Book review – The Snows of Kashmir

Kashmir shrinks into my mailbox, my home a neat four by six inches. I always loved neatness. Now I hold the half-inch Himalayas in my hand. This is home. And this the closest I’ll ever be to home. When I return, the colors won’t be so brilliant, the Jhelum’s waters so clean, so ultramarine. My love so overexposed. These free verses about losing home and overexposed love are by Agha Shahid Ali (1949–2001), the beloved Kashmiri-American poet. Among several other US institutions, Ali taught creative writing to graduate students at New York University. A few decades later, in a different … Continue reading Book review – The Snows of Kashmir

The wait never really ends

Distant roads are ahead of me. I long to meet you. The wait never really ends.  Schopenhauer – flitting between being hopeful and desperate never really ends. I am in search of “the best minds of my generation.” Those that howl in madness.  They do math or write poetry. And wonder why the hate never really ends. Should we assemble words to last, or does function singularly dictate form? And does beauty really matter? This ancient debate never really ends. A tale of the human condition: “Iztiraab” and “Ennui”, words in Urdu and French,  are used in poetic claims that … Continue reading The wait never really ends

وسط رات

رات کے وسط میں اکیلے پن کا احساسمحبت کا اظہار دوری کے باوجود ،ارادے،  وسوسے، خوفمستقبل اور  ماضی ،انسانیت، بشریت، حکمت،کتابیں،  آزاد خیالاتفلسفہ اور بے نیازی مجھے نہیں معلوم جنت کی حقیقتمجھے نہیں میسر حقیقت کی جنت لباس مجاز ہے بھی کیا؟کوئی غیبی راز ہے بھی کیا؟ Continue reading وسط رات

The Passage of Time

A river lets go of itsheaviest burdens first.Das Schwerste Gewicht –first boulders, then cobbles.Then pebbles and sand –some of which compactsinto sedimentary rock. A river’s passage is a testamentto the passage of geological time.Well before historical time – the stint of humans –began. I was recently tolda rock becomes a stonewhen a human touches it. I recall Milosz:“Rivers grow small.Cities grow small.”Slowly they disappear.Stones weather down and – with their remnants transported –are eventually turned backinto rocks. Continue reading The Passage of Time