"Poetry is a meditative experience for me where I let it pass through without interference, experiencing it as it is born."
2025 - 12th International Video poetry festival by Τhe Institute for Experimental Arts, Athens, Greece
A 10-min spoken-word performance titled "Umbrella". Umbrella, is the homecoming journey of the self, stuck in this dying body, not knowing he is conditioned by the world. The rebellious act of questioning exposes him to the different morals and ideologies symbolized by umbrellas. He experiments with them all, leading him to discover the underlying hunger for power, validation and control, which go hand-in-hand with hate and exclusion.
Giving them up, he lets the umbrella go and tastes freedom for the first time. It doesn't last long, a thought knocks his mind and gives rise to a savior complex. He calls people to leave their umbrellas and join him in the rain. Upset no one needs to his words, he spirals down a thread of thoughts again.
All this, until he realizes that this too is part of the dream. He finally lets go and wakes up the self that he is.
2021 - DakshinChitra's Langfest -
Chennai's cross cultural living museum, DakshinaChitra's celebration of Tamil. Ishvar Krishnan's poetry reading under the tree on a February evening.
2018 - #FindingIshvar by Prakriti Foundation, Chennai
Taking poetry to public spaces Prakriti Foundation's collaboration with Chennai Metro Rail had Ishvar Krishnan pop up at railway stations and beachfront, to plug in a dose of poetry mirroring the freedom we crave & the lives we live.
2017 - Poetry with Prakriti's Xth edition - Chennai's Annual Poetry festival
A performance by Ishvar Krishnan clad in traditional veshti playing Udukkai, a folk percussion, to accompany his poetry. He performed across multiple venues across Chennai during the festival,
"Anaithum Ramaname - அனைத்தும் ரமணமே" - 2022
a lockdown. a poet. thirty verses. a Tamil zine. An offering to Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharishi that happened to appear on paper through the poet, the way it was meant to be.
A poetry-zine with 30 verses of poetry, delineating Ishvar Krishnan's experience with non-duality. "Ramaname" symbolises the eternal consciousness everywhere and within.
"Sustaining a thought long enough for it to brew into poetry so compelling, that it makes me sit down and let it pass out onto paper, embracing the uncertainty of not knowing how it unfolds."
