flowers, the best roses we shall decree lotuses, pink-gold, fifty-five petals no less incense mesmerising intoxicating only the pure can visit they must fast a whole day and half pine,…

‘Lit Talk’ by Angela Gabrielle Fabunan

If you find a girl, don’t make her yours— she won’t get your obscure literary allusions, so why not give up on poets who cut lines in search of heads, top quite gone?   You can turn any word into…

‘Speak’ by Angela Gabrielle Fabunan

1 I saw the reflection of you in my morning cup looking like me. Oh Narcissus, our love of peering at ourselves is only an illusion. Do not be afraid of the edges nor the ripples in the water, it…

‘Liwat’ by Imran Khan

You strung them up together, A constellation of sin, Black suns, primitive blurs, counterparts to our purity, As if humanity turns inside Out by a type of love you won’t accept. You can’t Repress this urge for beauty killed. It’s…

‘Leaving Home’ by Shruti Shukla

Going to every room, touching every wall— embracing, feeling, absorbing like you can take it away, along some of it at least. You can see yourself little, fragile, undamaged in your summer courtyard of 1998 running, falling, giggling, fighting; now…

‘Hope Falls’ by Ranju Dodum

We fall, into the abyss. Into the pit, dug by our Actions, our Inactions, formed of our Misdeeds. Yet, blame, we shall, our Misfortune.   The Tides- they rise. They fall. The Virtues we thought we held dear; the Promises…

‘MENU (Side A)’ by Glenn Whalan

Fried chicken cashew nut, She’s hot in a sassy Indian curry salad Sort of way. Fried chicken with oyster sauce Lips parted; Stuff omelet, She’s hungry.   Deep fried pudding fish with curry – (Pouting flesh, lipstick crimson) Fried fish…