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Daily Verse
 

Week 1, July  2025
 

Image by Josep Martins

The Sound Leaves Slowly

By Divya Venkateswaran 1st July 2025

The war didn’t come with drums

Just static

A spoon clinking on an empty plate

 

Sirens were pressure cookers

A gate left swinging

The hum of a raga forgotten mid-song

 

Children counted silences

Between gunshots

Some hummed back

 

Peace tiptoed in

No anthem,

Just a woman singing while washing rice

off-key, unafraid.

Image by Patrick Schneider
Crayon

Charge

by Anju Kishore 2nd July 2025

in the name of God 

let me kill

 

may i strike down pride

behead my greed

and bury fear alive

 

may i set my ego aflame

and let my anger

walk the fire

again and again

 

may the crows feed

on my attachments

and vultures on my lust

 

my senses may i bend

one by one to His will

one by one, all my flaws

in the name of God

let me kill 

Image by Adam Dennis

Meet Me Anew

By Belinda Behni  3rd July 2025

Lay down your gun

and meet me

beneath the olive trees

mourning doves

and sun-baked fruit

nestle in their leaves

 

We can surely shelter there

to mend the wounds of war

to share our grief

our hopes

our dreams

and rest until the dawn

 

We will rise

full-throated then

and call to the morning sun

that we have plans

to heal the world

and we have just begun

Image by Mayank Dhanawade

Anguish in Pahalgam

By Ketaki Mazumdar 4th July 2025

the tenuous stitches

came undone...

ripped...

a valley meadow bled...

a shame revealed a malfunction...

in the beauty…

 

I dare you not to react...

listen... the gun shots could have been for you...

the horror... draping your family...

innocents killed purposely...

planned…

with a human toxicity...

nature watched ashamed...

 

life was a moment of joy...

a dream...

snatched by a terror attack...

sudden and cowardly...

stunned in grief,

helpless horror draped...

the air shook with bullets ricocheting...

reverberating echoes in the soft green hills...

Deodars, Chinar trees...apples, walnuts, saffron, tulips,

in inhuman throes

in a bloodbath...

innocence was snatched by sick minds

who choreographed this horror...

 

the mountains echoed the helpless dirge...

the sweet meadow grass and flowers turned red...

seeped with the dead...

crimson awoke,

fangs bared...

I mourn...

stunned...

I pray... hurt at the death of humanity...

deep pain and heaviness...

for truth lies bleeding...

 

silent undercurrents in underground rivers... blue and pristine...

smouldering hate... the churning continues...

what will diffuse bombs and guns from firing...

stop men being brainwashed... for killing...

 

will peace lovers create again a  beautiful tapestry... ?

Kashmir...

a textile of many weaves...

that is our country and a story of peace...

and beauty...

as ordinary citizens we cry... coexistence is our dream...

... what shall we now do with the blood stains of the…

innocents...

who died so brutally...

spilling their blood in what they believed was paradise...

who will mend this grief... this anguish... in Pahalgam...

for today...

… innocent blood has been spilled?

White Dove Flying
Flower

War, the Loser

By Sherin Maria Zacharia 5th July 2025

Verses will no more rain

Ink has dried on the poet’s quill

Morning brings with it, news

New conflicts, tomorrow’s old stories.

 

No more space to share

On the page, on the land

Not any where in the heart, no words

more to write, no thoughts to spare.

 

Misery for the sick and the old

Slain soldiers valiant, their families bold.

Lands once lovely, no more the same

Lives struggle, beg bread with shame.

 

Fire, a golden facade on the ruins

Poems burn to ash, in silence

Wars never had any winner

World alone is always the loser.

 

The * “extinguished star “will rise

Again, in the sky darkened by bias

To shine with love for all other;

Over queues of children lost to hunger;

On cities where limbs were snipped by arms traders.

Hope and peace will flutter their wings

Perch together with love

A pair of soft, white doves

To coo a song together, of benevolence.

Biographies of Poets

Divya Venkateswaran is an English language educator, poet, podcaster, and publishing consultant. She is the author of A Slice of Reverie and Impetus, and founder of The Book Bracket. Through training, publishing, and podcasting, she curates meaningful literary conversations and supports emerging voices across diverse platforms.

