Reading session: A glimpse into Sarwat Zehra’s poetry

The young Urdu poet has recently published her second volume, Waqt ki Qaid Se.

ISLAMABAD: Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words. These are the words of renowned American poet Robert Frost, who believed that emotions lay at the heart of poetry.

It is no different for Sarwat Zehra, a young Urdu poet from Karachi presently residing in Dubai. She believes her poetry to be an outcry — an expression of her emotions — that has been with her from childhood, back when she did know how to transform the expression into verse.

Zehra, who is visiting Pakistan, was speaking at a poetry reading and dialogue session arranged by the Sindh Graduates Association (SGA) in Islamabad. She has recently published her second volume of poetry, “Waqt ki Qaid Se” or “From Time’s Captivity.” Her first book, “Jalti Hawa ka Geet” or “Song of the Burning Air,” was published in 2003.

At the session, Zehra talked about her personal transformation between the publication of her first and second books of poetry.

“I was an introvert and struggled with the question of whether to share ideas which addressed taboo subjects, with the world or not,” she said.

But she said the favourable response of readers to her first book helped her grow in confidence.

“Now I feel that I am no longer afraid to talk about subjects that highlight problems of women,” Zehra said.

However, she said she would like to represent more than just one idea or gender through her poetry. She said she likes to write about the victims of gender-based violence and target killings equally.

Zehra recited her Urdu poem titled “Hawaein Hamila Hain” or “The Winds are Pregnant” at the session, admitting that ten years ago she might not have had the confidence for the recital. In the poem, she uses the metaphor of pregnant winds for the violent conflict in society and the expectation of a solution. But neither the narrator in her poem nor the guardians of the city have an answer to the crisis and remain uncertain and fearful.

Tasneem Langah, a Radio Pakistan producer, said she first saw Zehra when she appeared on Langah’s programme as a student debater many years ago.

“I had no doubt that Sarwat, who was a medical student at the time, would become a published poet as she had the capacity to leave poetic images on hearts and minds through her words,” Langah said, at the session.

Zehra’s book will be launched at the Pakistan Academy of Letters on Tuesday at 4pm.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 9^th, 2013.