In these times of collective grief and despair, surrounded by death, suffering and loss, world over, we are forced to grapple for hope. We contemplate the meaning of love in our lives as we witness the death of friends, comrades, and people at large, many of them dying young and unexpectedly, leaving behind a void. Can love heal us in this time? Or will this time cause us to close ourselves to love for each other?
“The quest for love continues even in the face of great odds”, bell hooks recounts a graffiti that had a profound influence on her during a period of heavy grief. This graffiti was painted over by authorities, as is the tradition with graffitis, but the letters remained faintly and proudly legible underneath the layer of paint.
This week in Bol, we feature a poem by Brijesh. Brijesh is an actor, poet and a doctor. This poem, in Satyam’s voice and featuring artwork by Gopika Nath from her series Topography of a Stitched Landscape, is part 1 of a dialogue on “Poetry about Love”. In these times of collective mourning, Brijesh’s poem yearns to speak of and find love, and yet succumbs to the pain that deters musings about love’s beauty. Could love compare to oxygen, beds, or medicines?
