Rishta (A Poem)

Module: Writing Poetry (Level 5)

Abstract

The Writing poetry module was during the lockdown in 2021 and so most of my writing and learning was done online from the comfort of my bedroom.  The theme we were initially given was ‘Love’ and I wanted to explore this in the way that I had seen and known it growing up: my parents and their arranged marriage. I had never written about this before but being in the comfort of my own home and having to write about personal topics felt liberating in a sense because I got to write about most of the things, I would never have thought about writing about. There was this comfortability being sat at home and immersed in all the things I enjoy and just family life. I was inspired by all these aspects of my life but never thought that I could write about them. But having the theme of ‘love’ and being at home meant I could explore authenticity and write freely about what I wanted to so not only was the theme ‘love’ for the poems but also I developed a love for writing, I think during this time I found my ‘niche’ if I can call it that but more importantly writing about the topics that were familiar to me and important to me.

The poem explores the theme of love in arranged marriages. I wanted to write about how love is a component that can grow and evolve whilst comparing the earlier stages of an arranged marriage in this poem to the later ones too. I used my parents’ stories of how they first met and grew comfortably together to write this poem and you can see glimpses of that in this poem.