"I began writing a letter and found that the ink was frozen in the inkstand. I broke the ink-pot, took out the ink, melted it over the fire, and wrote the letter to you with the melted ink" writes a Sikh soldier from the foreign land of France during the World War I. What does a letter written the melted ink contain, I wonder, something urgent, so intimate that all distance dissolves for a moment.
Letters since antiquity have been poetry between two, verses swirling between two hearts -- cutting open mysteries & chronicling how people loved, pinned, grieved, and preserved friendships. This Sunday @dillipoetry invites you to a two-hour-long healing forest walk in Lodhi Gardens, New Delhi. The walk will bring into play - a diverse set of letters & epistolary poetry written by artists, authors and poets to their friends, lovers, muses - as prompts and meditative tools to immerse in nature.
The walk will use letters and poetry written by Rilke, Emily Dickinson, Kafka, Agha Shahid Ali and many other brave & beautiful voices of their times - to peek into the electric human longing to communicate, to love and let it be known.
About the host: Rachit is the founder and curator of Dillipoetry, a literary platform known for its experiential poetry workshops and forest healing walks. He is also the creative head at Youth Alliance, where he designs and facilitates transformational journeys of (un) learning, healing, and enquiry in the youth leadership development domain. His poetry and other writings have been published by 20+ literary platforms and anthologies including - Muse India, SIMS Library of Poetry, California, Livewire, The Honest Ulsterman, Northern Ireland among others. Rachit has performed at the BBC Contains Strong Language, the largest poetry festival in the UK, The French Institute India, Alliance Française, etc. He also appeared & performed on BBC Radio 3’s popular show, The Verb.
- A designed & facilitated poetry walk using the techniques of Shinrinyoku
- A reflective space to pause, connect with nature & poetry
- Probing prompts to dive deep into personal expression through poetry
- Activities to help one connect with onself, and their surroundings
- Recitation of hand-picked, epistolary poems and letters written by artists, poets, and authors on a number of themes