Everything Here
I read the entire compendium of Shakespeare’s sonnets in junior high school, not having the slightest idea what he was talking about in most of them, but loving the sounds and the mathematical arrangements of the words. Love Is Not Love (sonnet cxvi) is still a favourite. At the peak of my identity crises when I started to terribly fear that I did not belong and perhaps never would, I discovered Emily Dickinson. And there she was, speaking to my spirit. In the same way that the Psalms did which was a powerful crutch for me as I was estranged from religion at the time.
I remember always turning back in the car when we pass a particular sculpture and I remember the sculpture, "a woman with long breasts breastfeeding a child". That sculpture was intriguing to me as a child
This is a collection of poems from a poet that will grow if she persists. She is requesting that we journey with her.
Perhaps, Bala has not set out with such contemplation in this collection as the poems herein are the dialogue of two lovers we are conscripted into attending. But more happens.
Moments. Fleeting. Art captures them, or some part of their essence, in a specific form. Poetry gives us an expression that beautifies this capture through various devices and renditions that, if done well, leave us with something to hold on to.
We are curious to explore these expansive dynamics, and we will do this virtually and in-person in 3 days, from Thursday 14 - Saturday 16 November , 2024, with established and emerging poets from across the world through Knowledge Diffusion Sessions, Poetry Master-classes, A Village of Languages, Panels/Readings and Feedback Sessions, the traditional Poetry Concert, a Poetry Party (poems apostle should not hear) and a Ride-for-Climate-Change activity with Jeje Riders.
