Uncut Poetry

Lost Atlas of Belonging

 
"I am tired
of finding you 
in places 
watermarked with 
our senses."
 
The moment of change is a poem. The tranquil chaos of pain is a poem. The end of love is itself a poem. It's just that a poet can put it all into words.
 
For a heartbroken lover, the city becomes a map of things found and lost at the same time. The heart becomes an almanac of bruises and scars. Everything precious seems to be lost, but there is still something which is held on tight. 
 
And nothing, nothing remains the same, even as life continues just the way it is.
 
If you liked this poem, consider listening to these other poems which talk of yearning of and in cities - 
Indian Summers
Calcutta - A Lover's Epitaph
A City Made of Our Sighs
Find other magical things, like a lovely free chapbook of poems, and other resources here.
 
Uncut Poetry has started a new Podcast called Red River Sessions (on Spotify, iTunes, Pocket Casts, etc), where we will talk to published poets, about their poetry, their craft and what haunts them. It is brought to you by Red River, which is the premier independent publisher of poetry books, and Uncut Poetry. 
 
I am Sunil Bhandari.
 
I am a poet based out of India. My book of poetry 'Of Love and Other Abandonments' was an Amazon bestseller. My second book is 'Of Journeys & Other Ways to Get Lost'. Both are available on Amazon.
Follow me on Instagram at @sunilgivesup.
Get in touch with me on uncutpoetrynow@gmail.com
 
The details of the music used in this episode are as follows -
End Of Summer by Frank SchröterLink: https://filmmusic.io/song/6633-end-of-summerLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

These Darned Long Distance Relationships

"I inhale the fragrance of lavender
from a candle lit at 559,
I know you'd call at 6,
and I want to feel as if you're here."
 
By itself, love is a beating heart. Never ceases, never stops. It's just we, who fill it with our own insecurities, our fragility, our loneliness.
 
We doubt ourselves hence we doubt the other, and view love as a paradigm of insecurity when all it is a temple which awaits return.
 
They say love requires oxygen, reaffirmation, rejuvenation. When the truth is that all it requires is faith. In the ebb and flow of our moods and the seasons, we mistake the passing feeling as a change of heart, and we take decisions of incompatibility and parting with such vigour, that heartbreak then  truly ensues. And where a simple conversation and a recall of old pledges is called for, it's tragedy which befalls.
 
So many lives are left to waste because they hear and believe the songs of a passing troubadour.
 
If you liked this poem, consider listening to these other poems which talk of difficult love -
I Love You
Love (After the Stories Are Told)
On Breaking Up (Without Breaking)
Find other magical things, like a lovely free chapbook of poems, and other resources here.
 
Uncut Poetry has started a new Podcast called Red River Sessions (on Spotify, iTunes, Pocket Casts, etc), where we will talk to published poets, about their poetry, their craft and what haunts them. It is brought to you by Red River, which is the premier independent publisher of poetry books, and Uncut Poetry. 
 
I am Sunil Bhandari.
 
I am a poet based out of India. My book of poetry 'Of Love and Other Abandonments' was an Amazon bestseller. My second book is 'Of Journeys & Other Ways to Get Lost'. Both are available on Amazon.
Follow me on Instagram at @sunilgivesup.
Get in touch with me on uncutpoetrynow@gmail.com
 
The details of the music used in this episode are as follows -
Farm [full version] by Alexander NakaradaLink: https://filmmusic.io/song/8206-farm-full-versionLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Why Don‘t You Make Love to Me Anymore?

"There's so much I can give you yet,
for I'm a poem you left three-fourths of the way,
I promise I still have a syntax in bed,
which might surprise the metaphor in you."
 
What's love if there is no mischief in it? What's love of it doesn't become lazy sometimes and has to be given a jolt!
 
In the infinite comfort of being the cynosure of one true love, also lies the seeds of it being taken for granted. As our soul preens in its attention, it also stretches like happy cat, and settles into the comfortable nook of warm laziness.
 
And things slip. Dates are forgotten, attention wavers, things are forgotten to be told. Every morning you reach for the phone as soon as you awaken, rather than that warm body sleeping beside you. And you stop making love.
 
And in that one silly aberration, slips away the connect which enjoins two people into something more infinite, where 'carnal' is spelt as 'constant'  and 'lusting' as 'lasting'.
 
