A Poetic Invitation into Nature and City Life
I invite you to step off the pavement and into verse. My lyrical walks across Delhi and Bengaluru turn local parks and streets into spaces for reflection, healing, and discovery.
This is the heart of what I offer: a journey on foot, together. We walk, we listen, and we let the world speak to us in its own poetic language. This particular walk was a Queer Poetry Walk, creating a space for shared experience and sensory immersion in nature.
I believe poetry is the queerest thing that happens to a culture. This walk celebrates that dazzling intersection, using the outrageous, resilient, and beautiful poetry of queer poets as prompts to explore nature, joy, and resilience in Mehrauli Archaeological Park.
What if a pharmacy prescribed poems instead of pills? This is the idea behind The Poetry Pharmacy, a forest healing walk where we use verse about restoration and recovery as a remedy for the soul, all within the serene Sunder Nursery.
Poetry doesn't just belong in quiet forests; it lives in the bustling heart of the city. 'The Road Not Taken' is a poetry writing walk-workshop through the streets of Delhi, designed to help you capture the texture and rhythm of urban life in your own words.
"It is a serious thing / just to be alive / on this fresh morning / in this broken world." With the words of Mary Oliver as our guide, this postcard invites you to a lyrical walk, a chance to find your own place in the family of things.
Delhi is a city of longing, ruin, and ache, a grand love story told in whispers. In my 'Dillinama' walk, we explore this complex relationship through poetry, reflecting on what it means to call this city home, all while strolling through the historic Lodhi Gardens.
"A breaking down of binaries. An order of footsteps amidst raw foliage, silence among sounds, and poetry among words." I am deeply grateful for the words of participants like Manmeet, who so beautifully capture the meditative spirit of these walks.
It's a joy to see these walks travel. Here I am, featured on the poster for a Lyrical Walk in Bradford, England, as part of the 'Language is a Queer Thing' project. It's a testament to how poetry can connect communities across borders.
About Featured
My walks are not about reciting rhymes, they are about silence and observation. Whether we are walking through the rustle of Sanjay Van or finding poetry in the architecture of Mandi House, I provide prompts, like a postcard with a line of Mary Oliver, to help you engage with the space around you. You do not need to be a writer to join, you just need to be willing to pause and listen to the world a little differently for two hours.
I started Dillipoetry to pull verse off the stage and into our bones. Poetry is not just a body of text, it is blood, always rushing toward an opening. Through these walks, I create conditions where a poem can appear. We do not just read poetry, we live it.
The Experience
My practice is built on a few core beliefs:
- Poetry is accessible: You do not need to be a poet to join. Whether you are queer, curious, or just looking for a moment of quiet in a loud city, there is a space here for you.
- Nature as a teacher: From the historic ruins of Lodhi Gardens to the dense cover of Sanjay Van, the environment dictates the verse. We use these spaces as open-air classrooms.
- No performance pressure: These are not open mic nights. There is no requirement to speak, write, or share unless you feel called to do so.
Where We Walk
I host these sessions in varied landscapes across Delhi NCR and Bengaluru. We might wander through Mehrauli Archaeological Park to unpack queer identity and resistance, or visit Sunder Nursery to use verse as a remedy for the soul. The city itself is a myth, a grand love story, and my goal is to map it with poems. I invite you to join me in these small circles to find what is essential and yet invisible to the eye.
Rachit Sharma
I am Rachit, and I started Dillipoetry to pull verse off the stage and into our bones. I believe that whether you are queer, curious, or just looking for a moment of quiet in a loud city, there is a space here for you to breathe and write.
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