A Collection Of Spoken Word Poetry From India That Should Not Go Unheard

Words in the digital age are a double-edged sword. A veritable ode to Newton’s 3rd law if you will—for every action, there’s an equal and opposite reaction. Make a pertinent point about your own Prime Minister’s seemingly gimmicky #selfiewithdaughter campaign, and the harbingers of misogyny will surely shut you down. Just ask Shruti Seth who penned a poignant response to her attackers online. Or John Oliver in one of his more recent shows dedicated to the issue of online harassment. There are a few silver linings in a sea of anonymous abuses however, and those are the words that are most self-aware. The voices that question, humorously or seriously, the human experience and where we’re headed, who wonder and dream and believe in growth. It’s people like these from whom the art form of spoken word poetry was born.

Still at a more nascent stage in India, there’s been a mushrooming of such poets in the country and though many are still grappling with the performance aspect, given that it’s all very new to them, their poetry is incredibly powerful in its content. Swooping in to fill the need for a platform for such poets, groups and networks like the the Airplane Poetry Movement, present in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Pune, Pune Poetry Slam and Delhi Poetry Slam, Free Voice have been working towards promoting this art form in India. 

Still, an appreciating audience is a big part of spoken word poetry as well so we thought we’d put together a little introductory list of what, in our opinion, are some of the most powerful poems out there that everyone should watch. 

“Witch Hunt” by Arati Warrier

A compelling narrative, fuelled by poetic fury that laments the pain of being an Indian homosexual. “I can’t explain to my mother that her casual homophobia is ripping holes in all of my sweaters, and I am always shivering...,” she cries, beautifully capturing the frustration of having to stay in the closet because of those who can’t seem to comprehend that people ‘love freely’.

Watch this and get ready for some serious goosebumps:

“Love Less” by Arati Warrier

“I am a full plate of love and I do not love less,” she declares with conviction. Yet another powerful performance by Arati Warrier that expresses how tough it is to survive this cruel world. She gives instances of how people can try to bring you down but love will always be a powerful weapon.

View the video and be prepared to be blown away!

“Of Marriageable Age” by Priyam Redican

With wit and sarcasm as her weapon, she shoots down the preset notions and stereotypes in the Indian society. She rejects the idea of marrying a strange guy, albeit a ‘nice guy’ with a big fat salary, because she’d rather be with someone who is like-minded.

If you have relatives slyly telling you, “You are next,” you know what to make them watch.

“Why I Follow Poonam Pandey on Twitter” by Chandrakant Redican

All men crave sex, but when the society makes it a taboo topic, and when you are judged for indulging in premarital sex, people turn elsewhere for “simple carnal affection”. It is the cultural hang ups of our society that have spurred a demeaning attitude towards sex and women, he implies in this poem.

“Validation” by Preeti Vangani

We, as humans, are constantly looking for approval and to be accepted as a part of something. Being quirky or different is almost never looked upon kindly, and so we spend all our lives trying to be just like everyone else; it is this innate need to please that she ridicules in this poem. “This poem is also validation against validation,” she concludes after she explains how she submerged who she really is so she will gain approval from the rest.

All those who ever sought validation, here’s to you.

“Trees” by KC Vlaine

Kc Vlaine takes an extremely interesting and quirky perspective on life in this piece. He explains how trees are the most peaceful beings on this earth while both humans and wildlife are ‘bullshit’, species capable of causing harm and creating issues only because they have been granted a brain. He urges everyone to spread their arms out and be like trees, so that the world becomes a more peaceful place.

Why do we all need to be trees? Vlaine tells it best:

“The Failure of Expression” by Kc Vlaine

Is one ever able to truly express every single aspect of your emotions? ‘No’ suggests Vlaine through this romantic poetry reading. No words, or any poem he writes or any action on his part, he feels, can ever truly explain his relationship with the woman he loves.“The four letter word ‘love’, itself, is the ultimate failure of expression,” he laments unable to take the misery of having to struggle with the inability to convey his feelings to the girl he loves her with all her heart.

“Labels are for bottles” by Aashna Iyer

Though her performance might not be praiseworthy, her poem definitely is. A humorous take on the idea of social labels, she really makes us think about how sometimes prejudice creeps in in the smallest ways, thoughts.

If you agree that “When Chanel must stand out from raste ka maal, that’s when you do label ka istemaal,” watch this.

“I Have Been an Adult All my Life” by Deepak Ramola

An earnest expression of the bullying he had to endure for being the owner of a rather effeminate voice, Deepak Ramola makes us think about how we are intolerant towards people who are different. We may talk about supporting homosexuality, but still continue to tease women with masculine qualities and label men with feminine features as ‘gay’.

“Balancing Act” by Apurv Inamdar

By standing on just one foot, Apurv busts out these rhyming verses that make his piece sound like a rap. He succeeds in reinforcing the idea that performance can make poetry much more powerful. “Balance between what we are told and what we believe,”
is the mantra by which we all live. Caught between what is expected of us and who we actually want to be, we are constantly struggling to balance the two lives and he instigates us to ‘put our foot down’.

Catch Apurv Inamdar striking a balance here.