All it requires is a nudge, often a metaphysical elbow in the ribs, and sometimes a literal kick in the pants, to bring each other back to the primal feeling - that strange world which only love provides - when the world gives you everything you've ever wanted, but there's just not enough of it.
 
If you liked this poem, consider listening to these other poems which talk of reclamation and right -
Perils of Breakup Sex (or Why I Can't Keep My Legs Closed for You?
Bringing the Storm Home
Making Love in a Cathedral on a Rainy day
Find other magical things, like a lovely free chapbook of poems, and other resources here.
 
Uncut Poetry has started a new Podcast called Red River Sessions (on Spotify, iTunes, Pocket Casts, etc), where we will talk to published poets, about their poetry, their craft and what haunts them. It is brought to you by Red River, which is the premier independent publisher of poetry books, and Uncut Poetry. 
 
I am Sunil Bhandari.
 
I am a poet based out of India. My book of poetry 'Of Love and Other Abandonments' was an Amazon bestseller. My second book is 'Of Journeys & Other Ways to Get Lost'. Both are available on Amazon.
Follow me on Instagram at @sunilgivesup.
Get in touch with me on uncutpoetrynow@gmail.com
 
The details of the music used in this episode are as follows -
Warm Sunset by MusicLFilesLink: https://filmmusic.io/song/8070-warm-sunsetLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

It Takes a Long Time to Arrive From Not Very Far Away

Excerpt from "It Takes a Long Time to Arrive From Not Very Far Away"*
 
"Why do we do anything
for the people we love, you asked,
isn't everything a poem we write for the other,
every day, day in day out?
Then why is love demanded as diligence,
when you can have it as grace?"
 
Hear the full poem in the latest episode of Uncut Poetry Podcast
 
We take so much for granted. The air we breathe, the flowers we touch, the curve of the path we walk on every morning, the very person sleeping beside us, who we profess to love more than anything in this world.
 
Inherent in this are our years of upbringing, our lack of sensitivity to look at things differently, the daiquiri   of convenience and disregard. And as our outlook gets fossilized, we steadily slip into the dogma of defense. We stand on the pulpit of so-called tradition and preach, we refuse to pay cognizance to the subtlety of changing outlooks, and how everything old wasn't holy.
 
But change is inevitable - and insidious. It will come, it will happen. We can resist and have the spine of our tenet cracked, or change and let the fullness of a new creed flood us with its dazzling  effulgence.
 
(* this is a line from 'Plainwater' by Anne Carson)
 
If you liked this poem, consider listening to these other poems which talk of reclamation and right -
The Power of No
Stories Which Survive
Rediscovering the Flawed Beauty of Love
Find other magical things, like a lovely free chapbook of poems, and other resources here.
 
Uncut Poetry has started a new Podcast called Red River Sessions (on Spotify, iTunes, Pocket Casts, etc), where we will talk to published poets, about their poetry, their craft and what haunts them. It is brought to you by Red River, which is the premier independent publisher of poetry books, and Uncut Poetry. 
 
I am Sunil Bhandari.
 
I am a poet based out of India. My book of poetry 'Of Love and Other Abandonments' was an Amazon bestseller. My second book is 'Of Journeys & Other Ways to Get Lost'. Both are available on Amazon.
Follow me on Instagram at @sunilgivesup.
Get in touch with me on uncutpoetrynow@gmail.com
 
The details of the music used in this episode are as follows -
Oceans Of Tranquility by MusicLFilesLink: https://filmmusic.io/song/6869-oceans-of-tranquilityLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Hope is Merely Fear With a Poor Choice of Lipstick

"I am exhausted with mornings
with their false pretenses and promises,
and wonder what it would take
to stop it from decorating itself with silver
and gold and light and lies,
and merely let us be the honest suicide candidates,
who see every bright start to a day
and know the hypocrisy ready to unravel
as a brilliant bright day."
 
Every morning we wake up with an array of feelings racing inside us, conflicting emotions, from fury to peace, from exhaustion to exuberance. And depending on what we focus on, our day takes on that trajectory - which merely means our life finds a direction in our daily choice.
 
We can start being a Jackson Pollock painting, splattered with every color and hue, but something inside us picks one color and runs with it. Do we celebrate life - or hunt it down to shoot it point-blank, is merely that perchance choice, of a perchance emotion. We are left to regret at leisure.
 
