আর্কাইভস আর্কাইভস ৭

Poem - The Saffron Scent and the Waves of the Eyes

Kareem Abdullah is an Iraqi poet, novelist, and literary critic. He was born in Baghdad in 1962. Kareem Abdullah is the author of the book "Baghdad in Her New Dress" (2015, Book House) as well as several other poetry collections, novels, and plays. His name has appeared in many important Arabic literary magazines, and he won the Tajdeed Prose Poetry Prize in 2016. Kareem has eight poetry collections in Arabic, and his poems have been translated into several languages.

He is a member of the General Union of Writers and Poets in Iraq. He works as a psychotherapeutic rehabilitation specialist.

Kareem Abdullah is an Iraqi poet, novelist, and literary critic. He was born in Baghdad in 1962. Kareem Abdullah is the author of the book "Baghdad in Her New Dress" (2015, Book House) as well as several other poetry collections, novels, and plays. His name has appeared in many important Arabic literary magazines, and he won the Tajdeed Prose Poetry Prize in 2016. Kareem has eight poetry collections in Arabic, and his poems have been translated into several languages.

He is a member of the General Union of Writers and Poets in Iraq. He works as a psychotherapeutic rehabilitation specialist.

The Saffron Scent and the Waves of the Eyes

Your saffron dress, my love, radiates from every thread a light woven by time with threads of gold, as if the sky had given the earth its last color before departing. I hear every step you take, drawing me towards you, like a soft note in an ancient melody played by the wind. You are the whispers that seep through the royal fragrance, a fragrance known only to kings, and you alone are the one who narrates in my eyes the endless poems of love. Every strand of your hair, each one has a story to tell, but the most beautiful thing about you is what hides behind your eyes, where the scent of saffron and the dream of flourishing fields reside. And you, you are the flower whose voice is heard in the silence of the universe, when you breathe. In your eyes, I see the sky celebrating, and in your heart, this world revolves around itself, following your footsteps, as a river follows its course under the bright sun, and you, you are the sun that never sets. All my dreams turn into roses when you touch them, you are the lady of the luxurious perfume that mingles with waves of love and sings the senses with a melody that echoes deep within. You are the one I live in and you are the one I see at every sunset when the colors of saffron creep into my sky, and the air sings about you, as rivers sing in time. Your love is time, and time is you.

©®Kareem Abdullah -Iraq

*Collected from the poet by Md Ejaj Aha

med*

০৬:২১ পিএম, ৭ জুলাই ২০২৫ সোমবার

POEM - HUMILITY IS STRENGTH

HUMILITY IS STRENGTH

Dr. Perwaiz Shaharyar

Don’t take my humility as my weakness

It is strength, in fact, for the success

Assertiveness is not a sign of ego

Humility does not stand everything forego

Humbleness and modesty are cousins of humility

You sacrifice for others, your own opportunity

Humility is God’s gift a trait of personality

Greedy persons cannot give anything in charity

Intellectual humility is not like a liability

Humble persons practice it to serve humanity

There is nothing in the world like value of humility

It is all about selflessness and spirituality

God loves His children for their simplicity

Arrogant cannot walk towards gods vicinity

Dictators always destroyed civilisations in history

However, Saints and Sufis’ survival is still a mystery

©️ Dr. Perwaiz Shaharyar,

Editor, NCERT, New Delhi, India

About the Poet:

Dr. Perwaiz Shaharyar is a Consultant Editor (Urdu) in National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), Ministry of Education, Government of India. He had been Principal Publication Officer in National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language in 2007. He has been, a member of Advisory Board of National Book Trust India.

He is a Multilingual (English, Hindi and Urdu) famous poet, short story writer and critic from India. He is Graduate with English Honours from Ranchi University. He has topped Jawaharlal Nehru University in Masters with Literature. He was awarded Doctor of Philosophy for his Research Work from University of Delhi. He is Post Graduate Diploma holder in Calligraphy, Mass Media and in Book Publishing with Specialization in Editing.

Dr. Perwaiz Shaharyar began writing his poems in English since lockdown in the period of Pandemic COVID-19. He has written more than 100 poems, participated in many worldwide webinars and published in various international anthologies, so far. His as many as 25 poems have been translated by many award winning litterateurs in Polish, Indonesian, Arabic, Spanish, Russian, Bengali, Hindi, Portuguese, Italian, Korean and Albanian languages. His poems are being published in several anthologies within country and abroad. He has 20 published books of literature in his credentials, so far. He has won many awards and accolades for his outstanding intellectual and literary contributions. His poem ‘The Burning Boat’ contains mystic (Sufism) and metaphysical elements.

