Poetry Without Performance

In The Inner Voice, Imbisat Tareen trades literary polish for raw honesty, and the result is a triumph from a young poet who refuses to shout.

- Aubaid Akhoon

You don't expect a debut poetry book to feel this intimate.

The Inner Voice by Imbisat Tareen reads like a journal cracked open in trust. The poems don’t demand your attention. They don't try to impress. Instead, they invite you to sit down and listen. And once you do, it’s hard to walk away.

Tareen, a young poet from Kashmir, isn’t here to dazzle. His verses are often delicate, always sincere. There's no posturing. No clever metaphors to untangle. Just straight, simple lines drawn from the chest.

“I am the moon,” he writes, “but tonight, even I don't shine.” That's from The Diamond in the Dark Night — one of several poems that carry the ache of growing up, of looking for light when all you feel is fog.