The Creative Process: The Arts of War (Spring 2017)

Spring 2017
The Bard From The Valley
The Arts of War
R
amneek Singh is a spoken word poet from Jammu. Through
his poetry, he tells us stories of his home. His poems reflect
on the implications of the territorial conflict between India
and Pakistan over Kashmir dating back to 1947, and the atrocities
that the Indian Armed forces have committed in
Kashmir. Ramneek’s poem called Jhelum is based on one such
mysterious disappearance of a Kashmiri friend. It’s about how he is
trapped with a sense of guilt when it comes to breaking the news of
his loss to his friend’s family members.
Every time he tries to write a poem about love, partition or conflict
intervenes. It transforms the fabric of each poem. After all, “conflict
gives birth to poetry”, he says. One of the biggest conflicts that an
artist has to face against the world is to maintain a sense of identity.
When he first shifted to Mumbai, he felt a little discouraged about
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