“Poetry permeates borders, defies categorization, brings its light into the darkest of corners…” The Missing Slate’s February 2016 online poetry issue, edited by The (Great) Indian Poetry Collective.
“No one escapes your influence./ Once, out of my mind, I tried, but the grass barred my way./ And the stars wandered out of their pens…” By Jeet Thayil.
“Felix again, falling through sky,/ an age ago, an hour. He is/ a mouthful of air, a savior at the door/ and trembling…” By Ellen Kombiyil.
“You will not be able to see me change./ You will not see me drifting into the sea./ There will be nothing aquatic/ about this shipwreck…” By Jennifer Robertson.
“The silverfish will drown in water, yet he was not granted wings. He took to reading, first discount coupons and then fiction…” By Sohini Basak.
“After the woman he loved married another,/ our hero woke up every morning with a little blood/ in his mouth. Soon, his roommates complained/ when he muttered in his sleep it sounded like death itself.” By Rohan Chhetri.
“Mist soars on the river, my door splits free of its hinges:/ My children’s children, and those I will never see —/ Generations swarm in me,/ Born to this North American soil, dreamers in a new world…” By Meena Alexander.
“A boat slowly floating/ away from Indian coast/ sliver of cardamom biscuit/ baking in an orange-rind sun/ water blue green/ like the marbles of childhood…” By Shikha Malaviya.
“Maybe it started when she used/ her dupatta to wick off the sweat/ before sticking a bindi between/ your eyes while he watched…” By Declan Gould.
“Bent// on redemption,/ penitence is your fetish./ You are guilty of nothing, scrubbed/ to the quick.// You’re smarting and hence alive…” By Vidhu Aggarwal.