reader submission

POETRY / Ghostly tenants

My father speaks in a dismantled language that goes up in  smoke. 

POETRY / The song of freedom

the bullet hole/ in my brother's chest/ unfolds like a pandora's box

POETRY / Wonder

I feel my rage, ma, a living thing;/ A beast, caged, like me

POETRY / The things I wish I had never known

I skip talking to myself for hours / The “me time”, before going to bed

FICTION / Wings Across A City Wall

Shimu and Tushar had grown up together on an alley in the Mirpur area of Dhaka city. Their neighbouring houses were separated only by a brick wall, about two meters high. The branches of a tree growing beside Tushar’s house overhung the wall, its foliage shading a part of Shimu’s courtyard.

POETRY / My scarlet incarnation

Being a woman comes to me naturally If not me, then who? I was never asked to be one I was never asked to cook

Poetry / Bombardment

What’s life if a sense of darkness/ doesn’t connect night to sunlight

Poetry / Silent screams

Let us raise our voices, let us be heard, / Justice for the dead, let their voices be stirred

Poetry / Prompts

The pavements are hotter in winter, the rain never wets the asphalt and I never tell you to do anything else other than “be”. 

July 27, 2024
July 27, 2024

The song of freedom

the bullet hole/ in my brother's chest/ unfolds like a pandora's box

July 27, 2024
July 27, 2024

Ghostly tenants

My father speaks in a dismantled language that goes up in  smoke. 

July 5, 2024
July 5, 2024

Wonder

I feel my rage, ma, a living thing;/ A beast, caged, like me

June 26, 2024
June 26, 2024

The things I wish I had never known

I skip talking to myself for hours / The “me time”, before going to bed

January 13, 2024
January 13, 2024

Wings Across A City Wall

Shimu and Tushar had grown up together on an alley in the Mirpur area of Dhaka city. Their neighbouring houses were separated only by a brick wall, about two meters high. The branches of a tree growing beside Tushar’s house overhung the wall, its foliage shading a part of Shimu’s courtyard.

November 18, 2023
November 18, 2023

My scarlet incarnation

Being a woman comes to me naturally If not me, then who? I was never asked to be one I was never asked to cook

November 1, 2023
November 1, 2023

Bombardment

What’s life if a sense of darkness/ doesn’t connect night to sunlight

September 25, 2023
September 25, 2023

Silent screams

Let us raise our voices, let us be heard, / Justice for the dead, let their voices be stirred

September 21, 2023
September 21, 2023

Prompts

The pavements are hotter in winter, the rain never wets the asphalt and I never tell you to do anything else other than “be”. 

September 16, 2023
September 16, 2023

The colour of revolution is red

And along with our bodies, the rage keeps on, / we chafe and bleed and clot and steer; / we go mad and nude