Welcome friends,
In response to the question, ‘In the dark times, will there also be singing?’ Bertolt Brecht said, ‘Yes…about the dark times.’ This is an invitation to join me while I draft a sequence of poems about the dark times we are living through in India.
One way to read this site is backwards, from the first post to the most recent. In that way it serves as a kind of poetic response to the times, beginning with the abrogation of Kashmir’s special status and the lock down there. If you are in India, you know what came next.
I’m a poet, not a visual artist or website designer; this site doesn’t look slick, and I’m not going for a million views–just a few fellow travelers to think and sing with. Writing poems is hard work, and sometimes it can be lonely.
If I were trying to make a name for myself, I wouldn’t use this one, and I’d focus more on being loud and clever. But then a part of me would be worried about getting fired or charged with sedition—and who wants to deal with that, especially for poems that may only end up being a rough draft? I’m only partly joking; remember, friends, these are dark times.
For as long as I can, I’ll write a poem or three a week. Do join me. And please pass it on.
For those of you who use Instagram, please find me here. I follow back, especially if you look like a poet or someone who supports secularism, solidarity and democracy. I am also on Twitter, but I don’t tweet much.
Contact me at hamraaz@protonmail.com
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