Wild Embers / A Focus On Nikita Gill Poetry
photo from fashionmagazine.com/culture/nikita-gill-interveiw/
I have always been infatuated with the magic of words -- The way they wrap themselves around one’s heart, like ivy on a wall. The way one can be pulled into the ink strung together on paper. The way words resonate with the parts of us we feel no one can reach. Perhaps, one of the most enchanting aspects of words, is the various ways we can share them -- through song, through messages, through speaking, through novels, and in a form that I have found bountiful healing in, poetry.
I fell in love with poetry in a season where I felt isolated and alone; poetry seemed to wrap me up in verse, written by other hearts who felt isolation, felt brokenness right alongside with me. Poetry became a balm to my soul and I absolutely fell in love with it. I began to write, read, and bleed poetry. I would find myself in coffee shops on the weekends with someone I claim as my soulmate of a friend, sharing poetry and fumbling through books -- and that is how I was introduced to the goddess of a poet, Nikita Gill.
Nikita is a British-Indian poet who gained a following through social media platforms and has become a warrior of women and self empowerment. She speaks to the pain, the brokenness, the beauty of us in an enthralling way. Nikita emphasizes the oppression that women have felt for centuries, whilst encouraging women to light their matches, start their fires, and to rise above the ashes of the broken narrative of not being enough. With her magic of poetic verse, she affirms that we are in fact enough, just as we are.
"Nikita emphasizes the oppression that women have felt for centuries, whilst encouraging women to light their matches, start their fires, and to rise above the ashes of the broken narrative of not being enough."
The first book of hers I was introduced to, happens to be her second work of poetry titled, ‘Wild Embers: Poems of Rebellion, Fire, and Beauty’. Nikita tackles the stigma of mental health, brokenness, healing, sexual assault, empowerment, and the like. While flipping through the pages of this work, there isn’t a poem that doesn’t allure me -- that doesn’t tug at the strings of my soul, telling me to listen in.
Wild Embers bleeds magic and healing out of every page, and while it feels nearly impossible to capture all of its wonder, I picked a couple to give a glimpse into this marvel.
photo by sveta petty
Who You Are
You are a gentle, loving person who has been told by too many people
that you are difficult to love
and therein lies your torment.
- Nikita Gill
I remember the first time I read this poem, feeling like a broken part of me had been affirmed in a way I can’t quite articulate, and how much solace I found in feeling heard. It is a short, simple poem -- But it had a profound impact.
The Becoming
You Became,
When you believed you were nothing.
When everything you loved deserted you.
When you crawled out of the abyss.
When the darkness was so great
it swallowed you whole.
When failure tried to pinch
your soul between it’s greedy fingers.
When everyone you cared for broke your heart.
This Woman that you are today,
You became her by breaking
Over and over and over again. Allow no one to take that away from you. You are valuable. You are precious.
Because you built yourself from shards.
You broke to become.
- Nikita Gill
While these are just slivers, I believe that these poems speak to parts that not many can reach to -- speak to the parts that we bury in ourselves. They speak to the insecurities, the belief that we are not enough, and affirm us that we are where we need to be, just as we are. I believe that there is solace to be found in searching for things that resonate with our soul and Nikita Gill creates them in in such a captivating way.
May you too, be able to find some healing, a balm to the soul, some empowerment even if it is in the slightest.
Written by Sveta Petty