Bahr is Arabic for “sea” but means “meter” when applied to poetry. Zeina Hashem Beck weaves poems of deep longing that feel like whole worlds. This ghazal, a traditional Middle Eastern/Persian/Indian ...

Frances W. Pritchett, a well-known critic of Urdu and professor at Columbia University, writes: “To me ghazal’s reliance on its wonderful networks of images and conventions makes it very clear that ...

As much as an expression of emotions and ideas, poetry is also a manifestation of the culture, tradition and socio-political conditions of a society. Language, the cloak of poetry, is itself deeply ...

The Ghazal is a form, with its emphasis on Radif, Makta and Matla (and a sensibility that’s innate to Persian, Turkic and Urdu poetry), which isn’t easy to pull off in English. Of the modern English ...

On March 16, the 53rd edition of the Shankar-Shad Mushaira took place at Modern School, Barakhamba Road in Delhi. With over 15 leading poets, the annual event that celebrates the finest Urdu poets ...

Is there anywhere I won't die? Maybe a place called Guam where my body lives, drinking and singing about Guam Last night I got so tired I don't think I even had a skeleton beneath the sheets of my ...

It’s always good to hear a ghazal album featuring only one poet, as against the normal practice of having multiple writers It’s always good to hear a ghazal album featuring only one poet, as against ...