#116: A pocketful of sunshine
"Poetry is not a luxury. It is a vital necessity of our existence."
Art by Milton Avery
Words, Wide Night by Carol Ann Duffy
Somewhere on the other side of this wide night
and the distance between us, I am thinking of you.
The room is turning slowly away from the moon.
This is pleasurable. Or shall I cross that out and say
it is sad? In one of the tenses I singing
an impossible song of desire that you cannot hear.
La lala la. See? I close my eyes and imagine the dark hills I would have to cross
to reach you. For I am in love with you
and this is what it is like or what it is like in words.
Other poems I loved reading this week:
Tanka by Otomo No Yakamochi
From outside my house,
only the faint distant sound
of gentle breezes
wandering through bamboo leaves
in the long evening silence.Like a thin film of milk in your morning coffee by Fathima Zahra
Uppa & Umma are dressed like kids playing
pretend in their makeshift home production
of Maram. They wear their best 90's
Malayali actors' coy faces and mouth lyrics
while my sister plays a five part crew. From my
window, a movie scene unfurls in our garden, I
take pictures of and keep scrolling back to. This
could be a plane window and my eyes too blurred
to notice the lighter pinks in the sky like icing and the
stranger next to me mumbling in their sleep. From here,
I could be a kite passing by the backyard only to get
stuck in the elm nearby. A bird. An unreliable narrator
from a fever dream. There is a ticking in my chest
and it drains my eyes of its rods and cones. The noise
of it more real than the beige carpet I am standing on
or the white furniture, built for me, already fading.Morning Ritual by Karina Borowicz
"Daylight came and I swept back the curtain to see how much it had snowed.
As I pulled the stiff fabric aside, the window struck a solemn, thunderous note. The ice that had swarmed wildly overnight on the inside surface of the glass began falling away in penitent flakes. My grip on the curtains released, but an unseen iron tongue continued lolling against the pane. I snuck a glance through a crack of near-silence: the city was uncovered, it hadn't snowed a bit, and the sky's blue paint had hardened brilliantly.
The flakes that had settled on my wrist and the sleeve of my robe were beads of water now. Eyes closed, I counted: How many months till we inch toward softness, the whispered rosary of rain?"
Recommended Listening:
-Let Go - Sharon Van Etten
-Kajillionaire (Love Theme / Old Dolio's Plan) -Â Emile Mosseri
-Hana Mash Hu Al Yaman -Â A-WA
-The 22 Best Bob Dylan Covers By Roots Artists
Links of the Week:
Roald Dahl in his writing hut :)
-Writing Sheds of Famous Writers
-What happens to thousands of letters which never reach their destination?
-Love in Resistance
-Ron Padgett reads Tea for you Too
-Ten Meter Tower <3
-Life Below Water: The Arrival of a New Species (Brilliantly executed!))
In the past seven days, my many projects and I been featured and profiled in four different publications, and I’m grateful for each one! :D Eeep!
-Brut.: In today's Brut newsletter, I did a mini column (above) on how to read poetry + poetry resources worth checking out
-The Vibe:Rohini Kejriwal: A Daughter of Verse
-Homegrown: You've got mail
-The Better India:Â 29-YO Revives Letter Writing, Helps Hundreds Find New Friends During Lockdown
This is my newsletter #12: Millo Ankha
In her newsletter, poet and photographer @millo.ankha led us into her gentle room in Arunachal Pradesh, and sparked awe in every line as she spoke of moths, poetry, and the light within. A must read :’) She also highlighted the works of artists from her homestate and spoke about Aama collective, a women photographer’s collective which focuses mostly on North East India and hills areas from the region.
Read Ankha’s full newsletter here and subscribe for a guest curator every Sunday.
New on the website:
1. Artist Showcase: Richa Kalshekar
"I feel all art is self-indulgent. One paints out of the sheer love of it, for there is no other reason for creativity to exist. And so it is with me; I paint to express my inner world- whatever it is that I feel and think and love. Painting is like poetry, in the sense that both art forms have no restrictions, and no other purpose to fulfil, than to be the expression of that inner feeling."
-Richa Kashelkar
2. Interview: Sourdough whisperer Sujit Sumitran
During the early 90’s, I remember driving to Alsa Mall in Madras, where Hot Breads used to have a bakery. I loved how the complexion of the bred could be almost transformed, flavour-wise, by just adding key ingredients. Then somewhere in early 2014, I bought a Bread Maker for my wife but I just couldn’t keep away from it. In about a year, I had gone through a book dedicated to making breads in a bread maker and had moved onto sourdough."
-Chef Sujit Sumitran
Sujit will be speaking as part of Dough Talks'20, a 3-day conference in end October for anyone who wants to start/expand/scale their enterprise around breads. Get Rs 500 cashback on the tickets with the code ALIPORE500 at checkout here.
3. Cyanotype Prints by Prajvi Mandhani
"I love experimenting with materials and giving them an independent role in the creation of my artworks. My methods may often seem destructive or irrational to a stranger, but most of the time I manage to find a method in all my beloved madness."
-Prajvi Mandhani
#TAPTOBER2020 Days 12- 19
Art by Akanksha Fulzele
The #TAPTOBER2020 art challenge continues, and I'm thrilled to see the quality and diversity of artists who are drawing with me this month.
Here are the day-wise prompts to check out a curation of artworks from each day:
Day 12: Discovery
Day 13: Burst
Day 14: Grandmother
Day 15: Climate Change
Day 16: Dots
Day 17: Sunset
Day 18: Hugs
Day 19: Look up
I’m in love with these words by Audre Lorde about the virtues of poetry in one's life:
"Poetry is not a luxury. It is a vital necessity of our existence. It forms the quality of the light within which we predicate our hopes and dreams toward survival and change, first made into language, then into idea, then into more tangible action. Poetry is the way we help give name to the nameless so it can be thought. The farthest horizons of our hopes and fears are cobbled by our poems, carved from the rock experiences of our daily lives."
-Audre Lorde (via Brain Pickings)Â
Since I came to Calcutta, I’ve been busy documenting my little niece’s shenanigans (as can be seen in this photograph), stuffing my face with delicious home food and cataloging and shooting for my Mum’s clothing brand (She’s doing a sale soon on Instagram). It’s been a time of love and creativity and so much nurturing that I feel the joy pouring out of me despite what’s going on around us. I hope you can feel it too :)
Sending virus-free virtual hugs,
Rohini
If you enjoy the newsletter or wish to support my endeavours, do consider becoming a patron or contributing to thealiporepost@okhdfcbank via UPI. Thank you! :)