Shows
Ellipsis#61: A comeback with the gentle wonder of Mary OliverI read two poems by Mary Oliver this week titled - "Mysteries, Yes" and "Percy (Nine)". I have been away for a couple of months and in this time I have been slow reading the volume Devotions - Selected poems by Mary Oliver. Her poems have a way of slipping into your day without attracting any attention, have a way of being on your mind without you explicitly recalling any of the words. Her poems truly are a mood, one that I have been consciously slipping into these busy days in the last two months. So much so that I...2021-07-2512 minEllipsis#60: A Jewish Indian poet on Farewells and WeddingsI read two poems by Nissim Ezekiel this week titled - "Goodbye Party for Miss Pushpa T. S." and "Jewish Wedding in Bombay". Nissim is an iconic Indian poet, most active in the decades right after India's Independence. I find his poems delightful, raw postcards from a time in Bombay that I haven't seen and know little of. In his work, he often used 'Indian English', a term that raises as many heckles as it amuses. I am in the amused camp. Please listen :)
I read the poems from the All Poetry website -
https://allpoetry.com/Jewish-Wedding-in-Bombay
https://allpoetry.c...2021-05-2911 minEllipsis#59: Inspiration in solitude - Billy Collins says howI read a poem by Billy Collins this week titled - "Advice to Writers". It's a short and clear poem that lays out a day in the life of a writer and how he creates the space outside and within to invite inspiration. One that you can use no matter what profession you are in. The poem is a reminder of how you can create a day free of distractions yet not alienating for inspiration to get your day's work done.
I read the poem from The Alipore Post newsletter - https://thealiporepost.substack.com/p/135-on-living-alone
The host, Ravneet B...2021-05-1512 minEllipsis#58: An episode of self-indulgence where I read myselfI read my own poems this week. Most of these are lockdown meditations from last year and this. Perhaps you won't find them entirely disappointing. Listen in! :)
Hopeful is available on my blog here
Some of my other published work is linked from this link.tree page.
The host, Ravneet Bawa as - @two_thirds_beneath on Instagram @maikeya on Twitter Email: ravneet_bawa@icloud.com Disclaimer: This podcast is created for sharing with friends and family, and only as a passion project amidst the Covid lockdown with no commercial interest. In all episodes I read from sources on the public...2021-05-0817 minEllipsis#57: Two poems - Death as a habit and Prayer is AttentionI read two poems this week by Mary Oliver. She is the one poet who always finds the right words to articulate the moment. In this episode I read - "Every Morning" which contextualises death and how we become used to it. The second poem is "The Real Prayers Are Not The Words But The Attention That Comes First". Listen in!
I discovered Every Morning on this link first- https://www.instagram.com/p/CNusJjcB3yh/
However sharing another link here from The Poetry Foundation for both poems:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?contentId=42419
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/brow...2021-05-0112 minEllipsis#56: When you feel like you occupy too much space, read this poemI read "Keeping Things Whole" by Mark Strand. This poem is one of my absolute favourites, the sort you scribble on a piece of paper and keep in your purse. A reminder that we all fragment, that we all also cause others to fragment, and then we moe. We move, we heal. Listen in!
The poem I read is from: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47541/keeping-things-whole
The host, Ravneet Bawa as - @two_thirds_beneath on Instagram @maikeya on Twitter Email: ravneet_bawa@icloud.com Disclaimer: This podcast is created for sharing with friends and family, and only as a passion p...2021-04-2415 minEllipsis#55: The sisterhood of the female experience over prices of keroseneI read "The female of the species" by Gauri Deshpande. Last episode we read about flying penises that don't quite fly. This episode is an epic Indian confessional poet writing about the daily experience of being a woman and finding comfort in mundane domesticity with a community of other women. Listen in! The poem I read is from: http://daak.co.in/passionate-warriors-weary-wars-gauri-deshpandes-confessional-poetry/
The host, Ravneet Bawa as - @two_thirds_beneath on Instagram @maikeya on Twitter Email: ravneet_bawa@icloud.com Disclaimer: This podcast is created for sharing with friends and family, and only as a passion project amidst the Covid...2021-04-2114 minEllipsisS2E4: A Flying Penis (I swear I am not making this up)Or when it doesn't? In this episode, I read "Lorena" by Lucille Clifton. Short, wicked poem that is fun just as it is but that is important if you really look. Saying anything more is to give away the poem. Listen in!
