Tishani Doshi on Poetry, War, the Body and Connection

Poet Tishani Doshi has published a book called Egrets, While War.

She says its poems came together gradually rather than from a plan for one big project.

The poems look at love, growing older, grief, and wars happening in the world.

Watching egrets helped her think about how long the planet has existed compared with human conflicts.

She says poems can begin with a real image, such as children harmed by war, and connect it to bigger ideas.

Dance helps her understand how the body holds memory, rhythm, and feelings.

Doshi believes poetry should make room for surprise and should not follow a fixed formula.

She also says readers can understand a poet better by reading a whole collection, not only a poem shared online.