Anju Kishore is a Pushcart (Poetry) Prize 2022 and 2024 nominee, a Touchstone Award 2023 longlister, and an award-winning editor of numerous free-verse anthologies. Her first book of poems, ‘…and I Stop to Listen’ was published in 2018 and her second book, ‘My Conversations with God, Life, and Death’ in 2025. Her poems are part of significant anthologies like Aatish 2, The Yearbook of Indian Poetry in English 2022 and 2023(Hawakal and Pippa Rann Books, UK respectively), and Late-blooming Cherries 2024 (Haiku Poetry from India, Harper Collins). She has dabbled in online theatre and is currently exploring Japanese forms of poetry.

Belinda Behne grew up in the midwest, but she has spent most of her adult life in the vibrant culture of New York City. Her first career, as a teacher of special education, led her to the love of art, literature and theatre. She has pursued her passions of acting, writing poetry and performing professional voice-overs for more than three decades. She currently lives on the edge of a salt marsh, where life continues to inspire her in new ways. Her poems can be found in LEAF Journal, The Wise Owl, Scarlet Dragonfy and Cold Moon Journal.

Ketaki Mazumdar is an educationist and a poet. She is the recipient of many awards. Her poetry reflects her excitement with the beauty of nature, emotions, of grief, joy, love and also gently touches on the spirituality and mysticism of life.

Sherin Mary Zacharia a young poet of 21 expresses herself through her verses. She loves to write about nature most but some of her poems are on topics like mental illness and disability. She is a regular blogger (www.musingsofsher.in) and often contributes to English anthologies. She has received several awards and recognitions latest being the selection of her poem by the United Nations as part of observing World Autism Awareness Day 2023. A self-learner she likes to read, watch visual lessons and travel. Being a non speaking autistic she lets her poetry be her voice. Moonlight is her collection of poems and short prose(2017). She is a co author of Talking Fingers(2022) and Discourses on Disability (2021) Sherin is from Kochi , Kerala, India where she lives with her parents, younger sister and pet cat.

Week 2, July  2025
 

Image by Kevin Schmid

Survival

By Sushmita Sridhar 9th July 2025

What would you do if a tank rolled down your street
and pointed its guns at you?
Would you call your children to you
come see this monstrous killing machine, 
Or leave a poem for your enemy 
scrawled on your bedsheets;
Or hold your breath, hush your child, 
gather your supplies to move down the street?
Would you keep watching them watching you
or would you flee?


Would you shop defiant proud 
at thieves’; market exultant to be alive;
or make a list, a street catalogue of wails and cries
frightened into silence by the war machine;
apologize to your only child 
for your choices in unsent letters?
As the barrage of bullets and bombs break— 
your defences, your hearing, your dreams, 
Would you still hang on to hope?
What would you do?
Would you keep watching them watching you
or would you flee?


Would you step out on corpse-strewn streets
to collect souvenirs for your child? 
And make a game of make-belief 
of this ordeal, this ill-fated time;
Or walk proud defiant down blasted streets
exultant to be alive?
Would you keep watching them watching you
or would you flee?

​

​

Poet's Note::This poem was written early this year in response to the ongoing war and genocide in Gaza and is inspired by my reading of the diary of a Palestinian poet, Nahil Mohana, who writes of her experience of trying to survive with her family in the ruins of war-torn Gaza.

Image by Pawel Czerwinski
Crayon

Sundowning

By Jeena R Papaadi 8th July 2025

Sundowning,

they call it:

That gradual creeping

of darkness

into your soul.

 

You turn away

And flee,

Chasing

The vanishing,

flickering, candlelit

Warmth of your own heart;

 

The spark that threatens

To die at the

slightest breeze.

 

The receding

Spot of light

Slipping beneath the horizon

Of your mind.

 

You grab it;

It slips through

Your fingers...

You snatch at

The elusive little ember;

Blowing, to rekindle it

 

For, at the slightest

Whisper, it goes out

As though

Seeking a reason

To plunge you into despair

 

Meanwhile,

The rest of the world

Is busy betraying

Everyone they know

To tremendous consequences

 

So why should

Your own sense of

Shock and helplessness

Or desolation

Matter?

 

You close your eyes,

Take deep breaths

And tightly grasp the tiny

Flicker of joy for dear life.

And wait for sunrise.