The poem I read is from: https://www.theparisreview.org/poetry/1598/lorena-lucille-clifton
The host, Ravneet Bawa as - @two_thirds_beneath on Instagram @maikeya on Twitter Email: ravneet_bawa@icloud.com Disclaimer: This podcast is created for sharing with friends and family, and only as a passion project amidst the Covid lockdown with no commercial interest. In all episodes...2021-04-1709 minEllipsisS2E3: Penniless and Rich - A vagabond poet on paydayIn this episode, I read "$$$$$$" by Charles Bukowski. It's a lyrical poem, rather fun if you don’t take it seriously. But I urge you to take it seriously. To listen to it once for the poem itself, and then another one for the voice of the poet, for what he is really saying. Listen in!
The poem I read is part of the anthology - Love is a dog from hell.
Profile: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/charles-bukowski
S1E9: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1fmYFIScp34NdY1MoQeT65?si=baee3d43c80948da
The host, Ravneet Bawa as - @two...2021-04-1415 minEllipsisS2E2: Who is normal? Are you? Then you are just fine.In this episode, I read "Fine" by Kim Addonizio. It's a short poem and complements the poem Peers that I read in Episode 1 really well. Peers was about looking back at time, this one is set in the present and an incisive look at the present at that. It may feel morbid but listen to the alternative interpretations I present. Listen in!
The poem I read can be accessed here - https://poetry.lib.uidaho.edu/category/kim-addonizio/
The host, Ravneet Bawa as - @two_thirds_beneath on Instagram @maikeya on Twitter Email: ravneet_bawa@icloud.com
Disclaimer: This podcast is cre...2021-04-1011 minEllipsisS2E1 - We grew up, life happened, and now this is the world we haveIn this episode, I read "Peers" by Craig Morgan Teicher. I loved reading this poem in the latest issue of The New Yorker magazine. Link below. The poem is a piece of contemplative nostalgia, a trek down to your early twenties, a rumination of what we thought we had ahead of us, of dreams and ambition. And then a turning over the leaves of memories to see what we actually did, the world we inherited and the world we are preparing to leave as our legacy. Listen in!
The poem I read can be accessed here - https://www.newyorker.c...2021-04-0614 minEllipsisSeason 2 - IntroductionWell, Ellipsis is back. You didn't think it would happen? Neither did I after all this time :) But poetry and me and you, we are suckers for misery, we are suckers for hope. And a poem or two is always around to give you company here on Ellipsis. This short introduction is a primer to Season 2, some changes and some chatter. Thank you for listening so far and welcome back to a few more of them poems.
And please check out the awesome new cover art that my friend Sudeepti Tucker (Instagram:@sudeepti.tucker) made for my new season. This...2021-04-0604 min
Ellipsis#50 - A poem for all of our fulfilled hopes and unfulfilled dreamsIn this episode, I read “Hazaron Khwahishain Aisi" by Mirza Ghalib. This is also the last episode of Ellipsis Season-1. I will be taking a 4 week break after this and return on the first Tuesday of November. I hope Ellipsis nudged you gently into reading and exploring poetry on your own a bit. When I look back I see several things I could have done better and differently but my one big hope was to have some of you listen to poems and see for yourselves how beautifully they capture the universal and unique aspects of the human condition. And if...2020-09-2913 minEllipsis#49 - A poem about the violence of too much love and too little loveIn this episode, I read "Litany in which certain things are crossed out" by Richard Siken. It's a long, long poem and one that keeps you hooked from sentence to sentence, line break to line break. It's a poem where the scenes shift and unfold almost like a play on stage. It is the litany of a lover who loves too much and believes he gets too little in return. He knows he loves too much. He knows he shouldn't. Yet he finds it hard to love any other way, even when love fails him completely, and forever. Listen in!