*Collected from the poet by Md Ejaj Ahamed*

০৬:১৯ পিএম, ৭ জুলাই ২০২৫ সোমবার

Poem - Carve in the Heart

Elisa Mascia is a writer, speaker, radio host, declaimer, reviewer, bilingual poet (Italian-Spanish), critic, juror in poetry competitions, interviewer and cultural promoter. Registered member and co-founder of Wiki-Poesía, Immortal Academician, Coordinator of Italy and Director of Communications and Events of the Albap Academy.

Participations in the OPA of NilavroNill Shovro, poet editor, since 2019 included in over 60 monthly archives and participation in the Anthologies with a compulsory theme, interview with 25 questions and cover month February 2020.

From the Movement "Pacis Nuntii"-Argentina she received the Certificate and the Universal Flag of Peace- Announcer and Builder of Peace.

Official member of Ciesart and Ambassador of culture in the world, Nomination for the Poetry Category at the 5th Edition Mar de Cristal 2024, Category Personaje del año.

Publications of Poetic Collections: The Grater of the Moon, Savage Wind (poetic translation of the book by Asoke Kumar Mitra), Magical Emotions of the Soul, Painted Dreams, Melody of Love, Between the Infinite and the Immense, Mental Interconnection, The Sublime Moon" bilingual Italian-Spanish, Red Sun, The Wings of Freedom, Breathing with the Heart,

and The Song of Pebbles (poetic translation of Song of Pebbles by Asoke Kumar Mitra), Perfect Circle (January 2025), Elevations of the Soul bilingual Italian - French with translation by Stefano Chiesa, Interviews for Peace co-authored with Stefano Chiesa (February 2025)

“The sublime moon” bilingual Italian-Spanish, “Red Sun” , "The wings of freedom", "The song of pebbles" poetic translation of Song of Pebbles by Asoke Kumar Mitra, “Breathe…with the heart” Mascia Elisa - Fabio Petrilli, "Perfect Circle" , "Elevations of the Soul" bilingual Italian French and English" Elevations of the Soul" bilingual Italian-English, "Everything is music", "He who gives you flowers", "The soul in poetry": poems by Elisa Mascia with critical analysis by Kareem Abdullah-Iraq

Her contributions have been celebrated in interviews by Pier Carlo Lava, in the Quill Compendium 2024 of the Writers Edition, Angela Kosta, Jahongir Nomozov Mirzo and Stefano Chiesa, with publications in numerous Italian and international daily magazines. Elisa Mascia's dedication to literature, culture and humanitarian values continues to inspire a global audience.

Carve in the Heart

The living desire is peace in the world

Everyone is born with those seeds in their heart

They nourish them every day with deep love

But many are overwhelmed and die.

No longer do they stretch out their hands for a round dance

Only with words, not with actions do they give love

It is hidden, no more fruits it is not fruitful

It changes taste life has so much pain.

Brother, may your heart have carved

The love for humanity and brotherhood

True force of Peace on Earth

Together we lift up this wounded world

Let us reach out and create an alliance

Among the peoples to eradicate every war.

©®Elisa Mascia

*Collected from the poetess by Md Ejaj Ahamed*

০৬:১৪ পিএম, ৭ জুলাই ২০২৫ সোমবার

Poem - MY SILENCE

MY SILENCE

Melita Mely Ratković

My silence is a holy silence, completely

United spirit, soul, body,

By silence and prayer

Astrally connected to the essential

Nature, free from ego, vanity

Worldly worries, doubts

Illuminated by pure love

I open my eyes, listen to the beats

Of the heart, my breath is calm,

Energetic scars healed,

Resistant to the deceptions of material

Delusions, Illusory realities,

Bad conclusions, others' and my own

I am free, I believe

In God's providence, let it be...

©️ ®️ Melita Mely Ratković

About the Poetess:

Melita Mely Ratković was born in Yugoslavia. She is a married, mother of two sons. After the collapse of the state, from one of the former republics there, Croatia, he moved to Serbia, where he still lives today in the city of Novi Sad. She has been engaged in poetry since she was young, she is talented, she studies foreign languages and is engaged in translation.

Translator of Spanish, Portuguese, English, Bengali.

Profession and cultural activity: Literary ambassador of Serbia in Brazil and Spain.

Accredited as an international ambassador of the Circle of the International Chamber of Writers and Artists

CIESART

With the authority to initiate cultural activities authorized by the presidency of the Circle of Cultural Ambassadors in the World, non-profit, for the dissemination of the work, its author and its erudition, especially taking into account the altruism and peace of the people

She participated in the HYPERPOEM Anthology for the Guinness Book of Records

Participated in several anthologies, world heritage.

She was nominated as one of the 50 important women of Europe"

In Rome, Italy, on November 11 and 12, two very important events were held at the Pontifical Antonianum University _ the conference of world literary leaders of the "50 Important Women of Europe" project.

