ISLAMABAD, Jan 26: Kishwar Naheed’s latest collection of poetry, which has just come out, has a contemporary theme captured in its explosive title, wehshat aur barud mein lipti hui shaeri (poetry wrapped in savagery and gunpowder).

The book contains both ghazals, nazms and a number of translations. But it is the nazm section with its poems on Nine-Eleven (9/11), Guantanamo, Benazir Assassination, October 8 earthquake, Margalla Towers, Jamia Hafsa, Karo-kari, Bajaur, child suicide bombers, public hanging of a veiled woman, FIR, a poem in memory of Edward Said, another addressed to Ahmad Faraz, that encapsulates the anger and helplessness of society in the face of terrorist frenzy of the extremists and the disproportionate response in the shape of super-power terror.

One poem wonders if Musharraf has indeed departed. Some other poems are on motherhood, loneliness, alienation and disintegration of family life.

The book has been published by Sang-i-Meel Publications. — Mushir Anwar