...2020-09-2512 minEllipsis#48 - You bring out the Mexican in me by Sandra CisnerosIn this episode, I read "You bring out the Mexican in me" by Sandra Cisneros. It is one of my favourite poems, originally written in 1994 and from her anthology Loose Woman. I have tried to include as many translations as possible in the recitation since it has some phrases and words in Spanish and some specific Mexican references. Trust me the beauty of the poem is in its rhythmic passion so do give it a listen. And if you find yourself unable to relate to it, head over to my adaptation of this poem that I have included in...2020-09-2507 minEllipsisYou bring out the Dilliwali in Me by Ravneet BawaAs promised in Ep-48, this is my adaptation of the Sandra Cisneros poem "You bring out the Mexican In Me" from her anthology "Loose Woman". I hope you enjoy this version too, as well as the masterful original I the previous episode.2020-09-2204 minEllipsis#47 - A poem about choices that reminds us of our many possibilitiesIn this episode, I read "Possibilities" by the Polish poet Wislawa Szymborska. I love the genuine and generous voice that Wislawa lends to her poetry. It is the voice of a seasoned and loveable aunt, the voice of one who you go to for advice about the secret to a happy marriage and also to rant about climate change. It is the voice of one who observes keenly, remarks subtly and maintains sharply. This poem is called Possibilities and is a way of saying only that I prefer many things, and so must you. We can all live here, side...2020-09-1805 minEllipsis#46 - Two poems diverged in a podcast and I took the one less often heardIn this episode, I read a few poems by Robert Frost - three in fact none of which I have read before - Dust of Snow, Neither Far Out Nor In Deep, On looking up by chance at the constellations. I find Robert Frost's poems rhythmic, simple and insightful. Like I say in the episode he has the attentive poet's gift of taking a momentary observation and making it momentous. There is a lilt in his poems that belies the seriousness of his observation and his introspection. If you are having a dull day, find yourself five of his poems...2020-09-1506 minEllipsis#45 - A poem about the loneliness of the dead and dyingIn this episode, I read "Don't Let Me Be Lonely" by Claudia Rankine. It is a collection of poems written in response to 9/11. about a decade back. It has a series of meditations on alienation, segregation and racism. In response to the anger in America post 9/11 and rising crime against ethnic minorities, Claudia's response in this poem was one of feeling abject sadness and loneliness. This poem particularly was heartbreaking in many ways, one just the subject of feeling dead owing to a bleak state of affairs but also the red tape of procedure, one that is bereft of all...2020-09-1107 minEllipsis#44 - A poem for the all and none of life in our homesIn this episode, I read "Life's Work" by Brenda Shaugnessey. It is a simple poem really, some might call it pedestrian. But doing so is to not engage with all the confessional poetry coming out of the life and rumination of so many women who spend their lives living within the confines of their home, talking to objects as people come and people go. It is possible and often the case that we reject the lived experiences of homemakers as being of little cultural importance. I find this not only discriminatory but also diminishing for all of humanity. Apart from...2020-09-0805 minEllipsis#43 - A meditation on love, work and time and is art even work?In this episode, I read a couple of different pieces - excerpts from an essay by Zadie Smith called "Something to do" and a nazm by Faiz Ahmed Faiz called "Kuch ishq kiya, kuch kaam kiya". This is a rather unique episode and a unique pairing. But both of these pieces came to me this week and I couldn't help but connect the dots. It is an experimental episode, one I hope you will like. It is an attempt to understand the significance of time, what constitutes a good definition for work and what does Love have anything to do...2020-09-0414 minEllipsis#42 - A poem that campaigns for slow dances with lovers and strangersIn this episode, I read "Slow Dance" by Matthew Dickman. Matthew writes of slow dances with strangers and with lovers, with siblings and with orangutans and what they feel like. By the end of the poem he reminds you of any that you might have had and makes you envious if you haven't yet slow danced with someone. Read, listen, and the next time you have the mauka bhi and dastoor bhi, please hold that hand and lean in!
The poem I read can be accessed here - https://allyourprettywords.tumblr.com/post/120985473153/slow-dance-matthew-dickman
The host, Ravneet Bawa as - @one_third...2020-09-0105 minEllipsis#41 - A poem for if you knew this is the last time...In this episode, I read "If You Knew" by Ellen Bass. Ellen asks in this heartfelt poem about what if the time you meet someone is the very last not because you do not meet them again but because it is a few moments or days before they die. You do not know, but what if you knew? Complete strangers. Your one tiny opportunity to be kind and warm. It's a simple poem and it caught in my throat when I read it because of a related and strong memory I have. So I broke my streak of Indian poets t...2020-08-2806 minEllipsis#40 - Marriages are Made, she saysIn this episode, I read "Marriages are Made" and "Advice to Women" by Eunice de Souza. Eunice writes with a kind of honesty and sparseness. The only way to tell it is what she offered as advice to a young male colleague - it is to tell it without sentimentality. These are two short poems, one is what you learn from cats about otherness in love. The other is the anatomy of matchmaking in India true certainly for her time but not ancient just yet . Listen in!