Global Federation of Leadership and High Intelligence

Winning the 2023 "Zheng Nian Cup" Literary Award Third Prize by the Beijing Mindfulness Literature Museum.

The winner

V PLATINUM EAGLE 2024

GLOBAL FEDERATION OF LEADERSHIP AND HIGH INTELLIGENCE

OFFICIAL DIPLOMA

WALHAC World Academy of Literature, Art and Culture

MIL MENTES POR MÉXICO Internacional

World Awards for Excellence

She is an immortal academician of the following academies:

INTERNATIONAL AMBASSADOR OF "GAONES" For Serbia,

(Gaonesa is a literary structure created by writer Edwin Antonio Gaona Salinas from Ecuador

AIAP - ACADEMIA INTERCONTINENTAL de Artistas y Poetas - Brazil

Academia Mundial de Cultura y Literatura AMCL - Brazil

Academia de Música y Literatura Artística - Brazil

Academia Democrática Independiente de Escritores y Poetas - Brazil

Biblioteca Mundial Academia de Letras y Poesía - Brazil

CILA Confraternidad Internacional de Literatura y Artes

Academia Feminina Global de Letras AFGL

*Collected from the poetess by Md Ejaj Ahamed*

০৬:০৯ পিএম, ৭ জুলাই ২০২৫ সোমবার

Poem - My Quill Upsurge

Ahmed Farooq Baidoon, situated on an inspiring Egyptian city, Damietta, where the Nile meets the Mediterranean seaside, his passion for literary works since my former writings on poetic genres translated into the native mother tongue, Arabic, in addition to his passion for Shakespeare, William Words Worth, Yeats and Robert Frost, some highlights on the African contemporary poets and novelists, most of contemporary erudition on the Egyptian writers in literature. Still his poetic modus operandi reflected throughout finding a manifest-clear equivalent of Arabic literary genre into English till the time being, as a member in Arabic fora for literature. His hope is rendered through partaking in the coming edition for the sake of literary prowess and tapestry woven in the tapestry realm of innovativeness.

His published literary oeuvre was with the advent of 2023, with epistolary prose collection of short stories, entitled: ‘ A Human being but…?’, followed by the year 2024 ‘Snippets Tinged With Savory of Oneself’, ‘Altars and Sanctuaries of Imagination &. Delirium’, and his English poetic output manifested with the anthologies of Famous Indian OPA site, Famous Chinese Meipian, Romanian Verseum, Tribune To Poetry, Atunis, Greek Renowned Polis Literary Electronic Site; besides the Arabic rhymed verse of poetic Diwan called ‘Give me some slack’, ‘ Shortcomings of Humanity’, along with three novel literary outputs; namely, ‘Stratagem, thy name is women!’, ‘ Nabhan and the Cask of Bewilderness’. The main themes and significance of his literary pieces depict the crutch of happiness, the veneer conceptualization of humanity, far-fetched sentiments and missing epithets of love, beauty and justice. Most of his literary genre cope with the process to lay back the human core and crux into the right straightforwardness. The engendered morale of Transcendentalism away from evasiveness and delusion. His plea for a world harmonious with such peace and serenade endeavors. As for him, literature is not all-in-all a mere piece of writing that walks and talks, rather ascribing life to non-animate objects, that's to say personification, in terms of stunning dazzling natural elements as a divine bliss and Felicity to human beings to ponder upon and contemplate, to make it replete with vitality and rejuvenation. Above all, pursuance of salvation and catharsis charioteer for humanity, as well as his translation modus operandi liaison between the Arabic and English, to formulate an encyclopedic work encompassing prominent figures world-wide. He also delved into the microcosm of this literal beauty and amaze, to erect an edifice of an indelible bridging landmark between linguistic discrepancies. He started his collaborative literary translations throughout the venue and melting cauldron of social media in prose and verse for Arabs and Non-Arabs, to unravel the puzzle of rhetorical amalgam of linguistic discrepancies; namely, his former part including translated short stories and novellas, along with epistolary poems and rhymed verse in the latter. “The legend of The Squirrel” was one of marvels since its wisdom and spectacular humane epithets and admonition to both children and adults around the globe, narrated by famous Algerian Turkia Loucif, under the supervision of a well-known Albanian veteran Mr. Kujtim Hajdar. Ahmed also translated a horror thrilling novella of his own titled: “it isn't over yet!!” looking forward to moving on the next phase of continental endeavors to envisage the beauty of Arabic native tongue weaved into the textile of a cultural sublime work of art within the seven literary integral branches, witness to the age. Awaiting this year 2025 another poetic edition, along with two more short stories anthologies and a novella to be published,besides a critical study literary collection.

