Veidika Sen was named one of the winners in our collaboration with Temple Literary Magazine for our South Asian Heritage Month's Competition.  Editors-in-Chief Swati (The Lotus Paper) and Faith (Temple Literary Magazine) appreciated Veidika's winning poem, "the apple tree", for its unique formatting, culturally-rich and visceral imagery, and its exploration of a topic that often goes unseen within the global south asian community: domestic violence. We have interviewed her about her inspirations, writing process for "the apple tree", and overall message to readers.

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"the apple tree" will be available on our Instagram & Substack.

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Q: Why did you choose to use this certain formatting with a singular stanza and line breaks for this poem? Is there any way you feel that the form adds meaning to the poem?

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A: Form is so important and such a useful tool. I've recently been really into prose poems because they're just so awesome and fun to write. I would say that using one stanza helps this poem feel like a continuous thought, and because the scenes in it span so much time, a feeling of moving really fast. Running towards something but never reaching it. The line breaks are something I've had a lot of fun experimenting with. In this case, they almost always separate different memories or segments, but the singular stanza 'sews' them together into a cohesive story.

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Q: You write about your experience with your grandmother feeding leftover prasad to monkeys. What are other specific things you experienced in your life or household that helped this poem come to life, or just your writing in general?

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A: A lot of the moments in this poem are memories passed down to me. I wasn't present to experience that particular moment because I wasn't born yet, and my grandmother was a kid :) I think I could probably make that more clear. I think I have some more editing to do with this poem! But putting fragments of history together into something cohesive felt like I was telling a story that wanted to be told. I'd say that what helped this poem come to life is my attempt to be present and pay attention to what's happening around me. For example, the banana clips, which I've recently been wearing all the time because they're pretty comfortable, the bananas on my counter, and connecting them with Draupadi. All of those images were kind of stuck in my head for a few days, so I tried to find the connection between them. I like to think that everything is poetic. Everything always has the potential to become a poem, but that doesn't mean it has to be, or that it's the right time to make it a poem. Sometimes things need to marinate a little bit in your memory before you're ready to write them into something you can share with other people.

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Q: Was there a specific event that compelled you to write about the topic of domestic violence in South Asia and spread awareness, or was it a culmination of things?

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A: I would caution against saying that domestic violence is a part of our culture, but social norms in South Asian families often have an attitude towards women and female bodies that perpetuates violence. Hearing the experiences of friends and my own family members, with fathers who are prone to expressing their anger by throwing things, and otherwise physically or emotionally abusing their families, made me realize that my own experience isn't an anomaly. Highlighting violent behavior in families of color that is hidden or justified is something that is important to me, because a lot of us are afraid to do that. We're afraid it will result in more racism against brown people and more harmful stereotypes, instead of empathy and understanding towards victims.

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Q: In your pieces, you use a lot of inventive imagery and metaphors. What is your process of writing and coming up with these things?

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A: I freewrite a lot. I write the most insane, random sentences that pop into my head as long as I can keep the pen moving. Eventually I'll refine these freewrites and type them up in a google doc and edit them into something cohesive that hopefully makes sense. I would say that when I stop thinking too hard and stressing myself out, I find what I'm actually trying to say. Sometimes, I think that what I have to say isn't poetic enough, and so I'll freewrite for three pages until I stumble upon the images or thoughts that have been stuck in my head for a while. It took me a while to really learn this, but everything really is like everything else. The leaves in the tree near my house look like bells on bangles and the tree branches look like fingers. Find connections in everything! Not every connection will become a poem, but some of them will, and that is more than good enough.

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Q: Do you have any writers you take inspiration after and would like to share with beginner writers who wish to expand their language more?

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A: Yes! I am a really big fan of K-Ming Chang. Her poetry is beautiful and studying her work completely changed my writing style. Check her out!! I find a lot of the authors I obsess over in the Adroit Journal. Check out literary magazines like Muzzle, and The Boiler. You will find the coolest and weirdest work in mags.

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Q: What are some topics or issues related to South Asian culture you like to explore across all your works and why do you think it’s important to write about them?

A: South Asian culture is something that I can't fully separate from my identity, and therefore it finds its way into everything I write in one way or another. Everything I write starts or ends in a lived experience or something that really happened, because it lets me ground the poem. But a lot of the times, I end up straying from reality to make my message clearer. Which is totally fine! The speaker of a poem you write is usually somewhere in between you and something completely alien to you. I often find myself exploring themes of family dynamics within South Asian families (which, by the way, are not always negative or concerning abuse :) I love writing about the positive experiences with my family and how they've shaped me as well.) It's important to write about who we are because poetry is such a powerful tool of self-expression. We process our lives through writing it, but we also create special spaces where other people can process their own hurt and joy through our words. That moment of connection between a reader and a writer is something really special, I think, especially when it highlights cultural experiences that aren't often given a place in popular media. Like celebrating Diwali in America, when you're the only Indian family in the area, or making chai for your family, or getting your hair cut, or a million other things.