The poem I read can be accessed here - https://pyotra.tumblr.com/post/1...2020-08-2507 minEllipsis#39: Akhil Katyal navigating identity and the Delhi MetroIn this episode, I read "Aligarh" by Akhil Katyal. And two bonus poems because I have a mountain sized crush on him. Continuing my exploration of India poets in English and in translation. Since the only other Indian language I can read is Hindi, it is hard for me to access material in other languages unless already translated and well, the loss is entirely mine. The poems today touch upon the subject of identity and the communication of identity, about what is acceptable. I find these two poems, both on the subject of queerness interesting when juxtaposed with each other. On...2020-08-2108 minEllipsis#38 - An introduction, of all women by Kamala DasIn this episode, I read "An Introduction" by Kamala Das. This is the 5th poem by a woman Indian poet that I am reading on this podcast. I used the opportunity to compare the themes which preoccupy women against those that make up the verses of men. This is by no means an exhaustive study and only a morning lamentation as I scrolled through the poems I have covered. And perhaps deserves a deeper analysis. But in this poem here, because of the nature of this poem I was forced to consider what women think of when they write - an...2020-08-1811 minEllipsis#37 - Do Kadam Aur Sahi - #RIP Rahat Indori Sahib, a man of many wordsIn this episode, I read 3 poems by Rahat Indori Sahib. He passed away this week and I have been revisiting his book of poetry "Do Kadam Our Sahi" and his songs all this week. Several of his couplets are splashed all over social media and for good reason. His poetry was both full of passion and the kind that you could own immediately. It connects, it bothers you, it soothes you - it is medicine for troubled souls, and we are all troubled to some degree or more. Listen in to this episode and I hope it will get you...2020-08-1408 minEllipsis#36 - A poem of neglect, from one son to one motherIn this episode, I read "Letter To My Mother" by Dom Moraes. I have been chided by friends for not doing enough Indian poets so I am shifting the balance beginning this week. And I am almost ashamed by how little I know and have read of poets from India writing in English. It must also have to do with how little is catalogued and accessible. This poem was a hard one to read and recite since it speaks of mental illness in the immediate family. Dom wrote this for his mother who spent a large part of her adult l...2020-08-1105 minEllipsis#35 - Goodness comes in many colours, hate is all the very sameIn this episode, I read Fahmida Riaz's "Tum bilkul hum jaise nikle" and its English translation. This is a compelling poem, written and recited by Fahmida with a mischievous tinkle all her own. It is a voice that only poets can use to present an unpopular opinion, and get away with it. She wrote it back in 1996 and the recitation linked here is from the year 2014. Both were times that called for us to reflect if we may have taken belief too far, to the detriment of the idea of India. This past week felt a little like that too...2020-08-0706 minEllipsis#34 - a poem in lowercase, square parentheses and invented languageIn this episode, little prize for guessing , I read e.e. cummings and his poem [as freedom is a breakfastfood]. This poem is written in trademark cummings style and you must listen to his original recitation at the link I share below. It is a poem about love and life and all time. How love and sky and time are vast and endless. But our lives are but a leaf on the tree of time. And this must make us examine what we think of as right and correct and normal in the world. He turns imagery around and weaves...2020-08-0407 minEllipsis#33 - A ghazal between hope and hopelessness, salvation and sinIn this episode, I read "Ghazal" by Agha Shahid Ali, a Kashmiri American poet. He has a trademark style of writing English verse in the ghazal form. And while his words are not as readily accessible, the reading is joyful indeed because of the lilt and repetition. His poems span his Kashmiri childhood and his American life as an academic and a writer. This poem is a rendering of a personal past and a lament on the state of the world. And that makes it interesting. Because we often do the latter and we can do little about it but...2020-07-3106 minEllipsis#32- A funky poem that petitions for freedom from claspsIn this episode, I read "The Lime Green Clasp" by Finuala Dowling, a poet of South African origin. I like her modern, light yet poignant collection and today I have been reading from "Pretend You Don't Know Me". This lilting verse is an ode to both voyeurism and beauty, often hard to achieve. And while at it, it paints a vivid picture and makes a compelling case for women to be able to swing free. I recommend the whole book, but get a taste for Finuala's talent through this introduction of a poem. You will never look at lime green...2020-07-2805 minEllipsis#31 - A poem to say kindness births from sorrow and both are at handIn this episode I read "Kindness" by Naomi Shihab Nye. This beautiful poem is therapy in words. You listen to it and let it wrap itself around you like the quilt from your childhood bed. Listen in if you need it. If you need to today, of all days, need to hear and learn that kindness is both within you and outside of you. It is yours to give, but as it watches over you, it is also yours to receive, if you will let it. Listen in!