My Quill Upsurge

Uneasily borne by my poetic lines,

A melodious resonant music with echoing harbinger,

I swear in those days melted away and left a hermit,

In a microcosmic altar destitute of verdant arable ink suffering confabulation,

A withered crayon in the realm of blowing mighty winds,

I hereby, an alleged shrewd, replete of acumen, or claimed to ponder,

Strayed and aberrated in the serrated tug gyre,

The ticking getting louder and stripped of my dreamy wings,

My collage, my scrapbooks, all shattered and clipped,

Enough is enough, the undersigned shape of distorted me, proclaimed:

Ain't we —mankind on the visage of abyss?

Ain't we still worthy humanity or that replica of a humanoid?

Adieus! Farewell my candle wick, no longer there be a fuel to light,

Behold—the depleted stature of my inside, fragmented, perplexed with loss of sight,

That process of purgation, cannot be overnight,

From the dawn twilight till dusk of ephemeral history,

Ain't there a second coming for repentance, atonement, oblation of forgiveness?!

It doth serve me right!!

Those memorial apparitions of unquestioning human grudge and abomination,

Push us towards the unnegotiable stake,

We, the entirely crippled conscientious beings —rendered through a sedative slumber, apart from wake,

Embarked upon the seven sleepers’ den fate,

Rather, here we are, the lotus eaters numbed at the heavens gate,

The obnoxious hell precipitated our eternal abode in the worldly livelihood,

The paradise of cherishing bliss, trodden by innocent martyrs, can't tell the truth!

And all of us, slapped by spoiled oblivion bruth, understood?

Tell us why? Oh my roaming dove, doth it have to be the moribund of good?

Be it the inevitable doom of helpless childhood?

All vegetation, superfluous oceans and forays of celestial skies cry out for a plea:

Will peace prevail once more, otherwise we’d better flee?

My all wholeness lost in entangled cauldron, still that battered part of me!

My scroll of sublime humane mannerisms unleashed such paginated alphabets, hither and thither,

Alas! Couldn't find out the key.

©®Ahmed Farooq Baidoon

*Collected from the poet by Md Ejaj Ahamed*

০৬:০৪ পিএম, ৭ জুলাই ২০২৫ সোমবার

Poem - When the Light Fades

When the Light Fades

Marlon Salem Gruezo-Bondroff

Philippines-USA

I’ve walked the nights when shadows cling,

a weight so thick I barely breathe—

each step a war, each breath a sting,

and hope feels like a ghost that leaves.

Yet something whispers, soft but true,

"Hold on—the dawn will break for you."

The winds may howl, the walls may shake,

the road ahead a storm of doubt.

What if my strength is all a fake?

What if my fire is burning out?

But deep within, through fear and ache,

a voice says, "Trust—you won’t break."

I’ve knelt in rooms where silence screams,

pressed hands to ribs to feel the beat—

a heart still fighting, though it bleeds,

refusing to admit defeat.

The world may say, "You’ll never rise,"

but faith walks on with clearer eyes.

Oh, skeptic mind, be still and hear—

the quiet hum beneath the noise,

the unseen hand that dries each tear,

the love that mends what pain destroys.

Not every shield is steel or stone;

some battles call for trust alone.

When the dark feels like the end,

when every light seems torn away,

remember: broken things can mend,

and storms don’t choose who gets to stay.

Just take the step you think you can’t—

the road begins where faith resides.

*Collected from the poet by Md Ejaj Ahamed*

০৬:০০ পিএম, ৭ জুলাই ২০২৫ সোমবার

Poem- Beauty of Ayes

Beauty of Ayes

Mohammed Rahul (Algeria)

Speak, speak, in the eyes of the hoopoe.

Beauty is a sight.

It awakens the mind of the dash, and it attracts.

It left lovers in pain and seeking help.

It comes close and then moves away.

It stays by her side, and she comes to me.

The frozen sea enters above her.

Covered and frozen.

We fold, we triple, we square, we swell.

We describe kohl for eyes that stay awake late.

Without kohl, a garland.

Nauseating, twisting, twisting.

You swear you see her, she flinches and turns.

You delight and spin.

You cling to her and love to stay.

The sensation is exquisite, a sight.

Remember, you are a witness.

The wolf was raised in it and endured.

People separated from virginity.

Its fire is burning.

Tell me, God, is it getting cold?

The embers of the fire are burning.

It burns and bears witness.

Hebeb Hebo Tul Umar

Speak, speak, and bring news

*Collected from the poet by Md Ejaj Ahamed*

০৫:৫৭ পিএম, ৭ জুলাই ২০২৫ সোমবার

Poem - Father`s Shadow

Father's Shadow

Maja Milojković

You're gone, yet you’re everywhere.