But what of those whose choice everyday is the same dismal refraction of life, when the shining truth of possibilities is always seen as chimera, and life seems to be a dark rabbit hole teeming with despair and cul de sacs.
 
Depression ensues, suicidal tendencies set in. All the love and support of the world needs to be called in. Because, then, lives are at stake.
 
If you liked this poem, consider listening to these other poems which talk of despair -
Heartbreak
Chemo: As I Battle Myself
How to Hold Love as it Breaks
Find other magical things, like a lovely free chapbook of poems, and other resources here.
 
Uncut Poetry has started a new Podcast called Red River Sessions (on Spotify, iTunes, Pocket Casts, etc), where we will talk to published poets, about their poetry, their craft and what haunts them. It is brought to you by Red River, which is the premier independent publisher of poetry books, and Uncut Poetry. 
 
I am Sunil Bhandari.
 
I am a poet based out of India. My book of poetry 'Of Love and Other Abandonments' was an Amazon bestseller. My second book is 'Of Journeys & Other Ways to Get Lost'. Both are available on Amazon.
Follow me on Instagram at @sunilgivesup.
Get in touch with me on uncutpoetrynow@gmail.com
 
The details of the music used in this episode are as follows -
Parting of the Ways - Part 2 by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://filmmusic.io/song/4196-parting-of-the-ways---part-2License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Uncut Poetry Salon featuring the Poetry Busker Ryan Tomlin

Ryan Tomlin, based out of Leeds in UK,  became an author at the age of 17. He loved the experience so much he decided that being a successful and best selling author was his ultimate goal. He sent his book to publishers all over. Alas, the only one who agreed to publish asked for 2500 pounds in payment.
 
After that he wrote four more books- all of them rejected by publishers. Till, on his 20th birthday he started writing what later became his 5th book - The Transition.
 
He decided to self publish it on Amazon Kindle.
But the way he sold the book was on the streets, with flyers and whiteboards, whilst talking to people and promoting the book.
 
It became a self-published best seller.
 
And then he hit upon the idea of an open air street Poetry Store. And he started selling his poems for 20 pence each. He didn't earn millions but enough for it to become his regular job.
 
And then he wanted to do something bigger - and so he started poetry busking, performing his poetry on the streets of Leeds.
 
And lo and behold, he's since performed at Farsley Festival, Yorkshire Day and in An Evening of Authors. He has been featured on the EPOCH documentary series PEOPLE, as well as Made In Leeds TV, BBC Yorkshire, and BBC Two's Politics Live.
 
This week we've asked Ryan Tomlin to completely take over the floor.
 
You can get more of Ryan's poems on his website or his Instagram account. His best-selling book The Transition can be bought at Amazon.
 
Uncut Poetry has started a new Podcast called Red River Sessions (on Spotify, iTunes, Pocket Casts, etc), where we will talk to published poets, about their poetry, their craft and what haunts them. It is brought to you by Red River, which is the premier independent publisher of poetry books, and Uncut Poetry. 
 
I am Sunil Bhandari.
 
I am a poet based out of India. My book of poetry 'Of Love and Other Abandonments' was an Amazon bestseller. My second book is 'Of Journeys & Other Ways to Get Lost'. Both are available on Amazon.
Follow me on Instagram at @sunilgivesup.
Get in touch with me on uncutpoetrynow@gmail.com
 
The details of the music used in this episode are as follows -
Melodic Interlude Two by Alexander NakaradaLink: https://filmmusic.io/song/6394-melodic-interlude-twoLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
 
1000 Lichter by Sascha Ende®Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/3161-1000-lichterLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
 
Flucht (Romeos Erbe) by Sascha Ende®Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/3146-flucht-romeos-erbe-License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
 
Imagefilm 044 by Sascha Ende®Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/3241-imagefilm-044License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

The Power of No

"I was a survivor of religious texts
which left morsels at my doorstep
as they made their way to their lofty definitions."
 
Big revolutions often have beginnings in nooks and crannies - a kitchen or a closet, a garage or a heart. To confront the world, a general could be less than five feet high, to have a voice which resonates through the world, one could be a tiny teenager speaking in the softest of falsettos.
 
The power of what we want comes from intent, the wind beneath the wings comes from courage, and the impetus comes when we learn to say "No, no more."
 