The poem I read today is from - https://poets.org/poem/kindne...2020-07-2407 minEllipsis#30 - When fairy tales get their wires crossed the unexpected happensIn this episode I read "The Three Little Pigs" by Roald Dahl. It is an adaptation of the popular folktale by the same name with a twist in the end. I love poetry that reimagines folktales and fairy tales that have been passed down to children through generations. Most tales had a standard interpretation and very stark whites and blacks to ensure children learnt something while being entertained. Often involving animals, these stories were meant to be an instruction for life. However as we all grow up and learn, perspective is everything and there's always another side to the story...2020-07-2108 minEllipsis#29 - Ah, finally some Neruda with his love that makes us hopelessIn this episode I read Pablo Neruda's "Your Breast is Enough" from his poetry collection Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair. This collection is exactly what the title suggests. It is an intimate collection, bordering on eroticism. Neruda was 20 years old when he published this book. Each poem in here reads like a lament for a girl who isn't around anymore, certainly not in the poet's life. And he has found 20 different ways to tell her that she is unforgettable. Spoiling generations of people with his poetry, making being love sick fashionable, presenting here -Pablo Neruda. Listen in!
The...2020-07-1709 minEllipsis#28 - A poem about conversations that tug at you long after they are overIn this episode I read Arun Sagar's - Undertow from the Nether Quarterly Journal. Some poems take a narrow experience and express it with such a vivid image that you begin to associate the image with the experience ever after. Emily Dickinson's poem from episode #26 - The Lost Thought was one such poem. I always think of balls of yarn rolling away from me when I lose a thought. This poem by Arun Sagar is a similar one - about having a conversation so engrossing, so removed from the outside world that it subsumes you as you have it but...2020-07-1407 minEllipsis#27- More Emily Dickinson poems for no one can have but oneIn this episode I continue to explore Emily Dickinson poems. It is impossible to read just one, and you will see why I say so when you listen through this episode. We cover 4 poems, a short couplet on fame, a note on hope, the meaning of success and finally what it is like to have a public persona v/s being a nobody. She will lure you to the pleasures of the solitary low-life by the end of it, but then she wouldn’t be the first poet to do so. Listen in!
The poems I read today are from the...2020-07-1007 minEllipsis#26: A poem for all the times you had a thought and lost it.... and another one where you had a sort of mental clamour that makes you feel like you are falling into a bottomless hole. Emily Dickinson makes a debut with this episode, with not one but two poems. Emily Dickinson is not a poem, to be read on one day. You will almost alway remark what is the hype about? But if you read her poems as a collection, savour it like you would a whole season you realise Emily Dickinson is not a mood, she is an emotion. In Episode 26 and in the upcoming episode 27 I am exploring five of...2020-07-0710 minEllipsis#25: Gulzar asks what happens to memories when a relationship diesIn this episode, I read the lyrics to a Gulzar song - "Mera Kuch Samaan" from the movie Ijaazat. I am an ardent Gulzar fan so I knew he will make an appearance here. I considered what song of this poet-lyricist to pick for this 25th celebration episode, and this song felt just right. The character this song is written for in the movie is a poet. Also the song itself is more a poem than a song. It is a missive from an ex-lover to a now married boyfriend after he returns a few of her possessions from...2020-07-0709 minEllipsis#24 - A birthday poem for ex-boyfriends everywhereIn this episode, I read a poem by Rachel Wiley - "Dry Cake, Wishes and Tap Water Dreams". Rachel Wiley is a performance poet and this poem is one sure to divide the world into two - all women and ex-boyfriends. It's a compilation of wishes each of which is rich with imagination and humour. The fun of this poem is in listening to it, so you must tune in now. Even better is to follow the YouTube link I share to her original rendition which is a slightly longer version of the poem. I read “On the birthday of th...2020-06-3007 minEllipsis#23 - An anthropologist talks about the meaning of lifeIn this episode, I read a fragment of a letter by