Fiction & Poetry Archives • In Plainspeak

Fiction & Poetry

Date Name

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Khusro to Bullah. Ada to Parveen
यह, वह, वो

He, she, they
Lover or Beloved? Woman or Man?

By Carol D'Souza

March 1, 2023

What is your verb

You speak in so many tongues to me as you journey languorously down my body.

By Damini Kulkarni

May 1, 2018

Two Poems: ‘Tongue’ & ‘Names’

Two Poems: ‘Stepwells’ & ‘In the Dimly Lit Room’

Held between a thumb and the index finger is the delineation of a golden-yellow leaf with sunlight shining on it.

Just like on a misty morning,
we both
sit
without a shred of adornment
on these ancient stepwells
and the call of the hummingbirds
offer us sensations,
imagination,
and our innocence

By Prithvijeet Sinha

May 3, 2022

Two Poems: ‘Stepwells’ & ‘In the Dimly Lit Room’

Two Poems: ‘Only sometimes’ & ‘No filter’

Photo of a trees in a forest. There is little distance between the trees. At the centre is a singular tree with twisting and gnarly branches.

Sometimes my love is as expansive as the earth itself Patient None of the restlessness of a filly

By Carol D'Souza

May 3, 2022

Two Poems: ‘Only sometimes’ & ‘No filter’

Two Poems: ‘A room of one’s own’ & ‘Sunshine’

You couldn’t begin to say the self Before someone helps you finish — Self-centred Self-serving Selfish

By Carol D'Souza

September 19, 2022

Two Poems: ‘A room of one’s own’ & ‘Sunshine’

Three Poems: ‘Untitled’, ‘Alchemy’ & ‘Third date’

A photograph depicting two hands reaching towards each other, but not touching, in a darkened backdrop

He said ‘tender’ today/in such a way/I thought/I’d definitely like him saying/dirty things to me

By Carol D'Souza

February 1, 2022

Three Poems: ‘Untitled’, ‘Alchemy’ & ‘Third date’

Things other than maths I tried doing, and failed miserably

Buying Fair & Lovely, hoping the cream inside the tube would make me fair enough to be liked by my…

By Greeshma

June 1, 2023

Things other than maths I tried doing, and failed miserably

“Be yourself, Sarah. Awkward smiles, empty silences, weird laughter, and all. It’s just a part of being human. Loving someone physically is never not awkward. Even if it’s a monogamous relationship. It’s only the comfort of familiarity that makes you think otherwise.”

By Anna Lynn

April 19, 2021

There I sat down and wept

Like some perverted Pavlovian desire,the wafting smell of fresh soapthat fills up the air in the bathhas my pupils dilate…

By Hritvika Lakhera

June 1, 2023

Sins that can’t be washed away

1. A Certain Type of Life since the age of 16 I idealised a certain type of life involving certain…

By Nhylar

July 1, 2020

Poems by Nhylar

an abstract painting of various shades of green and blue

Girl, when you blow your boy, or boy, when you go down on her, or when both of you use…

By Akhil Katyal

October 1, 2014

Poems

A picture of a rainbow coloured heart hanging on a wall

The thing about crushes, is that eventually they stop being that. I’m not saying love dies or anything, I’m just saying, that Love never was and sometimes it takes a few months of tumbling across perfumed bedsheets

By Breton Lalama

February 1, 2021

Poem: ‘The thing about crushes’

A black and white picture of a person’s legs folded in the form of v

All I have known of loving men is emotional labour, And by that, I mean back-breaking, soul-sucking toil, Oh, the relief of carrying nothing but yourself, Oh, the relief of taking nothing but pleasure from their sex

By Malini Gopalakrishnan

February 1, 2021

Poem: ‘A debauchee’s ode to self-love’