In the scent of morning tea, in the quiet of the house when everything is still. In a phrase I speak, not knowing I once learned it from you.

You loved cats, dogs, birds — every creature that breathes.

You used to say animals are more honest than people, and you spoke to them as equals.

They loved you, just as the world did — quietly, but forever.

You would stand in the middle of the room and recite,

with hands that never sought applause, only to let the feeling pass through you.

In your words lived dignity, warmth, and that rare closeness that made people fall silent and listen.

You left as gently as you lived.

Without grand words, without noise.

But you didn’t disappear — you became part of everything I love.

Part of me.

Sometimes I feel you near.

In the cat curled in my lap, in the dog’s gaze waiting by the door.

In the voice that guides me when I don’t know where to go.

They say time heals.

Perhaps.

But what you were — it doesn’t fade.

It stayed. In the way I love, in the way I remain silent, in a gaze that still seeks kindness.

Sometimes I write you letters.

No address, no stamp.

Only the heart knows where they go.

And I don’t cry as often now,

but when the wind stirs the curtains —

I know it’s you.

Your gentle spirit, your silence that embraces better

©®Maja Milojković

Serbia

About the Poetess:

Maja Milojković was born in Zaječar, Serbia. She is the deputy editor at "Sfairos" publishing house in Belgrade, Serbia. She is the vice-president of the association "Rtanj and Mesečev poetski krug".

She is the author of 2 books: "The Circle of the Moon" and "Trees of Desire"

She is the editor of the international anthology "Rtanjski stihopevi"

One of the founders of the poetry club "Area Felix" from Zaječar, Serbia and the editor of an international magazine for creative literature and culture "Area Felix".

*Collected from the poetess by Md Ejaj Ahamed*

০৫:৪৮ পিএম, ৭ জুলাই ২০২৫ সোমবার

POEM - MAYBE HE`S DREAMING

MAYBE HE'S DREAMING

Jasmina Čirković

Maybe a rose will grow from the ashes, who knew that the cloudy sky

hides an earthly wonder.

Blood drips instead of rain.

Did the clouds feel the cry and the pain

I planted a poppy to fill my heart with love and not poverty that touches me.

A crowd of old men reminds

me of ruined cities.

But I have oleanders whose leaves are poisonous in tea, feel free to use them warriors.

My garden looks at the glow of the sun that burns everything in front of it,

like a grenade in the middle of a hospital,

They tell me that it has already been seen,

but the nettle did not spring up to set fire to that unloving world.

Poppies bloom on my blood, that's why they are so red.

I do not worship murderers but God. the fruit we carry within us wants to live, but the onslaught of usurpers does not allow him to survive.

Susanna, I water the garden like a huge world on a hat,

just a flower. sadness pours out from under my eyelashes when I see a cut in the forest, my face is hidden. Cherry blossoms are born on buds, they are covered with salt that acts on the soul.

My God, when the world rushes by and we keep it in a cocoon of whiteness, how to remove the membrane when killed with a sword.

My rose that adorns and the candle that does not go out, he will save this world with prayer and love.

©®Jasmina Čirković

About Jasmina Čirković:

Jasmina Ćirković (Pančevo). Member of the Serbian Writers' Association, the Institute for Children's Literature, the Australian Freelance Artists' Association and the Painters' Association "Painters' Dawn" in Montenegro.

Published twenty books of poetry and prose (novels, short stories, satire, impressions, aphorisms, poetry for children). Winner of numerous awards both in Serbia and abroad. Presented in domestic and foreign anthologies, magazines. Translated into: Macedonian, Russian, English, Hungarian, Arabic, Spanish and Italian, etc.

*Collected from the poet by Md Ejaj Ahamed*

০৫:৪৫ পিএম, ৭ জুলাই ২০২৫ সোমবার

Poem - Vibration of peace

Vibration of peace

Dr. Laxmikanta Dash, India

Peace vibrates for eternity

Merges life into serenity

Divineness flows from heart

Enthral life for smart.

Benignant mind knows peace

Heavenly attitude gives bliss

Vibration destroys atrocity life

Gives happiness with vibe.

Peace nurtures life existence

Makes life beautiful substance

Entrenchments life for upliftment

Sacrosant mind begets nutrients.

Peace is a hedonist

Impells life for axiomatic

Rhetorically jubilates inner urge

Vibrates peace for divine search.

*Collected from the poet by Md Ejaj Ahamed*

০৫:৪২ পিএম, ৭ জুলাই ২০২৫ সোমবার

Poem - Elegance Personified

Elegance Personified

She wears her heart on her sleeve,

A beauty that her soul can retrieve,

Her bun, a work of art divine,

Faultless, neat, and simply sublime.

