Poetry of reciprocal and unrequited love

Life loved, lived and lost is the fountainhead of Tasneem Tassadaq’s poetry. Her emotional poems are fairly compact. Her poetry is a sensitive, personal and private account of shared and unreciprocated love:

Supard kar kay karri dhoop ka safar muj ko

Chal gaya hai kaheen jo tha sayayban ki tarah

Her poetry more or less flows freely, without restraint showing the tidal wave of emotion and raw pain that the poet lets loose on herself, highlighted to some extent by her peculiar choice of words:

Pursashay haalay gum se kia ho ga

Es faraibay karam se kia ho ga

Kaisay kahoun main dunya se

Waqat bara harjayee hai

Kabhi kabhi tu lagta hai

shohrat bhi ruswayee hai

Hers aren’t typical poems in the sense that they exhibit elements of meter, rhyme and stanzaic structure. There are the weird rhyming couplets here and there:

Aatay jaatay raha karo

Shakl dekhatay raha karo

Jachti hai yeh hansee tumain

Bas muskatay raha karo

When Tasneem speaks, she speaks like every woman speaks. She is strong, weak, powerful, and timid; she is who Allah meant for her to be. She's a mother, wife, friend etc. She is who she's intended to be:

Zindgi se mujay bekhabar kar gaya

Ek nazar dekhna woh asar kar gaya

Her collections of ‘ghazals’ and ‘nazms’ speak of life, hurt, love from her own perspective. In this work you may even see yourself. When a woman speaks, people listen because she has a lot to say. As Tasneem demonstrates in her poetry, a woman is adaptable in using her voice, and her words:

Chaar dinoun ka payar hai yeh

Phir Tasneem judayee hai

We all want to feel an essence of belonging and, as Tasneem puts pen to paper, you are able to feel the words as they are etched across the pages. She has grown accustomed to her loneliness, her highs and lows, blues and greys. Her silence screams louder than a roar:

Meray dil kay kamray mein

Barsoun ki tanhayee hai

Jab se aankh milayee hai

Neend kahan phir aayee hai

Tasneem’s poetry is straightforward yet sweet and mild in its message. A book of this kind could have been full of bitterness, but the poet demonstrates a beauty within that is capable of handling the circumstances and ride out the storm of life:

Meri bheegi palkain tu bheegi raheen

Jo kehni thein baatein kahan keh sakeen

Tasneem hails from a family of famous songwriter Hazeen Qadri. She went through a roller-coaster ride of varied experiences. If you want to know, how much being supported in dreams by family environment and friends makes creation and creativity possible, just read Tasneem’s poetry.