Aaliya explores the intersection of sanity and absurdity in this evocative poem, exclusively on DifferentTruths.com.
I was summoned to the theatre of insanity
I didn't carry my belongings to the place,
People there knew that they were smiling into the void
I laughed along!
The frozen, saner gods inside of me began melting.
I had glass shards from their broken arms.
excavating the love of gloom from my heart
The exorcism killed either of us.
But I kept laughing still!
I couldn't bear being the character or the spectator
Whenever words have turned sour or corrosive for me
I have had digital records of my silence preserved,
Yet I laughed as loudly as I could!
Picture design by Anumita Roy
Dr Aaliya Mushtaq Baba, PhD (Department of English, University of Kashmir), navigates the intersections of politics, philosophy, and autobiographical writing. She has been engaged in literary academia across three universities in the region for over six years. An accomplished poet, her work has appeared in Miraas, Sheeraza, Kashmir Lit, English Studies in India, and Setu (Pittsburgh, USA). Her poetry also finds a place in The Kali Project: Invoking the Goddess Within/Indian Women’s Voices and Love and Longing: An International Anthology of Poems. With the recent release of her debut collection, Ode to Silence, her poetic voice continues to resonate through literary landscapes.
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