Poet Amy captures love, losses & things beyond

In Mexican culture, there is a legend of La Loba (The Wolf Woman), a folklore about a recluse woman, who collects bones of creatures that are in danger of being lost to eternity. She lays the bones, raises her arms and sings over them, over and over, until the bones turns fleshy, life gradually returning in them and the creature is resurrected.

The popular folklore find its roots in poet Amy Singh’s debut book titled “Singing over Bones: Poems of Love and Resistance”, which is about resurrections and life beyond death. Amy, who made an endearing debut in the literary world with her now acclaimed “Dak to Lahore” project, where she wrote letters to General Post Office, Lahore, as an ode to peace (something that probably requires a resurrection as well, but that’s for another time!). Almost a decade later, the transformation from “Lahore Wali Amy” (a badge she earned on social media during Dak project), to a published poet, Amy spoke about her journey and what drives her at a special session hosted by Majha House in Amritsar.

“I have never been to a college or university and never completed my formal education. I had access to poetry while growing up. Even with my first book, my technique might not be strong or on point but my emotions, intent will get you there,” said Amy as she introduced her book to the audience.

Sharing that she is not a detached person, she considers poetry her bridge to reach out to people. “Three things that you may find in my poetry – Swaad, Sabr and Sukoon,” she said. Turning emotions from reactions to responses, Amy learnt to pen down her deepest or even slightest, emotional disruptions, something she said she has learnt along the years.

“I have gained and lost both. When I lost my mother, I was 16 and poetry became my refuge. I did not really write poetry early on, but I read quite a lot. As I turned to poetry to find solutions, it became my voice, my way of expressing how I perceived world and events around me,” she said.

Just like grief, love is universal. Everyone experiences it and so, Amy believes that poetry is difficult to decode. In her case, her book Singing to the Bones.., she speaks to everyone through her poetry. There is mention of Guru Nanak Dev in a verse, Gen Z lingo in another, lovers-lunatics and poets in one and Faiz in another.

“I feel that love and resistance go hand in hand, as there is no love without deep passion. All these emotions I mention through my poems, ultimately, empathy and love remain as they sublimate the hate, the rage we might often feel. Just as poetry became my way of learning the dialogue between life and its many complexities, I hope my readers learn the language as well,” she shared.

As for the intriguing book cover by talented artist Niyati Singh, Amy said she had been inspired by the acclaimed short story, Streer Patra by Rabindranath Tagore, which captures a woman’s predicament and is a timeless piece of feminist literature.