It suits her well, a perfect fit,

A reflection of her inner wit,

She wears it with a gentle grace,

A poised demeanor, a wondrous face.

With every step, she takes her place,

A vision of elegance, a wondrous space,

Her presence commands attention's might,

A true gem, shining with inner light.

In her simplicity, she finds her strength,

A beauty that's more than just a length,

She wears her heart, her bun so fine,

A perfect blend of elegance divine.

Omatee Ann Marie Hansraj

Annmariewrites.com

*Collected from the poetess by Md Ejaj Ahamed*

০৫:৪০ পিএম, ৭ জুলাই ২০২৫ সোমবার

Interview of Alice Abracen

Interviewer : Shah Jehan Ashrafi (Mauritius)

I was enchanted by Alice Abracen’s enthusiasm during this exclusive interview carried out on Zoom. Alice Abracen is a young emerging, exuberant award-winning playwright. She graduated from Harvard University with a BA in English and Religion and the National Theatre School of Canada. Her play The Covenant won the 2017 Canadian Jewish Playwriting Competition. She is also the co-founder of Theatre Ouest End. The Tour and What Rough Beast received their US premieres with Underlings Theatre Company.

My article focuses on Abracen ‘s play What Rough Beast which was presented at the National Theatre School of Canada, Montreal in 2018. This play is about the anarchy created by lack of communication and empathy. Hell breaks loose on the campus of a progressive college when a controversial Muslim professor is invited to speak. The students face chaos when friendship and understanding are put to test. However, the playwright does not forget to make the idea of mercy and compassion haunt the play as much as cruelty itself. This play is a space that wants to forge dialogue between the visible minority group, namely Muslims and the majority group of the Canadian society. The following answers from Alice Abracen to my questions throw light on the essence of What Rough Beast:

1. Why do you write and what made you write your play What Rough Beast?

I tend to write from a place of moral uncertainty. When I find myself very worried about something or find myself kind of nestled uncomfortably between orthodoxies on a particular subject, I like to write my way out. It gives me a chance to explore and a chance to ask questions and reason why I’m so kind of uncomfortable and perplexed about a question or issue. With What Rough Beast, after the American elections, a lot of my friends were feeling very betrayed, some were surprised that Trump was elected. Some were caught completely off guard. I’m from a position quite extraordinarily privileged , I was also caught off guard. One of the things those people were wondering was how do I talk to relatives who voted for Trump and to people I am alienated from ideologically and morally even if they are in my own family and even if they are my own friends? And should I be talking to them? Should I be trying to convince them? Or is there this kind of unbreachable gap here? How do we attempt to forge dialogue and should we attempt to forge dialogue with those whose ideas we find hateful? Some people were blaming the failure of dialogue. Some were finding that dialogue as the ideal to forge community has always been too much vaunted and is actually very flawed because dialogue and communication actually privileged the oppressor and put people who are more vulnerable at risk. And I was not sure how to feel? I was torn between the ideas of dialogue and communication. Through empathy and in establishing ties, we can reach a mutual understanding. Dialogue had actually failed and was doing more harm than good. And maybe by affording too much leniency and toleration to really hateful ideas would actually pave the way through something truly destructive. That’s why I started writing What Rough Beast. Characters in What Rough Beast are torn between believing in ideas of dialogue and that they can forge some kind of communication and connection across political lines and together forge a path forward together or this idea that no by inviting people like the professor here, by reaching across that aisle we are actually enabling the oppression. The character of Michelle is someone who actually believes in dialogue in the play and Kevin is someone who believes that the professor is going to do a lot more harm than good. And the character of Rafi is ambiguously on board as he is not so crazy about the professor’s arrival. What he does think is that by introducing ourselves to people and by playing games, by hanging out and just kind of talking outside the political playground that’s how we make a path forward. Maybe he is right maybe he is not, but I know a lot of people think that way. So I started doing research and started talking to friends. I was looking for a way to examine this particular issue and one thing that I was reading a lot about were these protests that were happening on college campuses. And the college campus seems to be a bit of a microcosm of this issue. And whether or not we should invite these speakers is a very controversial issue. Should we make room for them. Where do we draw the line in terms of who we make room for? That’s how I decided to explore to the eyes of the students. One thing I was excited about the setting is that all these people in this play are young people. They are in positions of power. They feel responsible for changing and shaping the fate of the world. In campuses emotions are running very high and there are lots of ideals flying around and that’s the way I wanted to explore it through.

