The valley of green is breathtakingly beautiful with placid blue rivers, fields of saffron, and snow-filled mountains. Here, people are haunted by horrible life events and trapped in a political tragedy. This book of poems reveals the shadows of Kashmir and all that lies in-between love, loss, and a longing for change.
This deeply moving collection of poetry by American scholar Farhana Qazi explores the beauty and tragedy of the Kashmir valley that is straddled between India and Pakistan. Qazi travels to the world’s most militarized zone to reveal the brutalities of war and the will of a people to survive an ongoing conflict. A tapestry of emotions defines Qazi’s journey as she witnesses pained hearts, trauma and raw emotions from the women and men of the valley, including her own experiences with love. These verses reveal how deeply implicated poetry and sentiment are in the play of power and war stories. Qazi’s gifted storytelling and descriptive prose brings the poems to life and shows Kashmir is a place as beautiful as it is haunting. In one poem, she writes: “On the map is a wrinkled valley, hills in vertical zigzags, mountains in an unbroken swell and sketches of trees racked by the wind. Nights too cold for sleeping is a quiet renaissance…Kashmir is heaven enough.
In this debut collection, Qazi bares her soul as she touches on a complex history and broken relationships. These autobiographical poems explore what it means to be a feminist writer in search for truth in an endless conflict. She captures the infectious energy of the Kashmiri people and the agonizing nostalgia of being alone again when she is away from the valley and its people, who remain forever trapped in moments of both beauty and pain.
