WITNESS

499.00

Author: Nabina Das
Published Date: 01/07/2021
ISBN: 978-81-948164-7-8
Pages: 466
Category:

Description

Edited by Nabina Das and published by Red River, Witness: The Red River Book of the Poetry of Dissent collects 250 poets who define the meaning of “dissent”, writing from a gamut of experiences and sensibilities — most undoubtedly first-hand, first and foremost, and also several as reactions and responses.

Words reach out with a rare rage, urgency, indignation, and angst as poets turn witness to dissent across the length and breadth of the sub-continent in contemporary poetry in this colossal anthology. Penned in different languages and touching a wide range of subjects, words rise out of the despair to mark a dissent with the scheme of things. These words are not mere words but the anguish and despair of a people with whom poetic dissent has been a way of life for thousands of years. — Nirupama Dutt

Featuring poems by Abhay K.; Adil Jussawalla; Aditi Nagrath; AJ Thomas; Akhil Katyal; Anindita Sengupta; Anna Sujatha Mathai; Arundhathi Subramaniam; Asiya Zahoor; Bhuchung D. Sonam; Bina Sarkar Ellias; Biswamit Dwibedy; Desmond L. Kharmawphlang; Easterine Kire; Hemant Divate; Inder Salim; K. Satchidanandan; K. Srilata; Kala Ramesh; Keki N. Daruwalla; Kutti Revathi; Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih; Mamang Dai; Mangalesh Dabral; Mani Rao; Manohar Shetty; Meena Kandasamy; Menka Shivdasani; Minal Hajratwala; Mona Dash; Mona Zote; Nandini Dhar; Nitoo Das; Omair Bhat; Priya Sarukkai Chabria; R. Raj Rao; Ramu Ramanathan; Ranjit Hoskote; Rohan Chhetri; Salil Tripathi; Salma; Sampurna Chattarji; Sarabjeet Garcha; Sharanya Manivannan; Sharmistha Mohanty; Sukrita; Sumana Roy; Tenzin Tsundue; Varavara Rao; Yogesh Maitreya, among others.

The making of Witness: A Short Q&A with the editor Nabina Das

How did the idea about the anthology come about?

We looked at poetry to counter the tyranny of our system, of the ruling disposition, and of all institutional injustices that continue to prevail and perpetuate. Especially in the pandemic – if not now, then when? – it is imperative we speak up and urge for structural changes to lives, livelihoods, and above all, for freedom of expression. Poetry is witness to all of that. Because dissent is collective, we have allowed ourselves to write about a gamut of experiences and sensibilities – most undoubtedly first-hand, first and foremost, and also several as reactions and responses. In a volume such as this one, such liberty is taken to strengthen and raise our voices.

  1. Why dissent? Why now?

We are witness to terrible tales —as a delicious coincidence, the title WITNESS harks back to Carolyn Forché’s seminal anthology Against Forgetting: Twentieth Century Poetry of Witness — and we need to rewrite the stories. Why now? Why do you think tyranny and oppression still exist all around us? So why not now, or for all times. Nazrul Islam had said in his poetry ‘uproot all chains of slavery, raze all prisons to the ground’ – rings of Joan Baez’s Prison Trilogy?! Hence, dissent right now.

  1. What is the message that you want to convey through this anthology?

Nabina Das, poet and editor, and Dibyajyoti Sarma, the intrepid RED RIVER publisher, laboured through 2020 to see this anthology come out. A bit of shared history and background—the Northeast, insurgency, protests, and Assam’s syncretic tradition—helped forge the partnership. Elizabeth Bishop’s ‘the art of losing isn’t hard to master!’ hasn’t been truer especially in the Covid-19 scenario, with genocidal losses and casualty especially in India. For us, it was important to record people’s reactions to structural oppression, discrimination, injustice, and violence inflicted all around — all of it institutionalised for centuries. Poetry was not to be lost in this inferno: ik aag kā dariyā hai aur duub ke jaanā hai…. This is the message we convey in this unique anthology.

 

  1. Who is the ideal reader for the anthology?

Everyone. Elitism is not a favoured sport at Red River. Poets, poetry lovers, non-poets, empathetic and compassionate readers of all genres, change seekers, world citizens, idle passers-by, and even the forces that we take on – our ideal reader does need a gate pass or secret password.

  1. Auden famously said, “poetry makes nothing happen.” Do you think poetry can usher in changes?

Making anthologies is like committing a crime, someone had said. You kill many, spare a few, and you get chased by the law-keepers. Also, someone else once said anthologies are ‘pre-digested food’ which are harmful to the normal human function of chewing and swallowing. So, what changes can these poems bring about? Humour aside, we all have been through a lot, beleaguered by unabated pandemic tragedies and losses even as 2021 arrived. We’re thankful to those that trusted us, responded to our queries, gave us time to rejoice in this venture, and gave us a moment to lament too. We lament the times fiercely, as Witness, as a ‘shaheed’, in this fight against the brute forces. Because dissent is collective, we have allowed ourselves to write about a gamut of experiences and sensibilities – most undoubtedly first-hand, first and foremost, and also several as reactions and responses. In a volume such as this one, such liberty is taken to strengthen and raise our voices. It is a small effort, sans any institutional support, but my earliest mentor and feminist poet Nirmal Prabha Bordoloi had said, …keep a bit of the sky in your bosom. For us this is the change.