(un)interrupted tongues by Dal Kular
i was creative before i knew I was brown| i created myself female before i was born| that was my first act of creation| & my first act of defiance|
(un)interrupted tongues unfolds Kular’s creative journey and life as a working-class woman of colour. Written and created intuitively, Kular seeks to unravel the past, in order to understand the present and to heal. Here, unbelonging is power. These poems are love letters to the reader, to never give up on creative dreams.
Healing by Dal Kular in Wild Service anthology
Being with/of/in nature. Such a bodily felt experience between you and I, we. We speak in the innumerable languages of vibrations, ripples and waves, wonder and birdsong and dreams, ancestors and ghosts, and gusts of wind.
In Wild Service we meet Britain's new nature defenders: an anarchic cast of guerilla guardians who neither own the places they protect, nor the permission to restore them. Still, they're doing it anyway. This book is a celebration of their spirit and a call for you to join.
“Kular shows great power in playfulness, using small details to large effect, from the punctuation that gives you pause, to challenging, arresting imagery that celebrates wildness, growth, and holds a deep respect for ancestry. (un)interrupted tongues is a reclamation of the creative self that gallops away in sheer triumph. Brava!”
— Melissa Fu, author of Peach Blossom Spring.
Emotionally and psychologically this first collection of poetry from Dal packs a punch. Exploring her cultural heritage through her mother and father as well as being a lone brown girl in a northern town, I saw myself in a lot of what I read. I empathised with the child written off by the British education system but by herself also.
I recognise the potential and freedom and transformation that is made possible for the speaker within this collection through creativity, through playing with language. Through this practice, we can (re)create ourselves on our own terms and return home to ourselves.Gaining an understanding of where we’ve come from, our rich heritages and ancestors, gives us a solid foundation from which to reach for the stars.
— Dr Sheree Mack, writer & facilitator, Earth Sea Live Podcast
“A bold and defiant first collection. Each poem is a refusal and reclamation: a refusal to be bound by the hard lines imposed by racial and cultural binaries, stifling educational expectations and staid social convention, and a reclamation of heritage which enables Kular to overcome constraints and take her true form as an elemental force that dances in the wild winds. Revelling in the play and possibility of punctuation and form, Kular guides us through her journey of self-discovery.”
— Dr Alex Rajinder Mason, University of Sheffield.
The entire collection begins with a defiant and daring proclamation of the poet being creative “before i knew i / was brown”, and even: “i created myself / female before i was born”. Those of you familiar with Welsh poetry will recognise the Taliesin-like braggartry of this, and how this is an audacious tradition in writing; but here the audacity goes beyond privilege, aching out into a real rebellion against life’s tethers and ties of culture and status.
— Mab Jones, Poet & Broadcaster
(un)interrupted tongues is a medley of form, language and intuitive creativity that culminates in a wild exploration of self. Kular’s clever manipulation of language and narrative perspective throughout was incredibly thought-provoking.
— Dr Charley Barnes, Writer, Poet, Lecturer
It’s not a volume to be read and hidden away on a shelf with your other poetry books. It’s to be dipped in and out of and proclaimed at salient moments in your life, not just for yourself but for others.
— Gee (@chedgee)