Uncut Poetry

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
 

Heartbreak

"You will seek other beds and alien alleys,
and make yourself lonelier with every journey,
as you dream of me in the false dawn of other arms,
not knowing me as someone with a lonely soul."
 
Every relationship is a journey. Where it starts is in a fuzzy past, but equally amorphous is how it ends. Because endings are never surgical cuts, but a bunch of tassels, each thread a possible way out - or way in. And that's what reality is.
 
Because people change. How we feel changes. What we feel changes.  And just like a poem never ends but finds eternity in the heart of its reader, love changes form and finds a cosy nook to reside. It moves to find meaning in life - which might have everything to do with love, but nothing to do with a love affair.
 
And that's how life takes us in its palm - often with someone, often without. But there's always the walking, the movement, the bliss, the ecstasy, and the pain, the anguish, the residue, the remembrance....
 
It's the cross life bears -  and is it's saddest but most sublime benediction.
 
If you liked this poem, consider listening to these other poems tenderly talking of heartbreak:
Call Me By Your Name 
How to Hold Love as it Breaks 
Broken Ribs as a Barometer of Love
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 -
Romantic Contemplative Nature by MusicLFilesLink: https://filmmusic.io/song/8033-romantic-contemplative-natureLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Tea With Naomi Shihab Rye

Naomi Shihab Nye is a Palestinian American poet. Her poetry shimmers with the anguish of a whole battered nation. But it is also full of gratitude, as she notices the smallest of things and urges the reader to find grace in them.
 
For the last two months, every morning I read a poem by her. A single poem. It will probably take me years to finish all her books. But I don't care. Because this daily ritual cleanses me, readies me to face the world, with equanimity and thankfulness.
 
I feel, now she belongs to me.
 
She says -
"Let me peer out at the world
through your lens. (Maybe I'll shudder,
or gasp, or tilt my head in a question.)
Let me see how your blue
is my turquoise and my orange
is your gold. Suddenly binary
stars, we have startling
gravity. Let's compare
scintillation - let's share
starlight."
 
She's a bridge, Naomi is. Her words are flowers and never rocks. And her world always urges us to be kind.
 
Because with kindness, comes understanding, comes the stardust to change us, however small the corner of the world we might be staying in.
 
"Only kindness, that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
it is I you have been looking for -
and then goes with you everywhere
like a shadow or a friend."
 
If you liked this poem, consider listening to these other poems celebrating grace:
Extraordinary Life
Kintsugi
Tenderness
Of the Moon (and Other Things Which Don't Know They are Beautiful)
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 -
Mystery Of Dandela by Sascha Ende®Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/2979-mystery-of-dandelaLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
 
Sehnsucht by Sascha Ende®Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/2922-sehnsuchtLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Mother's Rambling Lessons on Life Imparted in Morning Walks in my Childhood

My mother, like so many other mothers, is a treasure house of tales. But with a twist - she is the hero of all her stories. More than the classical tales of Mahabharata and Ramayana, more than the O Henry's and Guy de Maupassant's I devoured whilst growing up, her tales were the ones which had the deepest influence. How her resilience won over indignities piled on her in a traditional Indian family, how she turned the tables in favor of a charity she was working with when a government official poured caste slurs on her, how her relentless kindness won over a trouble-loving neighbor.
 
A lot of what I am, I realize,  is because of those tales.
 
But here's what started happening as I grew.
 
I thought the tales were narcissistic, as they only talked about the glory of her. For a time, I started to just walk away when she commenced her stories.
 
Till one day, I was telling my son about something I'd done which had won me accolades in office, and in a flash of epiphany I realized what my mum had been doing for years.
 
Our stories of victory or loss, of kindness and redemption, of things which went well, and which didn't, are our character sketches - where we could be either perfect villains or flawed heroes, but where  we realize how our learnings are a talisman, and our stories of wounds our one true memorable legacy.
 
If you liked this poem, consider listening to these other poems celebrating our mothers:
My Mother's Lines
Kintsugi
Kripa (a blessing from a daughter)
How Mothers are Nature's Return Gifts
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 -
Sunset Fields by Alexander NakaradaLink: https://filmmusic.io/song/7979-sunset-fieldsLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Extraordinary Life

Even if we don't notice it, our senses never forget the value of the insignificant. Of the sun falling on our feet, of that one teardrop falling on our hand, of that longing which fills our world, of that single remembrance which is enough to destroy everything, before it attempts to build something again.
 
But ever so often, our senses bring these moments into our beings slowly, gently, sadly, when everything around us is collapsing -  and we realize that we don't miss the big celebrations or the grand entrances or the splendid sights. What we really crave for are the most ephemeral and trifling of things. Moments reduced to quietness, walks slowed into inner explorations, a touch made to linger, sleep becoming a travel done together.
 
Finding life's significance might be your adventure; but life's meaning is sleeping in the crook of your arm with a serene smile.
 
If you liked this poem, consider listening to these other poems celebrating life:
Of the Moon (and Other Things Which Don't Know They Are Beautiful)
Meditations On an Evening
The Sublime in the Ordinary
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, 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 -
You and Me Forever by MusicLFilesLink: https://filmmusic.io/song/7937-you-and-me-foreverLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Tenderness

"I fell in love with you
                         again
in the soft foothills of this evening."
 
The ebb and flow of feelings is the subcutaneous world of love. We are an amalgam of expectations, ego and confusion - and love for us is as much about the blood which begins to flow rapidly inside our bodies, as it is about the blood which we give to our relationships.
 
However much we may wax about the selflessness of love, the heart craves for balance. Whilst the first flush of love is about giving, the second flush wants to fill empty spaces inside oneself.  And that's when we need recalibration. That's when we need to realize that life or love cannot be a continuous test or a balancing act.
 
Tenderness defines love, not touchiness.
 
If you liked this poem, consider listening to these other poems celebrating the grace of love:
Lovers in The Morning
How to Hold Love as it Breaks
I Love You
Find other magical things, like a lovely free chapbook of poems, and other resources here.
 
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 -
When The Wind Blows by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://filmmusic.io/song/4622-when-the-wind-blowsLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Lovers of Broken Mountains

Where do the boundaries of love begin - and end? Who is the arbiter of what's right - and what's wrong? For too long, rules have followed the drumbeats of arbitrary prejudices and preferences, bereft of personal choices.
 
It's a tragedy that after centuries of literature, art and norm, there is still stigma,  there is still disapproval, there is still the need for secrecy.
 
As couples gravitate towards their desires and destinies, building defences, building walls, it is incumbent for the world at large to embrace them into normalcy, so they know they are part of the same loving community they have come from, and are not outliers.
 
As Jake Gyllenhaal said about the protagonists in the film Brokeback Mountain -
That what ties these two characters together is not just a love, but a loneliness. I think primarily it was deep loneliness - it is about two people desperately looking for love. To be loved. And who were probably capable of it. And they just found it with someone of the same sex.  Hopefully it can create an equality of an idea: that it's possible that you can find love anywhere. That intimacy exists in so many places that convention and society won't always allow us to see. And we won't allow ourselves to see, because of what criticism — and danger — it might provoke.
 
If you liked this poem, consider listening to these other poems celebrating the Pride Month:
Not Making Love, Only Being in Love
I Surrender to That Feeling Again
Call Me By Your Name
Find other magical things, like a lovely free chapbook of poems, and other resources here.
 
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 -
Die Unendliche Geschichte by Sascha Ende®Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/512-die-unendliche-geschichteLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license