Singing in the Dark

by K. Satchinandan (Edited by), Nishi Chawka (Edited by)

Singing in the Dark - A Global Anthology of Poetry under Lockdown

Singing in the Dark brings together the finest of poetic responses to the coronavirus pandemic. More than a hundred of the world's most esteemed poets reflect upon a crisis that has dramatically altered our lives, and laid bare our vulnerabilities. The poems capture all its dimensions: the trauma of solitude, the unexpected transformation in the expression of interpersonal relationships, the even sharper visibility of the class divide, the marvellous revival of nature and the profound realization of the transience of human existence. The moods vary from quiet contemplation and choking anguish to suppressed rage and cautious celebration in an anthology that serves as an aesthetic archive of a strange era in human history.

Genres: Poetry

361 pages, Hardcover

Published October 1, 2020

Reviews

[Dhriti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Omg it took me 2 months to finish this book😂😂😂
But I kinda read the poems when I was in the mood, over time

AND
I
ANNOTATED
THE
SHIT
OUT
OF
IT
OKAY

There were some poems that felt like a waste of an entire fucking page
And then there were some that touched my soul

I gave this book 4 stars for them🥺

Overall, I’d recommend this if you want something to annotate and something to pass time/take a break from traditional reading.

Also pls lmao this is such a great reminder than covid ACTUALLY HAPPENED!!

[Melissa]

Really wanted to like this diverse collection of poetry because I thought it would be incredibly interesting to read perspectives of the pandemic (specifically, being in lockdown) from poets throughout the world, and it seemed like a good way to become introduced to new writers. Unfortunately, I didn't really connect with many of the poems. They felt like they could have been written about anything, not necessarily the pandemic specifically.

[Ritaban Biswas · Rating 5 out of 5]

“In the dark times
Will there also be singing?
Yes, there will also be singing,
About the dark times.”
- Bertolt Brecht, ‘Motto’

This gut wrenching anthology collection portrays the atmosphere of a time when humanity faced a pandemic on an unprecedented scale. Each poem reminds us of the anguish that lies at the heart of all legitimate creativity.

The poems succeed in drawing plenty of disheartening scenarios that we got to witness in the past two years- piles of dead bodies waiting to be cremated or burnt, shortage of hospital beds, migrant workers’ lives getting plagued, people dying each minute, mortality rate surging to new heights every hour, and what not! Even the privileged section of the society wasn’t shown mercy by the deadly virus.

Certain traumas, such as that of solitude, sudden demise of family members, unexpected turns in relationships and all the nuanced aspects that went, and still go, unacknowledged.

It’s not possible to point out which one’s best out of the hundreds of poems in this collective, however some of the following were either contemplative or the real tear-jerkers:

- Kumar Ambuj’s “Official Deaths are a Superstition”
- Anamika’s “Cracking the Lockdown”
- R. Cheran’s “Water Lamp”
- Mangalesh Dabral’s “These Times”
- Jerry Pinto’s “Learning”

These skillful poets have penned nightmarish dark verses about the most disturbing time in recent memory.

[Mss Sunrise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual rating: 3.5/5
.

I picked this book because of a poem I read for school about quarantine. While I really relate to many poems here, I loved many as well, I couldn't help but skip some of them. Ones that didn't catch my attention right a way for a reason or another. It's really hard to rate a collection of poems because we can't really judge the whole thing based on some parts and other ones. The comparison here is hard because there are way too many poets from all over the world. I settled on this rating because it's fair enough. The book is good, though, because we get to see how the pendamic affected people in different ways. We get to see different cultures, different responses to reality, and different ways of expressing such tragic and hard experiences. I can see myself going back and reading some of the poems I highlighted. I like the diversity of and in this book, which is why I'm not trying too hard to criticise every single thing I didn't like.

[Raghu · Rating 1 out of 5]

Took me almost 28 months to finish this one. I think the anthropology of poems is not a good idea. It just puts so many different people’s emotions into a single book. It just becomes hard to navigate through it.

[Pleiades · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmm I don’t know what to say. The collection is not as empathetic. Yes, these poems talk about pandemic but not the emotions we feel and experience. 2 points for effort.