Usawa Literary Review is headquartered in Mumbai, India.
PIN Code: 400050
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Poems that witness, accuse, mourn, and resist. Work rooted in body autonomy, ecofeminism, desire, grief, exile, and decolonial reclamation - from Adivasi verse to Urdu ghazal to prison writing.
Browse by issue, by theme, or by mood - and expect to be changed by what you find.
Poems that witness, accuse, mourn, and resist. Work rooted in body autonomy, ecofeminism, desire, grief, exile, and decolonial reclamation - from Adivasi verse to Urdu ghazal to prison writing.
Browse by issue, by theme, or by mood - and expect to be changed by what you find.

Memory & Time

A curated collection

Issue 13 - Memories of the Future

All is One Here and 2 other poems

By Abrona Aden

Where being pours into another, patriarchy and contested borders divide unyielding hunger and grief: the nations cold heart beats near...

Matchbox - October '24

I Refused To Die and 2 other poems

By G.N. Saibaba

A defiant spirit kindles resilience, challenging dogmas chains from the margins, lifting loves torch toward a bright, bewildering dawn.

We Are Here: Writings by Afghan Women

Coercion

By Somaia Ramish

This poem starkly portrays coercion's bitter grip, devouring girls' dreams, a vast, unacknowledged, relentless nightmare

We Are Here: Writings by Afghan Women

With Many Hopes and 6 other poems

By Orphaned Afghan girls (ages 10-14)

From ravaged soil, a fierce promise to resurrect the homelands dreams, challenging brutal patriarchal structures, navigating profound grief and defiant,...

Matchbox - October '25

Sophocles and My Dadu and 2 other poems

By Sanjana Choudhary

Fierce Agency blossoms, reclaiming silenced memory and profound grief from systemic erasure, cradled within Homes tender heart.

We Are Here: Writings by Afghan Women

The Story in My Palms

By Beheshta Adel

These delicate hands mirror a woman's inner journey, revealing a path of self-discovery and care

We Are Here: Writings by Afghan Women

I Sleep with Silence

By Noshin Ahmadyar

From chained dreams, a daughters silent scream asserts fierce agency, navigating profound grief to breathe resilience into a wounded lands...

We Are Here: Writings by Afghan Women

Invincible

By Masoma Mohamadi

An Afghan woman's invincible spirit bravely bears war's scars and history's pain, still dreams freedom

Recently Added

Matchbox – May ’26

The Night, a Naked Knife and 4 other poems

By Ashwani Kumar

Visceral verses explore the fractured Self as a contested site of lived memory, navigating profound grief while reclaiming voice against...

Matchbox - February '26

Of Novels, Old and New & 3 Other Poems

By Ashwani Kumar

A luminous exploration of the disrupted landscape of belonging, navigating deep currents of loss and resilience, reclaiming vital narratives from...

Issue 14 - WITNESS

jothi 7907 i see and 3 other poems

By Tathagat Chaubey

A visceral collection exploring the complex echoes of enduring historical trauma, navigating deep currents of profound resilience within the human...

Issue 14 - WITNESS

Clytemnestra Descending and 3 other poems

By Stan Galloway

This luminous verse explores the human spirit's resilience amidst an urban decay, grappling with profound longing while envisioning a future's...

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