 

For who speaks for you, if you don’t?

Image by Shawn Appel

 Etna, Erupting

By Radha Chakravarty 11th July 2025

Etna

explodes

unexpectedly—

pyroclastic outburst

of smoke-ash-molten-lava

fountain of earth’s pent-up rage

sound and fury surely signifying something

Image by Kevin Butz
Image by Dave Hoefler

A Verse

By Joanna Ashwell 12th July 2025

it seems as if

the wind hesitates

before the crash

of another bomb

in our shattered streets

 

this silence

of a river swing

holds our heart

in the flex

of peace talks

 

once we played

amongst the poppies

now only ruins

offer a key

to starting over

Image by Sincerely Media
Flower

Poems on War & Peace

By Vijay Prasad 10th July 2025

Screenshot 2025-12-21 at 11.37.23 AM.png

failed talks 

                           the  s.c.a.r.s 

                           of phonation

Screenshot 2025-12-21 at 11.37.31 AM.png

peace talks

                              again

                       a bone sprouts

Screenshot 2025-12-21 at 11.37.23 AM.png

c_r_o_s_s   n_g 

                   i 

              wa  t for the body

Biographies of Poets

Jeena R. Papaadi is a writer based in Bengaluru and Thiruvananthapuram with six books to her credit, including novels, short stories and poetry. Her novel Rat, Rabbit, Rock! was shortlisted in PVLF 2024 Literature festival under Best Fiction-English category. Her story ‘Houses of God’ was among the six stories by Indian authors featured in Wisdom of Our Mothers: Indian Edition, published by Familia Books, USA, in 2011. Her works have appeared in numerous multi-author anthologies and distinguished publications including The Hindu, Borderless Journal, Kitaab, European Association of Palliative Care, and Aksharasthree.

Radha Chakravarty is a widely published writer, critic and translator. Subliminal: Poems is her recent collection of poetry. Her poems have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. She contributed to Pandemic: A Worldwide Community Poem (Muse Pie Press, USA), nominated for the Pushcart Prize 2020.  

Joanna Ashwell is a short form poet (from the UK) who writes Haiku, Tanka, Haibun, Cherita and other related forms.  She has published four collections of poetry.  Between Moonlight a collection of haiku was published by Hub Editions in 2006.  Her tanka collection ‘Every Star’ was published by KDP on Amazon in 2023.  Her Cherita collection ‘River Lanterns’ was published by 1-2-3 Press on Amazon in 2023.  She currently serves on the selection team for the Canadian Tanka Journal GUSTS.

Vijay Prasad is a poet from Patna, India. He is disappointingly interested in life. He has a passion for haiku, language, philosophy, and so on ... He is published in Bones, Under the Basho, tinywords, Failed Haiku, The Mumba Journal, Haiku Dialogue, Prune Juice, among others

Week 3, July 2025

Image by Marvin van Beek

Pitfalls

By Sanjeev Sethi 15th July 2025

Poems happen as the head and harvest

years of sparks, a spontaneous push.

My mavourneen is a dab hand at making

me fall in love with her again and again.

When compelled to indite on the icky,

does it fall short?

 

The brave and buff who clamor for

the theatre of war must be permitted

to blow the bugle if a son or spouse

is on the front line. The perfect balance

is between mission accomplished and

the general markdown.

Classic Typewriter
Crayon

Poems

By Fatma Zohra Habib 14th July 2025

Image by Jan Kopřiva

the sound of shells

fills the air

a little girl declares

the birth of safety

clutching her father’s helmet

Screenshot 2025-12-22 at 8.38.04 PM.png

when will the bombing stop?

a daily question 

for a Gazan child

he dreams of a morning

chasing a butterfly

Image by REGINE THOLEN

Weaving the Net of Faith

By Swati Basu Das 16th July 2025

The gloomy sky showers

Blazing wrath of Hephaestus. 

Myriad star shell like fallen angels; 

They drop to burn and raze,

Dousing every dreams in red. 

Beneath the blue, atop the brown, 

Splintered rainbow wails, 

Thirsty souls bawl, welling up

Bone-dry river of lost hope;

Salty, sullied and stray, 

It flounders into a distant Strait - 

The deeply quaint Hormuz zigzags afar, 

Kissing and caressing a last village - Kumzar - 

A halcyon abode blooming

With rosy dreams, wiping celestial tears, 

Its irenic fishermen weaving

The net of faith, fishing sunken harmony 

And wishing a Promised Land upon shooting stars. 