Margaret Mead. It isn't strictly a poem even though it reads like one. It is a letter she wrote to her soulmate about a dream she had about the meaning of life. This is a complex question and no one yet has "solved" it even though many have tried. I suspect this is so because there are either as many meanings as people alive, or none at all. We are all stumbling our way through living, facing this question at different points in time, with incomplete access both into...2020-06-2609 minEllipsis#22 - A poem about a man, a camel, and a 40th birthdayIn this episode, I read "Man and Camel" by Mark Strand. A man sits on his porch on his 40th birthday and writes of what reads like a surreal experience. Written in free verse, it has as many meanings as you have dimensions. Read, and with every re-read the poem refreshes itself and you notice something you hadn't seen there before. Mark Strand's book is currently on my bedside, and I read a couple of poems every morning before I begin my day. This poem was about the end of desire one day, private joys without audience the next and...2020-06-2309 minEllipsis#21 - The ultimate poem for unrequited love, for is it even a failed romance if it isn't in UrduIn this episode, I read "Hume Chahiya Tha Milna" by Parveen Shakir and it's English translation, "We Ought To Have Met" by Raza Rumi. Unrequited love is often painful, but it is especially painful in Urdu, less so in Hindi and almost painless in English. I say that only half in jest. If you look at the documented and undocumented tradition of writing about love, romance, desire and the allied, you will find such a rich legacy in the Urdu language that you won't disagree with me. This piece for instance is timeless. All lovers everywhere who had their paths c...2020-06-1907 minEllipsis#20 - A poem for all we lose that cannot be restoredIn this episode, I read "Atlantis - A Lost Sonnet" by Eavan Boland. 2020 refuses to relent. It is a crash course in endings and loss. This poem by Eavan who passed away just this April, is an evocative question and answer. She begins with a reference to the mythical city of Atlantis and asks how can a city just disappear? But is then reminded of things and people who have disappeared from her life. She comes to a conclusion both rich and humbling about how human beings deal with loss. Listen in!
I read from the Poets.org website here - ht...2020-06-1605 minEllipsisNot Entirely Appropriate by Ravneet BawaThis is a bonus episode. We are on the theme of desire and one of my first published poems was on the same theme. Sharing here the link to the original published piece. And listen in if you want to hear me recite it. https://desiwriterslounge.net/articles/not-entirely-appropriate/2020-06-1203 minEllipsis#19 - A poem as desire unfolds over dinnerIn this episode, I read "This Sugar" by Aimee Nizhukumatathil. It is a vivid poem, ripe with imagery set in free verse and a modern context. It unfolds over a dinner between two people, who appear to not have sanction to fulfil their desire of and for each other. It is a fun poem, and won't leave you sad with longing. If anything it is powerful and makes the point about all desire, that it comes as clams fall into the shoreline with an impending storm i.e. you likely have no control over a bubbling desire as you tumble a...2020-06-1207 minEllipsis#18 - A poem to swallow the stars and dissolve into the universeIn this episode, I read "Antidotes to Fear of Death" by Rebecca Elson. This is from her collection - A Responsibility to Awe. It's a short poem written by one who was both an astronomer and a poet. I find the scientists who write poetry fascinating. They have one firm footing past the door of theorems and proofs and research that definitively expands our knowledge. And at the same time they acknowledge all that is yet to be fully understood, that is beyond truisms and falsehoods, that which we cannot measure and define. She wrote this poem in response to h...2020-06-0908 minEllipsis#17 - A profound, joyful poem about friendshipIn this episode, I read "On Friendship" by Kahlil Gibran. This is from his 1923 book "The Prophet" which has been translated into a 100 languages and is now available in the public domain. It's a book of prose poetry and this verse today is a response to the question "What is friendship?" I find it reassuring that no matter how much the world changes things like love, friendship, kindness, goodness of heart, desire, envy - these things that make us human stay the same. This here about friendship, and the rest some other time. Listen in!
