The Land
The land- she does not know ownership nor boundaries languages nor skin moving where she will inside or out of our impositions she takes the sun from all corners and the rain from all directions. ~ Janavi Held © 2017

A Book of devotional poetry with black & white photography by Janavi Held
The land- she does not know ownership nor boundaries languages nor skin moving where she will inside or out of our impositions she takes the sun from all corners and the rain from all directions. ~ Janavi Held © 2017
Flooding Within the shadowy waters of illusion I built thick castle walls sunken deep in those hazy waters my heart froze and slept for eons. Awakened from this deep sleep of ignorance by a flood of Your liberating monsoon rain You’ve opened the sky in my heart and the walls of my fortress are a…
Out on This Natural limb On the ends of wind-waving branches I build my residence watching all manner of creatures grow into living the fragrance of the wind carrying pollen and ozone feeds my inner ocean as long fingers of sunlight reach the vast expanse of my seeing. Out on this natural limb I…
Horizon I move too as the waves pierce the horizon that distance unattainable longs for me as well to embellish my ears with wind to swallow my eyes inside that insatiable horizon. Janavi Held © 2017
In her beautiful debut collection of poems, Janavi Held takes us on a journey of awakening, as she explores the ways in which her relationships with struggle, time, nature and beauty in this world, relate to her burgeoning relationship with the divine. From a restless “there are so many stories in my lost heart” to…
Like many God-inspired poets of India’s Bhakti or devotional past (Mirabai and Chandidas come easily to mind), Janavi Held–writer, photographer, cineaste, observer of small miracles—chronicles the arrhythmia of a heart in love with Divinity. Letters to My Oldest Friend is a revelation. In elegant, spare verse and contemplative visual imagery, she gently cautions that we…
"Storming" by Janavi Held