Nate Jacob: “Toward the end of 2022, a ghazal appeared in Rattle titled ‘Ghazal for Dida,’ by Karan Kapoor. Until that moment, I had never read a ghazal, never listened to a ghazal read, had never even heard of the form at all, but in that moment, I discovered a new reaction to a poem: I was gobsmacked! I was startled at the depth of feeling the structure of the form created in me, the way the qaafiyaa and the radif combined to create a near trance-like invocation within the poem. Plus the personal way a ghazal traditionally ends, with the naming of the self, adds so much of an ‘I, the poet, am here’ touch to a poem. And so I set out to attempt one of my own. This is the first ghazal I ever attempted, and in the attempt, I found that magical connection that ‘Ghazal for Dida’ created in me.” (web)