I read from the Poets.or...2020-06-0505 minEllipsis#16: A song of freedom that the caged bird singsIn this episode, I read the poem - Caged Bird by Maya Angelou. The events of this past week are matched only in the outrage following it. In the middle of the Covid19 pandemic, we find ourselves foraging for bright stories. We are already on the edge of our seats. So an event like George Floyd's murder at the hands of a white policeman brings out not just our sympathy and frustration but a sort of rage that was waiting to boil over. Trevor Noah spoke about it in a video and I could barely contain my tears. I had...2020-06-0210 minEllipsis#15 - A Hindi poem that will wash away all your permanent stainsIn this episode, I read the Hindi poem - Paani Ka Rang by Mohan Rana. And it’s English translation The Colour of Water translated by Bernard O’Donaghue. This poem is a pocket sized gem. And perfect to get you in a poem-y mood as the weather looks to turn and rains are knocking at the door. It asks if all colour were to be washed away, will we then wear the colour of water? It asks, that if memories are colours, and if we didn’t have any, will we flow easy and transparent like water. Listen in, make it...2020-05-2908 minEllipsisCommentary on the craft in Ep #14 - Yesterday by WS MerwinThis is a bonus episode to expand on the poem in Episode #14. I take a shot at explaining how linguistic devices have been used to create an emotional landscape in the poem Yesterday by WS Merwin.2020-05-2706 minEllipsis#14 - Two friends talk about the last time they saw their fathersIn this episode, I read - Yesterday by WS Merwin. This poem made me twitch a little. It was written in 1983, and yet it speaks of a guilt that remains timeless. One that all of us carry with us no matter how little or how much time we spend with our parents. A non preachy conversation written only to illustrate the poet's own feelings about the last time he saw his father, made afresh by his friend who's talking about the last time he met his. It is a beautiful piece of poetry. One deserving of being more widely read a...2020-05-2604 minEllipsis#13 - A poem for words that don’t exist (like a word for ‘Perfect’ in Hindi)In this episode, I read - Special Problems in Vocabulary by Tony Hoagland. It's an illustrative poem, ripe with situations in our lives that we have no words for. It shows you, in a few lines, no more, how deficient language is in capturing the entirety of the human experience. How our words fail us, and without them we feel incomplete. But I say, that is what poetry is for. Were it not for poets across centuries, putting in verse that which was only a fleeting feeling, or an opressive but wordless reality we will indeed feel incomplete. Poems tell u...2020-05-2205 minEllipsis#12 - A poem that asks do you fall in love for money or more?In this episode, I read - Mr. Darcy by Victoria Chang. It came in the mail this morning and I had to set aside a planned poem to read this one instead. Hence the short episode. It takes a character we have loved and hated and turns it into the question - so what kind of a man should you find? And further, is money a good substitue for love? I can hear both loud yays and loud nays even as I type this. So write to me and tell me what you thought? Tune in already! :)
I read from t...2020-05-1904 minEllipsis#11 - A poem for lovers who stay strangers (a little bit)In this episode, I read two poems - well a poem and a passage. The poem is - "The Whistler" by Mary Oliver. And the passage is, passage #18 from Ravish Kumar's Hindi anthology of micro prose - "Ishq mein Shehr Hona". The pieces have a complimentary message - The Whistler is a poem that sheds some light on how even in long relationships, there are parts of of your lover's personality that take you by surprise, sometimes after many years. And Ravish's passage, furthers this thought to say, that it is essential in fact, that some strangeness, some unfamiliarity exist...2020-05-1509 minEllipsis#10 - A poem that looks at the dark side of motherhoodIn this episode, I read - "Hero" by Jericho Brown. This poem is from his Pulitzer winning collection, “The Tradition”. He won the Poetry Pulizer for Poetry for 2020, just last week. This poem takes the difficult childhood that Jericho had and draws from it a universal echo for all motherhood. Despite his own unpleasant childhood, he finds great empathy for his mother, and likens her exhaustion to a soldier returning from war. I cannot do justice to his words without using his own. So listen in to this episode for yourself and discover that small unspoken part about motherhood that only...2020-05-1209 minEllipsis#9 - A poem about the essence of all creativityIn this episode, I read - "so you want to be a writer" by Charles Bukowski. It's a clean poem, written in the trademark irreverential style that shone through all of Bukowski's work. And speaks directly through to the reader. Especially so if you are an artist. At the heart of the poem, is the burning question, when should you create, and how do you know you are a creator? Listen in.