Image by Maxim Berg

Make Peace Not War-With Ageing

By Satbir Chadha 17th July 2025

I sleep on embers and awake on logs of ice

The pain of my peeled skin daunted by indifference of friends 

 

Illness is an art that I need to learn

To be just sick enough to garner concern 

The correct gravity and the controlled wheeze

Not the perennially extending chronic disease

 

For to live one needs love and one needs attention 

I need to convey the importance of my existence 

 

I choose to exude life and convey it’s sweet fragrance 

For the part of me that’s sick I have my own compassion 

 

What is life but fire and a slow combustion 

In the womb is the fire of procreation 

Also the amniotic sac a volatile throbbing ocean 

A balance of ice and fire is the secret of creation 

 

But I’m getting smaller and smaller in my soul

And I can feel the receding intensity of fire

Also the skimming waves of my strength on the shore

 

The rhymes are falling apart and verbs are falling short

The oars are still as the little boat rocks

And slowly gets pulled in the puffing dark

 

The heart hunts for words gasping for breath

Soundless snowflakes lie cold and lifeless

 

Thus is one born and thus does he die

The orgasmic bubble that floated and burst

No more and no less than fire and ice

Screenshot 2025-12-07 at 2.36.41 PM.png
Flower

War & Peace: Between Ruin & Raga

By Giuliana Ravaglia 18th July 2025

Lamp.png

On the windowsill

a lighted lamp

at dusk -

between bare hands

I gather hope

Image by Bonnie Kittle

sunflowers

they no longer look

towards East -

between curves of mud

a thousand refugees alone

Screenshot 2025-12-22 at 8.51.43 PM.png

leaden horizons

on barbaric ice fires

in the wounded blue

the cry of a clear dawn

Biographies of Poets

Sanjeev Sethi is an award-winning poet who has authored eight poetry books. His poems have been published in over thirty-five countries and appear in more than 500 journals, anthologies, and online literary venues. He is the joint winner of Full Fat Collection Competition-Deux, organized by Hedgehog Poetry Press, UK. Sethi is in the top 10 of the erbacce-prize 2021. He is the recipient of the Ethos Literary Award 2022. In 2023, he won the First Prize in a Poetry Competition by the National Defence Academy, Pune. He was conferred the 2023 Setu Award for Excellence. He lives in Mumbai

Fatma Zohra Habis lives in Algeria. She love poetry and Japanese culture. Fatma's specialty is physics. Several haiku and tanka poems have been published around the world, such as The Enchanted Garden and The Sacred Dragonfly THE Daily foundation The LEAF journal

Swati Basu Das lives in Oman. She is a journalist. Her articles and columns on current issues, culture, and travel are published in newspapers and magazines. Her short stories and flash fiction have appeared in FemAsia, Borderless Journal, and others. She's a post-graduate in English Literature and has obtained a master's degree in Journalism and a diploma in Public Relations. She has worked with dailies like Times of India, Hindustan Times, Statesman in India and currently writes columns and articles for newspapers and magazines in Oman. She relishes music, escapades, coffee and John Keats.

Satbir Chadha is the author of the highly acclaimed book, “For God Loves Foolish People”, for which she was awarded the Reuel International prize. Her second novel is “Betrayed, tale of a rogue surgeon”, a medical thriller. She has been published in over twenty national and international anthologies, containing poetry and short stories. She has three solo poetry collections to her credit, “Breeze”, “Glass Doors”, and the recent “The Last Lamp”. She was awarded the Litpreneur Award by Authorspress for her contribution to literature.  She is also the founder of the NISSIM International Prize for Literature, awarded every year to upcoming writers of English prose and poetry.

