I think people are afraid to listen because they are afraid they might hear their own stories. I think we are afraid of poetry because it makes us confront the lies we tell and how we pretend they’re beautiful. I think there is courage in holding onto our denials. And there’s a demented wisdom in letting them dance in front
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A week ago, the autorickshaw I was in, rushed through a red light. It was the early hours of the day, before peak hour so there weren’t that many vehicles on the road. But there were kids on their way to school, older people taking morning walks and Mumbai’s early morning workers stumbling out of sleep to serve the city.
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I have been thinking about compassion. I find there’s no room for it in the stories we embrace to guide our lives. It is this that makes me feel I’m overflowing out of my body, spaces & life. What I have in me is labelled & pre-valued for tangible effects. Skills, decisions, actions. Feelings are costed rudimentarily for how easily
...continue readingWhy did this turn into a bad word? Human beings have always been social by nature. This includes needing to feel seen, heard, acknowledged, cared about. Neediness is the excessive form of this, which yes, is toxic. But it’s not the needing that’s a problem, it’s the imbalance. We are told our self-esteem must not depend on other people. It
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Play a game with me. Ready? Pick any one answer: QUESTION: What do you call a guy who makes a call at 1:30AM stoned and drunk to a girl who said she was having a bad day at 11:30PM? A. A thoughtful, considerate, caring person who is taking time off partying to help someone in need. B. A booty call.
...continue readingI’m talking to you. That part of you behind closed eyelids. Inside a deep inhaled breath. Tucked away into a memory so intense, you don’t look at it often so it becomes a secret. Who are you in that darkness? I think we’re all the same. The same disproportionate halves of a body. The same anxious uncertainty. The same disorganised
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