1. How does your play treat elements of haunting at different levels?

Yeah, I think that there are lots of haunting elements in the play. The professor is just one of the many specters that kind of lurk on the play for instance. In early drafts we did meet the professor. And then when the play continued to be written I realized we don’t need to see the professor. Everything that we’ve learned about him, we’ve learned from other characters and their perspective of him. I wanted the audience to conjure their own professor, their own person that they kind of represent and where they might draw the line or where they might plant their feet whether one should or should not be invited. But he is a very haunting figure. He is never actually seen but his presence hangs over the play and what he represents hangs over the play. He could represent either the potential for dialogue or this boogie man who has so much potential to unleash violence depending on who you want to talk to and the ideas that he spouses in the minds of many characters haunt the play. He is this kind of specter which are the premises of nationalism that he does not necessarily espouse. A lot of people embrace him as a figure and symbol ahead of it which is a great danger here. The play actually has two different versions one is American and one is Canadian. In the Canadian version it’s a bit more pronounced that one of the specters in the play is this unappetizing and ugly history of colonialism that we don’t like to acknowledge so much within Canada. I think we tend to see ourselves as a shadow of the US, the darkness I guess that could lurk within every society. And that darkness showed in the last elections although it was present for a very long time. Canada likes to see itself as the good counterpart compared to its neighbor. We’ve seen horrific scenes in our own country. We’ve seen them every day. We’ve seen specters of this racist past, present and future. The things that the professor represents are attempts to state for that and the other figures that are kind of haunting are both the victims and the perpetrators of that violence. I am certainly not the person to talk about that with authority , but we did research on the play and on the darkness that is very much haunting our Canadian history, the legacy of residential schools, the legacy of slavery, the violence of misogyny and xenophobia that raises its ugly head in cases like the polytechnic or the recent shooting a few years ago now at the mosque. I think one thing the play does look at is how those elements are present in Canada and how those elements haunt. One thing that is making them dangerous is the refusal to face them and confront them.One of the key things in the play is how do we confront them? How do we address those things? Do we face them head on? Do we reach out to those who are staring to fall down into that rabbit hole of those beliefs? Do we reach them with compassion? Do we tempt to shame them? How do we approach these issues? How do we bring people back? And a lot of research was in what these different ideas were and how to reach across the aisle? Should we reach across the aisle? So there were people we spoke to. They work in preventing radicalization. They tend to espouse a model of reachable compassion. Isolation and alienation are what make people extremely vulnerable to radicalization, hatred and they make them become prey. We also spoke to people and folks and read articles that said don’t give up an inch keep these ideas under lockdown and shut down the websites and shut them down wherever they can. To those who advocated the compassionate approach and said we had to listen and reach out, people told them not to listen and hear these ideas out. All they do is cause further harm. And as a cast in different iterations we discussed from the ideas of eventual points of our characters and we let all this research inform the handling of the play.

3. In the play local people also have their reasons to be afraid of the Other. They are also haunted by the idea of the Other. When people do not understand the Other, there has to be a problem somewhere. How do you read that in your own play?

Well, I mean I definitely want to look at this idea of mercy and compassion. One of the things I wanted to look at in the play was that sometimes the idea of compassion can be harmful. That was something I was running into again and again in my research. But then this idea that without compassion and without ever extending empathy to each other how can we possibly begin to communicate and how can we begin to repair what is broken. How can we begin to convince each other of our humanity if we are not able to acknowledge the humanity in each other. There is definitely a kind of running thread of that throughout the play and from the earliest moments some of the characters were failing to see each other’s humanity. They see each other only as political opponents and rivals and don’t see the vulnerability in each other. And it’s also the case of the characters not willing to show the vulnerability in themselves because they believe that they will be met with no mercy and will receive none. With Kevin and Michelle that was one of the major threat. The two of them started log ahead and crossed the professor and partly of that was because there was a deep sea that set apart. There is a real failure of communication and empathy and complete lack of willingness to kind of see the other’s humanity. Their relationship was in chaos in the entire play. At the end of the play for the first time there is also the idea that communication and empathy is a much more plausible idea when things are good and when things have been challenged. The willingness to communicate is completely obliterated in the second half of the play. Michelle says you can’t decide when to turn dialogue on and off. You don’t want to do it when it’s easy and it’s hard and of course she finds herself struggling to live up to that ideal and less but at the end of the play we find that they are beginning to understand each other and being able to see each other’s humanity. Michelle and kevin being able to kind of grant mercy to each other and at the same time the play is like asking when do we show mercy to each other? Rafi tries to show kindness and it doesn’t work. And the reason it doesn’t work is because he did call the cops. He did not have a choice, he had to see the safety of others first. In doing that he sort of sued himself. The characters are also haunted by what they see is their failures. They are very haunted by their responsibility. All of them feel a great responsibility to restore the safety of others and to forge this path toward a better world. Some of the characters feel more responsibility toward their family. Some of them feel more responsibility toward the global community. Sometimes the sense of responsibility comes into conflict. In the second half most of them are haunted by the feeling that they could have done better or they are haunted by the failure of what they truly believe they had to do. In the case of Kevin he doesn’t really know where he went wrong. Michelle is haunted as she feels that she might be responsible for her friend’s death. That feeling of guilt haunts both of them. There are different kinds of haunting in the play. There is also a kind of literal ghost in the play. I really wanted them to feel haunted in the second half of the play. They feel really haunted by responsibility and guilt and what do they do with it. Do they lean into guilt to deflect blame onto others? Or do they lean into it to assume greater responsibility and try to fix things? What do they do with that guilt and how they move forward?