Giuliana Ravaglia was born in the province of Bologna (Italy), is a former primary school teacher and has a great love for poetry, especially haiku. His poems have been published on websites and online magazines: Otata, Troutswirl, ESUJ-H, Asahi Haikuist Network, The Mainichi, Scarlet Dragonfly Journal, Haikuuniverse, Cold Moon Journal, Akita International Haiku Network, The Bamboo Hut, Take 5ive, Haiku Corner, Memoirs of a Geisha, HaikuNetra, Haiku World, Failed Haiku among others. he received Honorable mention in Haiku EuroTop 100

Week 4, July 2025

Screenshot 2026-01-03 at 10.29.58 AM.png

Oh! The Promised Land

By Laksmisree Banerjee 21st July 2025

Monstrous canopies of

dark wooly clouds spurn us

but remain our daily shelters

our bruised bodies shelled

our bellies with wrenching hunger

kith and kin now cadavers

under debris of our lost homes ---

 

Trucks keep approaching us

with sirens evocative of silence

the battlefield keeps growing

numb like scythed cornfields

in the dismay of winter storms

yet no cessation of ravage

for long eons of deluging tears ---

 

We were such great friends and

neighbours holding hands in playful fray

our lands mixed and merged infinitely

like our blood and hearts in tender love

till borders of the mind cropped up

 

like bristling fences in our ruined gardens

missiles raged with machine guns

mourning in black rain and tears

while machinations ruthless rule for power -

 

We were born from the same roots

from the same testament of faith

from the same soil we tilled for food

when marching soldiers from distant lands

came to divide rather than unite us

they poured acid on our promised land

divine bonding of ages ruptured in a moment

their bombardments now continue daily

regular amnesia and relentless cannons of hate ---

Our brotherhood broken like scorched twigs

slender strings of affection burnt to ashes of lava

the other day food and relief arrived after ages

like a fugitive rainbow in the weeping sky

but they broke our outstretched arms

we ran after them with our starved stomachs

wailing children and the whimpering aged mourning

as they killed us on their way of rendering relief ---

 

 

Kashmir, Gaza, Palestine, Iran,Israel, Ukraine and more

the world sits mute and dumb watching gruesome pageants

forming councils of power and congregations of chicanery

like vultures circulating in emptiness and greed

waiting for carcasses and heaps of dead flesh

to feed upon in bleeding sunsets

merging with endless flows of riverine red

despite our sacramental ties now sacrificed

our shredded lives howling in butchery ---

 

And now they crush us beneath their wheels

with roaring guns and raging infernos

we still clamour and clamber for morsels of breath

till Death has become our Guardian of Life

in an endless Apocalypse ---

​

​

​​​​

Poet's Note: A poem written in grief about a conflict-ridden world

Image by Annelies Geneyn
Crayon

Poems on War & Peace

by John Pappas 22nd July 2025

Image by Phil Botha

summer stars

the arc of tracer fire

over the river 

Image by Alexander Andrews

summer stars

the arc of tracer fire

over the river 

Screenshot 2026-01-03 at 10.36.46 AM.png

after the bomb

our reflections in

cracked glass

Image by Ray Hennessy

Frankenstein's monster

By Santosh Bakaya 23rd July, 2025

“Peace is surrender! You peaceniks will destroy the world!”  
“Peace is cowardice. Peace will tear the world asunder.”
A so-called intellectual of Conflict and Peace Studies
snarled, full of ire.  Balling his fists, spewing fire.
The surroundings resounded with stentorian wrath.
Angry faces looked at me. Their eyes mere stilts. 
Pointing accusatory fingers at me, they yelled.  
A lone moth banged itself against the window.
I did not see the accusatory fingers,
I only saw Frankenstein’s Monster doing a grotesque dance.
But no, there were many more. More! More!
Creeping from the shadows, well-armed. 
Flaunting war paint, taunting the peace-mongers. 

Tempestuous winds blew, as battle cries were issued.
“No mercy! No mercy! The battle begins.”
The cacophony of war drums and spine-chilling killing. 
The belligerent ones were elated
as nuclear scientists were decimated.
Drones, missiles, and explosions ricocheting!

Hush- Hush!

Rising above the beating of drums,
were heard the faint strains of a melody.
It was a golden oriole trilling from a tree.
But who was bothered about its edifying plea?
 
Or the powerful baritone of MLK Jr:
“Over the bleached bones and jumbled remains of civilizations
are written, the words Too Late.”  
Or the half-naked fakir’s golden rule of non-violence.

The Golden oriole in its avian naiveté continued to trill
perched on a forlorn tree.
The war-mongers, like the Frankenstein monster
continued to rave and rant, bellowing maledictions,
lurching forward towards more and more destruction.

