Mike Raggett | Tuesday, 11 November 2025 | Print
Mike Raggett
Shamim, Shamim
I was asked to say a few words about Shamim Azad
I could only find good ones – there’s just nothing bad.
She came here to England across seven seas
settled and grew famous with comparative ease.
She’s a teacher, a poet and a fine storyteller
and to call her my friend makes me one lucky fella.
We’ve known each other since two thousand and nine
and became a team that seems to work fine
We read poems and run workshops together
indoors and outdoors whatever the weather
each with our role on the grass or the stage
We strive to bring life to the words on the page
to give insights and pleasure to all those around
that without Shamim’s guidance they may never have found.
We’ve been to studios, galleries and functions in Dhaka
eaten foods of all kinds but never moussaka
We’ve shared iftar feasts back home in Brick Lane
where it’s hard to walk without someone calling her name.
Her ideas unfold like the layers of a matryoshka
drawing out creativity from the depths within her
and now she’s a worthy Academy Medal Winner.
And for me, being a friend of Shamim Azad
There is only one word and that’s – dhonyabad.
(Written for an evening to celebrate her award of the Bangla Academy Literary Award
Given the occasion, I thought I should do something in verse
It won’t match her outputs but, forgive me, it might have been worse)
Posted 7:30 pm | Tuesday, 11 November 2025
globalpoetandpoetry.com | Faruk Ahmed Roni
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