20th July 2013

चाहो, तो एक पल में सुलझा लो 
न चाहो, तो हज़ार साल भी कम हैं
स्वार्थ, अहम्, अहंकार, ज़िद …. है तो है 
घर की बात हो, या ब्रह्माण्ड की 
बस मामला इत्ता सा है …. 
चाहो, तो एक पल में सुलझा लो 
न चाहो, तो हज़ार साल भी कम हैं

Rizvi Amir Abbas Syed

15th June 2013

I resist you 
I succeed 
And I find 
I become you 

We resist you
We win 
And we realise 
We become you 

The story of love
The story of resistance 
The story of revolutions 
The story of life.

Originally a Facebook Status by

Dibyesh Anand

3rd May 2013

Our voice
Our hope
Our light 
Our strength

We believed 
We followed
We admired 
We dreamed

You divided
You misled 
You deceived 
You betrayed

We got raped 
We got orphaned
We got tortured 
We got hanged

You plundered 
You gained 
You multiplied
You sold your soul

And you expect us to see
You as our Voice?

Rohail Afzal

1st May 2013

Leave me a moment for womanhood
that my hair goes wild on my face
and the redness of my lips scream out
that the warmth of my hands
tie onto one another 
with no trace of you on them…

Leave me a moment for womanhood
that the wall of my eyes
be the reflector of my passion
and my feet 
dance on the song of the wind
with no hand
playing on my curves…

Leave me a moment for womanhood
that my song could be
me and my hair
me and my hands
me and my eyes
me and my lips
me and no trace of you
leave me a moment for womanhood…

Atefeh Sadeghi

30th April 2013

This Morning I find

Myself in a moment of immense serenity

Blessed Tranquility

Gone is the life urge

Gone is the death urge

Gone is the voracious cupidity

The need to devour all things

The fear that life is short

The buffet will end

Absent is the sirens call

Absent is the weight of coercion

Of coming to the end of one’s rope

Of an axe hanging over one’s head

Of the voices that shout so loud —

Their proposed actions,

Their judgments,

Their name calling

Prurience, Passion, Desperation, Indecision, insecurity…

Pent up, unexpressed

Today no part of me feels caged, leashed

No pressure asks me to be what I am not

No decision begs me to make it

Time is not my enemy today

I possess, I am not possessed

There is no echo chamber in my mind

No pounding in my heart,

No roiling in my loins

The banshees and demons have deserted me,

Quieted by I know not exactly what

Today I walked in the early hours

Among the birds

And their singing

My body, my mind is quiet today

A glorious place to rest

The tiger walks alone in mists

Hungry for nothing

But his own company

And his walk

Striding in the power of self possession.

 Peter Garretson

17th February 2011

Cradle of faith for I now descend
As the hour of high hopes come to an end,
Bitter is the taste of destiny I’m fed
Oh my God! Oh my God! God Is Dead!

Realm of time is far fetched 
Suppressed is the voice that takes pledge,
Scary is the path on which I’m led 
Oh my God! Oh my God! God Is Dead!

Divine were the words as I was told
Unlike gospels they had no soul,
Heavy was the price in tears I shed
Oh my God! Oh my God! God Is Dead!

With sensuous cruelty we dealt 
When we spilled his blood how can we forget,
We hanged him on the cross like a thread
Oh my God! Oh my God! God Is Dead!

Munish Sharma

14th January 2011

बे-इन्तहा सब्र के बाद, फरमान हुआ है ये जारी
तेरा ख़याल और ना होगा, ना होगी और तेरी तरफ़दारी

आख़िर हद होती है रंज की, बेसब्र दिल का लिहाज़ तो कर
रिक़्क़त् खा उन तमाम नज़रों पर, ढूँढती हैं जो तुझे दरबदर

मजबूर सिसकियों को राहत् दे, यूँ ना बिलावजेह उन्हें ज़ाय कर
तेरे आने की गुंजाइश है, ये तस्सली तो फ़िलहाल अदा कर

तारीख़् के पन्नो पर, इससे पहले की खौफ-ज़दा यादें बिखरें
आ इस मसले को आज, मिलकर अभी के अभी दफ़्न करदें

गुज़रे लम्हों की दास्तान, अक्सर ख्यालों में दोहराया करती हैं
हर सहर की एहले- किरन, ये दर्दनाक हक़ीकत दरियाफ़्त् करती है

ख्वाब्-ए-जुस्तजू पूरी ना हुई, ज़िन्दगी के इस मुक़ाम पर
के अफ़सोस होता है मुझे, इस हसरते-नाक़ाम पर

Munish Sharma

April 1987

पुलिस वाला पेपर के दुकान पर

पेपरें टेबल पर सजी बग़ल

पान का दुकान इधर

चाय दूध लस्सी मठरी पेड़े

अलग

नीम्बुओं की टोकरियाँ पीली

टोकरियों में ढेर

हाथ में चार-पाँच गोल-गोल

बैठे सड़क के सौदेबाज़ कभी औरत

फ़र्माते

सब्जियाँ  फल

गन्ने का रस का हरे बिजली की मशीन

नियॉन जलाती

गल्ले से घिरे

सेठ बैठे

कोई खड़े कोई टहलते

कहीं आवाज़ कहीं चुप-छाप

कहीं आँख कहीं होंठ

औरतें जाती मर्द यूँ ही

शाम टहलते

आकाश

की काली

बत्तियों से सजी

देखते –

देखते

पीते

खड़े

चाय, फिर घर

Rabindra Ray

22nd February 2013

If you don’t know for sure

Shut up. 

Let the dead be mourned in silence. 

Let the state investigate. 

You with your TV cameras

And loud speculations,

Passing it off as news.

Go and drown in the Arabian Sea 

Take with you irresponsible commentators please.

Originally a Facebook Status by

Dibyesh Anand

12^th February 2013

Your husband will be killed now
We do not like to call you
We do not like to come to you
We do not like to listen to you
We will hang your husband
Under due process of law
Hang his body for thirty minutes
To ensure he speaks no longer
To ensure he breathes no longer
We bury him secretly
We bury with him his tales of dirty politics of Indian intelligence services
We bury him before you find out he is no more
We write a letter to you
We send the letter to you through speed post
We are not cruel for we could have used the ordinary post
You ma’am have no say in where your husband’s body lies
Your bodies are our possession
Do not forget you are an integral part of our country
We at least sent a letter to you
Three days late
We are a nation with conscience.

Originally a Facebook Status by

Dibyesh Anand