The naïve golden Oriole was unstoppable.
It continued singing its delightfully jolly tune.
But the silly little bird did not know that the warmongers
would never realise their folly.     

White Dove Flying
Flower

Whispers of War, Echoes of Peace

By Mehak Varun 24th July 2025

War and peace — a tangled vine,

They twist within the human mind.

A soldier's cry, a mother’s prayer,

A child's dream lost in smoky air.

 

The roar of guns, the silence after,

A grave where once there bloomed a laughter.

Ashes fall like winter snow,

On fields where love once used to grow.

 

Peace — a fragile, trembling dove,

Built on hope and stitched with love.

It asks for strength, not in the sword,

But in the keeping of a word.

 

And war — it knocks with iron hands,

To break what kindness understands.

It feeds on pride, on ancient pain,

And leaves behind a crimson stain.

 

Yet deep within each beating heart,

We know where war ends, peace can start.

Not in conquest, not in might,

But in the will to choose what’s right.

 

So let the mind, so scarred, so wise,

Look not through hate, but through clear eyes.

For every life we choose to spare,

Is one more step toward repair.

 

War and peace — they dance and flee,

But we decide what song shall be.

Let it be one the world can sing,

Of broken swords, and doves in wing.

Image by Christian Wiediger

Waiting for the Butterflies

By Paramita Mukherjee Mullick 25th July 2025

The little girl looked at the war ravaged forests.
Trees were blackened and the undershrub was burnt.
Birds have stopped singing and squirrels were no longer scampering around.
There was an eerie silence, nowhere was any happy sound.

Suddenly she heard the trickling of water.
She ran and saw a glistening stream in the lifeless forest.
Trying its best to be alive in that burnt up ground.
Some saplings have sprouted around the stream and life was found.


Some tiny insects were coming out from the muddy ground.
Caterpillars were trying to feed on the little vegetation that was left.
The little girl knew nothing about wars...the truth and the lies.
She sat there and looked at the caterpillars and waited for the butterflies. 

Biographies of Poets

Laksmisree Banerjee is a Multiple Award-Winning Poet /Author, Literary Critic, Educationist, Sr. Academic and Practicing Radio & TV Vocalist with several National and International Publications, Assignments & Awards to her credit.

John Pappas is a poet and teacher whose work has appeared in many poetry journals and anthologies. His haiku have garnered a Touchstone Award from The Haiku Foundation, a 2023 Trailblazer award, a silver medal in the 2023 Ito En New Haiku Grand Prix, Best in the United States in the 2023 Vancouver Invitational, a Sakura Award in the 2024 Vancouver Invitational, and honorable mention in the 2024 Heliosparrow Frontier Awards, among others. His first chapbook dimes of light was published in 2024 by Yavanika Press. His work is featured in the recently published haiku anthology off the main road: six contemporary haiku poets (Alba Publishing, 2024) and his longer poetry has twice been selected for the Mayor of Boston's Poetry Contest (2016 and 2020)

Internationally acclaimed, Santosh Bakaya, PhD, poet, essayist, novelist, biographer, TEDx speaker, columnist, and reviewer, has written thirty books across different genres. Her ten books of poetry, themed around nature, peace, and belligerence, have been well-received, worldwide. Her two biographies, Ballad of Bapu, [Poetic Biography of Mahatma Gandhi], and Only in Darkness Can You See the Stars [Biography of Martin Luther King Jr] have won laurels. Her latest book, Din about Chins [Penprints 2025], has garnered a lot of critical acclaim. Her columns, Trigger that Creative Spark in Kashmir pen, and Morning Meanderings in learning and creativity.Com have a huge readership.

Writer, poet, an artist, Mehak Varun, is the author of four books - THE Humane Quest vol 1, 2 & 3 and I am Me. She has been bestowed with 100 Inspiring Authors of India award in Kolkata. She has also been honoured with the Women Of Influence 2019 award presented on women's day in New Delhi. Along with her books, her work has been published in various anthologies and she is recipient of various other prizes in poetry competitions as well. She has also been certified with course on persuasive writing and public speaking from Harvard.

