“At first there were two.
Then, two hundred.
And finally, we were nine
With our poetry intertwined,
In a global pandemic,
Creating hope within panic,
Our hearts beating as one -
Joined in Isolocation.”

45 poems by 9 poets were selected for this anthology. The poems reflect our shared reality during this pandemic, with strong themes of feminism, family, love, mental health, and the current socio political climate. All of us became a loving family during these tumultuous times and that reflects in how cohesively the poems and poets in this collection have come together. This is indeed a labor of love. Our poetry collection finds moments of connection of the isolated, across locations, in this thread we called Isolocation.

Quarantine
Baisali Chatterjee Dutt

After the lockdown,
will we talk in looks?
Or tongues?
Will there be a flood of words?
Or heavy glances?

After the quarantine,
I will first drink in
the lights of your eyes,
for I must relearn
the language of touch.

When we meet again,
don’t say anything -
just open your arms.
And be warned...
I plan to inhale you
in a long, slow, slurp.

A Small, Scary List
Nadeem Raj

A short, indicative list of things that also scare me in the lockdown -

Being stuck with my cooking.

Breaking my glasses and squinting at everything for weeks, making it permanent.

Slipping in the bathroom, banging my head on the sink and passing out with nobody to find me.

Gas leaks as I sleep.

Calling home without answer.

Going to the store but everyone breaking the queue as I stand, waiting in the sun, and the store downing its shutters.

Forgetting the feel of close human contact.

Cutting myself in the kitchen and trying to go to the hospital but not finding any transport,

Or finding out that I do bleed a different color and become a pariah.

Nomenclature
Manini Priyan Olikara

Family, career, success -
He is a man.
His identity is
His name.

Family and children -
She is a woman.
Her identity is
A wife and a mother.

Career and success -
Her identity is
A working woman,
Her identity reduced to
The roles that she plays in her life.

The world tells her that she has to choose
Between these roles, 

Because there is no way she can have both.
Because there is no way she will be known,
By her name.

Because she will be known
By a man’s name.

Perhaps this will be different tomorrow

When I am known as me,
And not as a role I play.

Guy Fawkes
Ishmeet Nagpal

The next time you read,
About a hero who saved a child,
From a burning building -
A building spilling out,
With people from its windows,
Ask why he had to step up.

The next time you tweet,
A “Spirit of Mumbai” hashtag,
Offering shelter and warmth,
To stranded strangers,
In your open homes,
Ask why the city floods at all.

The next time a doctor,
Is made soldier and army,

With no weapons of defence,
While the country debates fighter jets,
And builds million-dollar statues,
Ask why and where your taxes go.

The next time your charity,
Is asked and pleaded for,
As the world around you burns -
Turning you into God and Government,
Turning you into savior,
Ask why you need to be

The only hero you can count on.

ASK.

Small Truths
Thushara Reddy

Nothing in me
Cares to nurture
Anything
I've come to
To understand.

I
Can keep nothing alive -
Self, included.

These bones
They're tired
Let them be. 

These words
Unnecessary
Let them die.

To read more such beautiful poems, do get a copy of Isolocation for yourself from Amazon India.