"We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for."

— John Keating, Dead Poets Society (1989)

The first time I wrote something I wanted to share with someone, I wrote a poem. It was hardly literature, but it was something heartfelt, something I felt like I had to write. I was in high school. I was in love. The girl I had fallen in love with wrote poetry, and I felt like a love poem was the key to her heart. This was in the early 2010s. Facebook was still relatively new in India and it gave us — early teens at the time — an online playground to interact with each other, unsupervised by adults. I posted the poem on my timeline, and when she liked and commented on it, I felt like the happiest man on Earth.

Of course, we were hardly exceptional. Many people in many parts of the world have lived through similar experiences throughout human history. Writing poems and reading poems have been a fundamental part of the human experience. From the epic poems of classical antiquity to the Instagram poems of today, poetry represents an expression of the contemporary literature of any given period in its purest form, the distillation of the literary ideas and style of the time.

Beginning in 1996, the Academy of American Poets began celebrating April as 'National Poetry Month' to increase awareness and appreciation of poetry in the United States. Today, many other countries across the world also celebrate April as poetry month both formally and informally. In celebration of our shared love for poetry, here are 6 homegrown Indian poets you should read this National Poetry Month:

In the Urdu Class

I confuse my be with pe.

He asks me to write 'water'

I write 'you'.

Who knew they'd make them so close

Aap (آپ) and Aab (آب)

Both difficult to hold on to.

— Akhil Katyal

A prominent voice in India’s queer literary scene, Akhil Katyal is a Delhi-based poet, translator, and academic whose work explores themes of queerness, language, politics, and intimacy. Writing in both English and Hindi, his work often draws from pop culture, protest, and personal memory. Katyal’s collections include 'How Many Countries Does the Indus Cross', 'Like Blood on the Bitten Tongue', and 'The Last Time I Saw You: Poems'.

Follow Akhil Katyal here.

Becoming a Brahmin

Algorithm for converting a Shudra into a Brahmin

Begin.

Step 1: Take a beautiful Shudra girl.

Step 2: Make her marry a Brahmin.

Step 3: Let her give birth to his female child.

Step 4: Let this child marry a Brahmin.

Step 5: Repeat steps 3-4 six times.

Step 6: Display the end product. It is a Brahmin.

End.

Algorithm advocated by Father of the Nation at Tirupur.

Documented by Periyar on 20-09-1947.

Algorithm for converting a pariah into a Brahmin.

Awaiting another Father of the Nation

to produce this algorithm.

Inconvenience caused due to inadvertent delay

is sincerely regretted.

— Meena Kandasamy, Touch (2006)

Meena Kandasamy is a Tamil poet, novelist, and activist whose writing confronts caste, patriarchy, and resistance. A poet-writer with a fierce feminist voice, Kandasamy's collections such as 'Ms Militancy' and 'Touch' reimagine myth, challenge oppression, and celebrate resistance. Kandasamy’s work is deeply political yet profoundly personal, often drawing from her lived experiences. She has also written acclaimed novels like 'The Gypsy Goddess' and the semi-autobiographical 'When I Hit You'.

Follow Meena Kandasamy here.

Wolf and Woman

Some days

I am more wolf

than woman

and I am still learning

how to stop apologising

for my wild.

— Nikita Gill

Nikita Gill is an Irish-Indian poet, playwright, writer, and artist whose emotionally resonant poetry explores themes of healing, empowerment, mythology, and self-love. With millions of followers on Instagram, Gill has brought poetry to a new generation through social media. Her books include 'Wild Embers' and 'Hekate The Witch' in which she reimagines ancient myths through a feminist lens. Gill’s work often blends classic literary themes with modern struggles around identity, mental health, and resilience. A powerful voice in modern poetry, she bridges storytelling and verse in ways that are both accessible and deeply moving.

Follow Nikita Gill here.

my mothers says I'm sorry

through freshly cut fruit

it's how daughters

learn to taste forgiveness

in everything but the words.

— pavana reddy

Pavana Reddy is a Los Angeles-based Indian-American poet known for her poignant, introspective poetry that touches on love, loss, diaspora, and identity. Her debut collection 'Rangoli' blends vulnerability with quiet strength, inspired by her South Asian heritage and lived experiences. Reddy’s work resonates deeply with readers navigating trauma, cultural duality, and empowerment. She has also collaborated with artists in the music industry, including writing lyrics for the band, 'Frequency'. Her deceptively simple style has earned her a strong following on Instagram.

Follow Pavana Reddy here.

My English is simple.

Cause it is afraid of making mistakes

Which are indeed punishable by death.

My English is first generation,

Its parents were working in someone’s kitchen,

Cooking a meal it would never eat,

Toiling in someone’s land,

Growing flowers it would never smell.

Its grandparents converted into Christianity.

Their parents were slaves.

— Aleena, My English

Aleena is an emerging Indian poet and writer whose work explores womanhood, identity, and belonging, particularly from a Dalit perspective. Her work, drawing from oral history, memory, and intergenerational survival, pushes back against popular, harmful stereotypes of Dalit communities using layered, imaginative storytelling that embraces contradiction and multiplicity. Aleena was awarded the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Kanakashree Award in 2022 for her book 'Silk Route'.

Follow Aleena here.

Hamraaz is an anonymous Indian poet writing about instances of oppression and marginalisation on Instagram. Their work engages with themes of memory, marginalization, and resistance and bridges personal experience with collective history. Their first book, 'Yes, There Will Be Singing', is a collection of protest poems and "a kind of history from the abrogation of Article 370 to the ongoing imprisonment of political prisoners. It covers the resistance to the CAA/NRC, the first farmers’ protest, the Covid Disaster, and more. This is not ‘art for art’s sake’, it’s art as an argument for a politics of love and solidarity."

Follow Hamraaz here.

If you enjoyed reading this, here's more from Homegrown:

The Rebel Poets Of 1960’s Bengal

Taqi Abbas & The Shayars of Lucknow: Watch A Visual Ode To Urdu Poetry

5 Contemporary Homegrown Poets Keeping The Art Of Urdu Shayari Alive