Dr. Paramita Mukherjee Mullick is a scientist, literary curator and a poet. Her twelfth book will be released soon. Her poems have been translated into forty five languages and her books have been translated into Spanish, French, Chinese and Croatian.  She is known as a positive poet and she promotes peace, multilingual and indigenous poetry. Her work promotes awareness about climate change and conservation. The 3 Ps…Poetry, Painting and Photography fascinates her. She heads   two poetry and performance forums in Mumbai.

Last Week, July 2025

Image by Julia Kicova
Crayon

Poems on War & Peace

by Rupa Anand  28th July 2025

Image by Glenn Carstens-Peters

constant hum of war

on the idiot box

summer day

Screenshot 2026-01-03 at 10.57.05 AM.png

peace rally —

   those dusty banners

   blowing in the wind

Screenshot 2026-01-03 at 10.56.08 AM.png

oranges & lemons

pockmarked with shells

midsummer

Image by Sincerely Media
Crayon

Haiku

by Barbara Anna Gaiardani  30th July 2025

Image by Marius Haakestad

the plopping 
of the ice cubes 
hidden message 

Image by Karthik Swarnkar

trip companion
background noise 
from the fan 

Image by Hans Eiskonen

a wilderness 
of empty rooms 
it's so hot 

Image by Towfiqu barbhuiya

Yes

By Snigdha Agrawal 29th July, 2025

Yes
I have bought myself peace.
With the humble count of my prayer beads.
What other balm can still the storm
That thunders deep within?

​

Yes…
The blinkers are drawn tight.
Rearward thoughts cloaked and veiled.
The windows of the mind, shuttered.
Fore and aft, girded in iron resolve.

​

Yes…
I am a hopeless coward.
One who is faint of heart

At the sight of blood spills

caused by the edge of fury

 
Yes…

The tidings of nukes rattled.
Of the threats posed to nations
This old, tempered heart shattered.
Turning to prayers for comfort.

 

Yes…

Let these prayer beads of mine

triumph over the bullet.
This is my coping mechanism.

In a world ill-ridden

Flower
Screenshot 2026-01-03 at 11.09.09 AM.png

War & Peace
by Nivedita Karthik 19th July 0225

Somewhere just beyond, sirens take to the skies like birds, fading into the distance. An auto driver hums a song that was all the rage on radios in peacetime. A chai stall bhaiya stirs cardamom into the air. How can it smell so warm when all around is this cold? I tighten my dupatta around my chest. It does little to shield me. My phone screen blurs with images of yet another child lost in the pixelated grey smoke. The breeze around me carries no retorts of gunfire, just the remnants of a newspaper once tucked under someone's arm: Tensions escalate.

 

just a break
between the many wars
Peace

​

​

Poet's Note:  This poem was written during the time when tensions escalated between India and Pakistan in 2025, and this was the reality on the ground that many of us faced. I have tried to juxtapose how normalcy was seen in short bursts even as the terrors of war always cast a shadow over many of these.

Biographies of Poets

Rupa Anand is a spiritual seeker and a published writer of experiences. Writing since 2008, her poems are an expression of images, thoughts, ideas, emotions and events that somehow get etched upon her mind and psyche. She says “There is magic in Nature. I hope my poems will connect readers with the beauty and calm of the natural world." Rupa has a BA (Hons) in English Literature from Lady Shri Ram College, University of Delhi. A cancer survivor, she lives in New Delhi with her husband, daughter and beloved cat

Snigdha Agrawal (née Banerjee), a septuagenarian writer based in Bangalore, India, was raised in a cosmopolitan environment that offered her a rich blend of Eastern and Western cultural influences. Educated in Loreto institutions under the guidance of Irish nuns, she developed a deep appreciation for literature and the written word from an early age. A versatile writer, Snigdha explores a wide range of genres, including poetry, prose, short stories, and travelogues. She is the author of five published books.

Barbara Gaiardoni is a “Love Writer”, author & painter. She has published in several markets. Barbara lives in Verona City (Italy).
She loves with art & good food.

Nivedita Karthik is a graduate in Immunology from the University of Oxford and a professional Bharatanatyam dancer. She has been published in various online and print poetry magazines and anthologies, both nationally and internationally. She has three poetry books to her credit – She: The Reality of Womanhood, The Many Moods of Water, and Pa(i)red Poetry.

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