4. You mentioned the literal ghost in the play which is Rafi. In modern times it is quite difficult for a young writer to portray a ghost visually in her play. Why did you do that? How did you manage to place that ghost on stage?

That is interesting actually. This play was developed with a bunch of different people, with the dramaturges of the acting class and the directing class of the National theatre school which played a huge role in shaping the play and one of the thing is that we worked heavily in workshops with Rafi’s ghost. We tried with him barely present and barely speaking, but it did not work. His absence was glaring probably because he is one of the pure sources of levity in the play. He is pretty funny. He was no longer his character without his equipped hand and his trademark without the empathy and just being silent and watching. That was more horrifying. I did not want him to be just be a prop on stage. So we discussed he is both in person there with his own agenda and his own actions and he is a ghost of Michelle’s conscience and a projection of her. I was really interested in the idea of ghost. All the characters are types of ghosts yet they are never quite ghost. They are always present, active and haunting. And in the case of Rafi, he is Michelle’s closest friend and ally. She is used to having him in her corner and she is used to having her bolster her and encourage her. With him not being able to do anything anymore, she is brutally haunted. At the same time his haunting presence is a reminder that she failed him to his death in her mind. She kind of roped him back into the political activity that he wanted to leave. This brought him to his end and it is her fault if he is dead. I think many people feel this when you have lost someone you tend to see them everywhere and you tend to be haunted by them particularly if you feel any responsibility or guilt toward them. Rafi haunts the play. He both his own person who is determined to safeguard his friend and that’s why he is back. He is trying to gain some closure himself. However, he also haunts because he is someone who is betrayed and destroyed by what they allowed on campus. All of them feel that they could have done something better. All of them feel that they have a hand in his death. Alyssa also is haunted by him to a certain extent, but also haunted by her brother. Many question why Rafi comes back but why not Johnny. There were many reasons for that and one thing is that Marlyn is partly Johny’s ghost. She is the one who is kind of keeping his memory alive and his memory as a hero who is kind of resurrected. She is the one who is making sure that whatever he stood for is being commemorated and honoured. So Rafi stands to defend the ideals he stood for even when he is gone and they failed him. Marlyn is there to do the same for Johny. These are two forces that are kind of working against each other through the other characters in the second half of the play.

5. What made you choose the title What Rough Beast for your play?

I borrowed the title from Yeast’s poem The Second Coming. I saw a post online quite a few times after Trump’s elections which made me think about it when I was writing the play. The poem expresses this great uncertainty of the fear of looming chaos and the failure of communication, the breakdown of society, the best lack of conviction and the world being full of passionate intensity. It’s a vision of the apocalyptic that is kind of human born. The end of the poem has this horrifying image of the rough beast. The rough beast is the antichrist but I think one of the questions in the play is what the rough beast is? What is this chaos and terrible future that we fear and how do we prevent this from happening? People like Johny see it as the fall of White society. People like Kevin see it as White supremacy in power that grows as a horrific force gathering its followers and threatening to overwhelm. People like Michelle might see it as the complete breakdown of communication at the beginning of the play. There is a hole and we need to bridge the gap to the world that we will lead to. Everyone has his own version of the rough beast and everyone has a different way to prevent it. Yes the play is about anarchy but there is also hope haunting the play. One thing that we see in the second half of the play is the moments of cruelty but also of mercy. There is rejection of the horrific future when Alyssa turns her back on Marlyn. There is a kind of problem with the ideas that Marlyn is putting forward. Marlyn knows how to convince Alyssa to come over but Alyssa realizes things and says no because what the former brought to her brother was despicable. Kevin is lurching toward this path of self-destruction and in kind of final saving grace, he reaches out to Michelle. This is why he reaches her at the end of the play. There is a moment of kindness there. In those moments of reaching out and in those moments of vulnerability and acknowledging our failings, our fear and struggling to find the way forward together rather than pursuing this path of abject uncertainty that leaves no room for the other’s humanity and feelings. I think that’s what other characters in the play come to reject.

*Collected from the interviewer by Md Ejaj Ahamed*

০৫:৩৭ পিএম, ৭ জুলাই ২০২৫ সোমবার