"regret is an overused
term and love a mis-
used one. she
used it to mean jumping
in front of flying bullets and
he used it to fuck her."

"


[re:desire] by afshan d'souza lodhi is a poetry collection inspired by different languages and cultures - Urdu, English, Konkani, and Islam and Christian traditions.

It draws upon the literary traditions and cultural references of mushairas which are typically from the male gaze and flips this on its head by focusing on the pieces being told from the female perspective. The common theme of mushairas are love, God and being drunk or intoxicated by love and God.

Afshan explores sexuality, gender, identity. Some of the poems are quite raw and I really liked them and others the meaning perhaps eluded me but I'll definitely return to ponder them.

It is noted by the author that this type of poetry (mushairas - being social gatherings where Urdu poetry is performed) is most commonly performed and read aloud and I definitely feel this would provide a stronger vibe to the whole collection.

It felt quite edgy and clever and overall I enjoyed sitting and reading these poems over several days and I'm really enjoying my branching out into the poetry genre in general.