I read from the website of the Poetry Foundation and Amar Ujala here - https://www.brainpickings.org/2012/10/19/so-you-want-to-be-a-writer-charles-bukowski/
The host, Ravneet Bawa as - @one_third_above on I...2020-05-0809 minEllipsis#8 - Amrita Pritam's everlasting ode to in between lovesIn this episode, I read - "Empty Space" by Amrita Pritam. I read the original in Hindi-Punjabi titled 'Khali Jagah' and then the English translation. The poem is an ode to Sahir and an essence of what their relationship was. In a few simple lines, Amrita covers the agony of many years, and a migration across a country border. That is the power of words and verse, you can travel across time and place, and take the reader or the listener with you in a matter of minutes. Don't look at the brevity and simplicity of this poem as anything...2020-05-0508 minEllipsis#7 - A poem to look death in the eyeIn this episode, I read - "Six Cheerful Couplets on Death" by Michael Blumenthal. This has been a hard week with the situation under lockdown not improving much here in Mumbai, and then the passing of two cinema legends. It forced me to explore our reaction to sad news, and our response to personal sadness. Do you gravitate toward undoing sadness or do you accept it with grace, find comfort in the opposite of happiness, as a counterpoint in your life? Listen in, the poem helps make sense of death. We all die differently, but we are dead all the...2020-05-0106 minEllipsis#6 - A poem about the very little time in a very long lifeIn this episode, I read - "And the days are not full enough" by Ezra Pound. This is a short poem, only 4 lines long. If Ezra Pound were alive today, this poem would have been a tweet with 51.2K likes and 8K retweets. This is a short episode because this is a brief poem with only one or two layers that are unmissable. Go on, listen in - you cannot not like it :)
I read from the website of All Poetry here - https://allpoetry.com/And-The-Days-Are-Not-Full-Enough
The host, Ravneet Bawa as -
@one_third_above on Instagram
@maikeya on Twitte...2020-04-2804 minEllipsis#5 - A poem to say what you seek, seeks you tooIn this episode, I read - "A Walk" by Rainer Maria Rilke. Oh, what a beautiful poem this one is with one of the most powerful metaphors ever. It transforms a simple walk into a journey toward what you seek or need. It says the destination is not an inanimate distant point, but aglow with a light that calls you, encourages you to follow the path. It talks about how the journey transforms you, and a revelation about all journeys in the process - Journeys imbue us with courage and validation for they call us with an inner light. If...2020-04-2408 minEllipsis#4 - Is more time freedom or a trap?In this episode, I read the poem - "To have without holding" by the American poet, Marge Piercy. This poem is a love poem, about the frustrations and joy of a relationship one feels strongly about. But I am taking a different interpretation to it, I am reading it as if Time were a lover - we curse it and make sweet sweet love to it, we are acutely aware of its presence and absence. It makes us feel free and trapped, all at once, especially at a time like now when we are in lockdown. This poem is empathetic...2020-04-2109 minEllipsis#3 - A poem about dreams and our slippery grasp on themIn this episode, I read the poem - "Dream" by Jorge Luis Borges. It is a short poem, written in free verse. When you read it you recognise the poet's delight in the beauty of the process and his frustration at the inability to recollect all the fragments. Whether you are a prolific dreamer or not, this one is sure to enchant you with its simplicity and the next time you wake up struggling to remember a vivid dream, you will be reminded of this poem.
I read from the book of poems from the author that I possess, but...2020-04-1707 minEllipsis#2 - A love poem, served on the rocksThis Episode, I read Leonard Cohen's - "Waiting for Marianne". It is a short poem, written in a collection called Flowers for Hitler - one of the many artworks in the aftermath of the Holocaust and a commentary on love and loss through the times. Marianne was Leonard Cohen's long time muse and inspiration for several of his celebrated songs. This poem is a lament for an absent lover, a touching appeal from a broken heart to a glass of strong spirits (or strong spirits) for a last communication. The poem appears at the 5 minute mark in this episode if y...2020-04-1009 min
Ellipsis#1 - A comforting poem for hard timesThis Episode, I read Joy Harjo's - "Perhaps the World Ends Here". It is a poem that is a commentary on the everyday family life and talks about how your Kitchen Table is witness to your whole life's history. In a few short, poignant lines, it takes you through the motions of mundane lives. It is especially relevant as a read in the time of Covid, as we sit in lockdown with our families, working, eating, conversing, watching television, and making post lockdown life altering plans, right here, on our kitchen tables.
Here's a link to the poem: https://www...2020-04-0607 minEllipsisEllipsis (Trailer)2020-04-0501 min