“Liftoff” by Apurv Inamdar

An ode to everyone who has wanted to reach out to the stars, ‘Liftoff’ is a really well-thought out poem with a very unique style. He starts off by dedicating the poem to the “angels within us that aspire to reach back home” and goes on to describe all those moments we have tried to stretch out to the sky. A section of the poem is a countdown sequence which tries to give a glimpse into the mind of someone sitting on the astronaut’s seat waiting for take-off, which has been captured brilliantly.

For all the starry nights you spent staring up into the sky.

“Blue” by Srijan Dubey

An extremely beautiful verse stemming solely from his raw feelings, Dubey expresses his battle with depression. “If you are down on the ground, ask someone to pick you up because some things are stronger for having been broken,” he explains.

If you have been feeling blue for too long now, listen to Dubey break it down.

“Drugs/Identity” by Srijan Dubey

“Am I this me? Or am I the me when I’m on ecstasy,” ponders Dubey just like any individual who has experimented with drugs or alcohol must have at some point or the other. In this thought-provoking piece he explains the effect of each of the popular drugs on the mind of a user, and wonders who he really is - him under the influence, or him in a state of sobriety.

Watch Dubey question whether reality is, in fact, insanity:

“Open Letter to Honey Singh” by Rene Verma

This rap-slam by Rene Verma, a criticism of the misogynistic attitude reflected in all of Honey Singh’s works, went viral just a few months back. In this piece, she skilfully picks apart his songs and throws his own demeaning lyrics right back at him. Amidst so much discussion about respecting women and preventing rape, there is a song like this that is topping the charts; a true disgrace. “I am not an afterthought, I am not an overpriced sweater in Zara, I’m not an ambraan di queen or a kudi namkeen. I am not blue eyes, hypnotise. Mein choti dress mein bomb nahin lagti, yaar,” she raps, completely flooring the performance.

Watch Ms. Verma slam Honey Singh with so much swag right here.

“Numbers” by Manasi Nene

Through this poem, Manasi highlights the myriad changes and evolutions that take place in a person’s life as they grow up. She evokes beautiful images from our childhood through these words, “We’re still the same people for whom art meant mud pies. We were Jackson Pollocks when none of us knew who he was. We were Shakespeares inside our notebooks, and our plays about kidnapped mermaid princesses would be forgotten some day, but we didn’t know that,” reminding us of our innocent ways until we realised one day that we’d grown up. As we grew up the objects of our childish games no longer retain the same importance as our attention shifts to more ‘adult’ pastures.

Watch Nene take us back into our childhood and beyond.

“I Laughed at Justin Bieber’s voice” by Shantanu Anand

Much like Deepak Ramola in his “I have been an adult all my life,” Anand tries to use the example of how people teased Bieber for his rather effeminate voice to explain how people aren’t all the same. “We dirty each other so we can hide our own stains,” he says critically at the intolerance we harbour towards anything that doesn’t fall within our preconceived notions of what is normal.

“Letter From The Playground Bully” by Nandini Varma

Nandini offers us a fresh perspective on the issue of bullying through her poignant piece. While everyone talks about horrific experiences at the hands of a bully but no one ever takes a moment to hear the other side. “I grew up in a house where my mother threw a brick, and my father threw a brick, and that’s how my home was built,” she says, concluding her extremely moving performance.

“To B in A World” by Garima Pura

An extremely thoughtful poem that takes a harsh look at the herd mentality that is present in our society. “I asked A: What is five, A said one, two three, four, five is five;I asked A, why not one two one two one is five?” an extremely innocent but profound question that tells us how we are conditioned to think the exact same way. Anyone who questions the system is simply ‘burnt’ because there simply isn’t any room for discussion.

Watch Ms. Pura’s astounding performance right here.

“For Children of Gaza” by Mayank Susngi

“What kind of calibre do you need to gun down potentially terrorist children?” asks Mayank Susngi with anger. He talks about oppression, genocide, violence, indifference of the media to these acts of horror in a world where countries continue to wage wars. Just like Bob Dylan’s ‘Blowing in the Wind’, he uses a number of rhetorical questions to highlight the indifference we have towards war and violence because they seem to be the norm today.

You can watch Susngi’s moving performance here.

“A Blink into Darkness” by Mayank Susngi

Mayank Susngi hopes to give us all a reality check by opening our eyes, by asking us - ironically enough - to ‘blink’. “Life isn’t a fair stack of cards. If you aren’t dealing, you are only being dealt without feeling,” he says, providing us with a realistic outlook on life in a riveting way. Happiness is fleeting, and no matter how meticulously you plan everything out, it can all still go wrong. Instead of giving up, he says we need to take a step back, blink, and maybe stop reflect.

“21” by Mayank Susngi

“They say when the human body dies, it loses 21 gms; is 21 gms the weight of your soul?” he proclaims, starting off this existentialist poem. He compares that outlook on life to that of a cat who believes his litter box and his ball of yarn is the whole world in its entirety. He uses the number 21 several times, to express the futility of our existence which is highlighted in the lines, “Humans are lighthouses. We never stop searching for something that’s sinking.”

Haven’t we given you 21 reasons to trust us?

Words: Krupa Joseph

With Inputs From Pratika Yashaswi