Discussing a random thought of whether poetry and war still go hand in hand the way they once did and featuring some poetry of resistance
South Asia has a history of using poetry as a form of resistance against authority - the colonial era freedom movement saw verses of resistance by the likes of the famous Mirza Ghalib (Dastanbu) and Rabindranath Tagore (Banglar Maati Banglar Jol). The Kashmiri freedom movement has poetry by the likes of Agha Shahid Ali and Faiz Ahmed Faiz highlighting the authority’s brutality against people and the homeland.
Over the course of history, varying art forms have emerged as strong statements of resistance, and a major one is poetry. But the relationship between poetry and protests isn’t new — in fact, protesting is intrinsic to poetry. As English poet Simon Armitage said, “There is something about poetry that is oppositional…it is a form of dissent… even in its physical form …it doesn’t reach the right-hand margin, it doesn’t reach the bottom of the page…there’s something obstinate about it.”
I was thinking about this recently - Do poetry and war no longer go hand in hand the way they once did? Thinking about this, I have started searching for verses that tell the stories of resistance in contemporary Indian society.
In this article, I have compiled some famous poetry of resistance by poets Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Agha Shahid Ali, Meena Kandasamy, Hussain Haidry, Aamir Aziz.
Faiz Ahmed Faiz
“Speak up for your lips are not sealed,
and your words are still your own.
This upright body is yours,
speak while your soul is still your own.”
Agha Shahid Ali
“But the reports are true, and
without song: mass rapes in the
villages, towns left in cinders,
neighborhoods torched―Power is
hideous/like a barber‘s hands.”
Meena Kandasamy
“cunt now becomes seat,
abode, home, lair, nest, stable,
and he opens my legs wider
and shoves more and shoves
harder and I am torn apart
to contain the meanings of
family, race, stock, and caste
and form of existence
and station fixed by birth”
Aamir Aziz
“Tum zameen pe zulm likh do
Aasman pe Inqilab likha jaayega
Sab yaad rakha jayega,
sab kuch yaad rakha jaayega”
(You write injustice on the earth
We will write revolution in the sky
We will remember everything.
We will not forget it at all)
Hussain Haidry
“Main Shia hoon ya Sunni hoon
Main Khoja hoon ya Bohri hoon
Main gaaon se hoon ya shehri hoon
Main Baaghi hoon ya Sufi hoon
Main quomi hoon ya dhongi hoon
Main kaisa musalman hoon bhai?”
(Am I Shia or I’m Sunni?
Am I Khoja or I’m Bohri?
Am I from the village or the city?
Am I rebel or a mystic?
Am I devout or a fraud?
Bhai, what kind of Muslim am I?)