Voyaging to Innocence: the first three editions
A recap
It's been three months since I shared the first edition of Voyaging to Innocence, Poetly's virtual 2021 calendar. This is a series of digital prints released in monthly instalments, featuring poetry interpreted visually by artists.
There have been many enriching conversations and creative exchanges in the run up to these being shared on the platform. The collaborations have been enlightening and embody the frisson of bringing something new and beautiful into the world. The poems and artwork speak to the complexities and possibilities of contemporary times, and it is an honour to be hosting them on Poetly. As I take stock it makes me happy to share with you again the first three editions of the calendar featuring the poems of three Indian English poets along with three pieces of art.
To quote from Alan Kaufman's Let Us from which the title of the project has been borrowed.
“…Let us bring renewal
Let us declare the death of despondency and tyrants
For I have seen our campfires pitched beside the roads
like fallen, still-burning miraculous stars
I have seen our bus voyaging to innocence…”
What I find fascinating is the way all three works speak with such sincerity, and in such diverse, yet colourful ways to the theme of Kaufman’s vision, refracted in the interesting times we live in.
I’d just like to spotlight the pieces with an excerpt from a Toni Morisson letter that I shared with the first edition, on the first day of this new year.
“… This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”
Newsletter posts:
January Edition
February Edition
March Edition
Featuring the poetry of Srividya Sivakumar, Raju Tai, and Saima Afreen, and art by Charanya R. Designed as digital wallpaper by Vikram Buragohain.
Note: The images are also shared below and you can click to enlarge them, but I’d recommend that you click on this link to see them all together on a single page: Voyaging to Innocence.
A reminder. Each image is constructed to serve as desktop/laptop wallpaper that can be changed with every month. I know this is the second Poetly post today, but looking through the three editions today almost nonchalantly, I suddenly felt a feeling of immense warmth, as if I was filling up like a giant balloon. Forgive me, I had to float your way, I was buffeted by a truly overpowering gust of ecstasy.
Tread softly…
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