Many stories have ended there, being ruthlessly silenced. But even a single voice let go into the universe doesn't go waste. Another voice is raised, conjoined with another, and then another - till a crescendo emerges - and a cry goes out. And nothing nothing remains the same.
 
The world then is on the cusp of change. The world IS changed.
 
If you liked this poem, consider listening to these other poems which talk of hope adn resistance - 
Fear in a Prayer's Home
Chemo: As I Battle Myself
In Which He Cries And She Clears the Skies
Find other magical things, like a lovely free chapbook of poems, and other resources here.
 
Uncut Poetry has started a new Podcast called Red River Sessions (on Spotify, iTunes, Pocket Casts, etc), where we will talk to published poets, about their poetry, their craft and what haunts them. It is brought to you by Red River, which is the premier independent publisher of poetry books, and Uncut Poetry. 
 
I am Sunil Bhandari.
 
I am a poet based out of India. My book of poetry 'Of Love and Other Abandonments' was an Amazon bestseller. My second book is 'Of Journeys & Other Ways to Get Lost'. Both are available on Amazon.
Follow me on Instagram at @sunilgivesup.
Get in touch with me on uncutpoetrynow@gmail.com
 
The details of the music used in this episode are as follows -
Simone Zunterer (Main Theme) by Sascha Ende®Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/554-simone-zunterer-main-theme-License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Love is an Unreasonable Yearner

"Love is such an unreasonable yearner -
full-hearted but empty-handed:
it can give a treasure out of nothing,
but can never ask to be gifted one."
 
We are all, at various times, givers or takers. Giving is easy when we care, though not when we don't. But when conjoined with commitment, we can continue giving, through our anger, disillusionment or grief.
 
But asking, in the best of times, can be an effort.
 
In that brief interlude between desire and expectation, we have to put ourselves out, turn humbly, and ask for what we want. But ever so often, we can't.
 
Is it ego? Is it expectation that we should be given, without being asked? Is it fear of being refused? Whatever the reason, that hesitation, that decision to keep quiet, to withdraw, to not ask, is the point from where distances start getting to be mapped. And the shifting of feelings is akin to the continental shift of geological plates. Slow but irrevocable.
 
And in love, particularly, what commences to be suppressed, is the natural flow of lava, whose advent, if curbed, ends up burning the lover up.
 
Yearning is an all-consuming fire, no less.
 
If you liked this poem, consider listening to these other poems which talk of yearning - 
The Girl Who Could Lose Everything For Hope
That Gorgeous Evening when You Left
Departures
Find other magical things, like a lovely free chapbook of poems, and other resources here.
 
Uncut Poetry has started a new Podcast called Red River Sessions (on Spotify, iTunes, Pocket Casts, etc), where we will talk to published poets, about their poetry, their craft and what haunts them. It is brought to you by Red River, which is the premier independent publisher of poetry books, and Uncut Poetry. 
 
I am Sunil Bhandari.
 
I am a poet based out of India. My book of poetry 'Of Love and Other Abandonments' was an Amazon bestseller. My second book is 'Of Journeys & Other Ways to Get Lost'. Both are available on Amazon.
Follow me on Instagram at @sunilgivesup.
Get in touch with me on uncutpoetrynow@gmail.com
 
The details of the music used in this episode are as follows -
 
Du und ich (instrumental) by Sascha Ende®Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/2966-du-und-ich-instrumental-License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Bringing The Storm Home

Passion as lust is so underrated.
 
It is bequeathed to youth, dismissed as elemental, in passing, as age progresses it is assumed dead on arrival. It's somehow taken as recreational, it is taken as something which is done - and done with. It is taken as an aberration if it floods you, you are a mendicant if you can control it, a vamp if you let it possess you, an offender if it affects every part of your life.
 
So much of passion is denigrated, even as we fall in lust before falling in love, even as we give in to it's call and it embellishes our commitment to the other, in untamed and undisguised ways. Love would be lesser for it. It's unpredictability is its source of raw charm.
 
And when we let it lead us into its dark caverns, we find life's curtains drawn out to the end, and the sun streaming in, playing with the sheets where you lie, playfully asking - now once more, with the sun on us?
 
