• Source: Birds of North Europe

      • "Birds of North Europe" is a poem by Tabish Khair, the internationally acclaimed Indian English author and journalist. The poem won First Prize in the Sixth All India Poetry Competition conducted by The Poetry Society (India) in 1995. The poem brought the first major literary award for Tabish Khair, who is better known as a novelist of repute.


      Excerpts from the poem


      Twenty-four years in different European cities and he had not lost
      His surprise at how birds stopped at the threshold
      Of their houses. Never
      Flying into rooms, to be decapitated by fan-blades or carefully
      Herded through open windows to another life, never
      Building on this lampshade
      *****
      Did not intrude into private spheres. demanding to be overlooked
      Or worshipped. They did not consider houses simply
      Exotic trees or hollowed
      Hills. Not being particularly learned, he did not know the thread
      Of fear that knots the wild to the willed, not
      Being well-read, he
      Did not remember the history behind their old and geometrical
      Gardens, could not recall a time when the English
      Parliament had killed a bill,
      Shocked by a jackdaw's flight across the room. He simply marked
      The absence of uncaged birds in their homes. He thought
      It was strange.


      Comments and criticism


      The poem has received positive reviews since its first publication in 1995 in the book Emerging Voices and has since been widely anthologised. The poem has been frequently quoted in scholarly analysis of contemporary Indian English poetry.


      See also


      The Poetry Society (India)


      Notes




      References


      Sixth National Poetry Competition 1988 - Award Winners
      An Interview with Tabish Khair
      | Contemporary Indian Poetry by Jeet Thayil
      India Writes - Contemporary Indian Poetry


      External links


      "Popular Indian Poems"
      Tabish Khair Poems

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