WOUNDS (Kshata): A Bilingual Synthesis of Poetry and Art

Some wounds do not heal. They become language.At the heart of this book lies a simple Bengali word: ক্ষত—WOUNDS (Kshata): A Bilingual Synthesis of Poetry and Art that explores grief, longing, memory, and the quiet endurance of the human spirit.In this haunting collection, Niladri Sarker moves between the intimate and the immense, where personal loss meets the anxieties of a burning, uncertain world. These are poems of love, distance, fracture, and survival—poems in which private heartbreak can suddenly open onto vanishing coastlines, rising seas, and futures slipping out of reach. The result is a body of work that feels both deeply personal and universally unsettling.Accompanying the poems are 88 black-and-white ink drawings that extend the book’s emotional world through shadows, stains, and silence. Some mirror specific poems; others linger like fragments of the same dream. Together, word and image create a stark, immersive landscape of tenderness, ruin, and recognition.WOUNDS (Kshata) does not offer easy consolation or tidy resolution. Instead, it bears witness—to what the heart remembers, to what the body carries, and to the fragile ways people continue through love, grief, and a world increasingly marked by loss.For readers drawn to reflective, visually rich poetry that speaks across languages, WOUNDS is both an intimate confession and a wider meditation on what it means to endure. It is for readers who believe poetry should not merely decorate language—but excavate it. Read more