If you liked this poem, consider listening to these other poems tenderly talking of the pleasures of love and love-making:
Making Love in a Cathedral on a Stormy Day
Fallen Flowers 
Perils of Breakup Sex (or Why I Can't Keep My Legs Closed for You)
Find other magical things, like a lovely free chapbook of poems, and other resources here.
 
Uncut Poetry has started a new Podcast called Red River Sessions (on Spotify, iTunes, Pocket Casts, etc), where we will talk to published poets, about their poetry, their craft and what haunts them. It is brought to you by Red River, which is the premier independent publisher of poetry books, and Uncut Poetry. 
 
I am Sunil Bhandari.
 
I am a poet based out of India. My book of poetry 'Of Love and Other Abandonments' was an Amazon bestseller. My second book is 'Of Journeys & Other Ways to Get Lost'. Both are available on Amazon.
Follow me on Instagram at @sunilgivesup.
Get in touch with me on uncutpoetrynow@gmail.com
 
The details of the music used in this episode are as follows -
 
Inspiring Teaser  by Rafael KruxLink: https://filmmusic.io/song/5672-inspiring-teaser-License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
 
Rise Of The Heroes by Sascha Ende®Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/513-rise-of-the-heroesLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
 

Uncut Poetry Salon featuring the Award-Winning African-American Poet Katerina Canyon!

Welcome to the Salon edition of Uncut Poetry.
 
In the Salon edition, we will feature interviews of cutting-edge poets, readings of my favorite poetry, reviews of poetry books which I have fallen in love with, and pretty much everything related to poetry. Every month, once a week!
 
In the inaugural episode, we feature the African-American poet Katerina Canyon.
 
Katerina Canyon is an Award Winning Poet, Best Selling Author, Civil Rights Activist, and Essayist. She grew up in Los Angeles and much of her writing reflects that experience.
 
Her first book of poetry, Changing the Lines, was released in August 2017. This book is a conversation between mother and daughter as they examine what it means to operate within the world as black women.
 
Katerina Canyon is a 2020 and 2019 Pushcart Prize Nominee. Her stories have been published in The New York Times, The Huffington Post, and Folks. Her poetry has been published in CatheXis Northwest, The Esthetic Apostle, Into the Void, Black Napkin, and Waxing & Waning.  From 2000 to 2003, she served as the Poet Laureate of Sunland-Tujunga. During that time, she started a poetry festival and ran several poetry readings.  She currently lives in Seattle.
 
She was featured in the Los Angeles Times and was awarded the Montesi Award from Saint Louis University in 2011, 2012, and 2013. She has published multiple chapbooks and an album. 
 
Katerina Canyon will be releasing her new poetry book Surviving Home in December 2021.
 
Surviving Home is a reflection on African American heritage and up-bringing, racism, and abuse. It is a tender and heartbreaking exploration of growing up, observing, living through hell and coming out stronger.
 
To learn more or to read an excerpt from the book, go to https://bookpublicityservices.com/surviving-home-katerina-canyon/
 
Readers can connect with Katerina on Instagram, Twitter, Goodreads, and Facebook. To learn more, go to https://www.poetickat.com/  
 
Find other magical things, like a lovely free chapbook of poems, and other resources here.
 
Uncut Poetry has started a new Podcast called Red River Sessions (on Spotify, iTunes, Pocket Casts, etc), where we will talk to published poets, about their poetry, their craft and what haunts them. It is brought to you by Red River, which is the premier independent publisher of poetry books, and Uncut Poetry. 
 
I am Sunil Bhandari.
 
I am a poet based out of India. My book of poetry 'Of Love and Other Abandonments' was an Amazon bestseller. My second book is 'Of Journeys & Other Ways to Get Lost'. Both are available on Amazon.
Follow me on Instagram at @sunilgivesup.
Get in touch with me on uncutpoetrynow@gmail.com
 
The details of the music used in this episode are as follows -
Epic Emotional Positive by MusicLFilesLink: https://filmmusic.io/song/7510-epic-emotional-positiveLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
 
Zum Kampf Bereit (Romeos Erbe) by Sascha Ende®Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/4659-zum-kampf-bereit-romeos-erbe-License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
 
Abschied (Romeos Erbe) by Sascha Ende®Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/3148-abschied-romeos-erbe-License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
 
Begegnung (Romeos Erbe) by Sascha Ende®Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/2971-begegnung-romeos-erbe-License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license