Khusboo by Parveen Shakir

Khusboo by Parveen Shakir.

Khushboo, is a volume of poetry written by Pakistani poet and columnist Parveen Shakir, and published in 1976.

The poetry in Khushbu, like most of Shakir's subsequent work, can be divided into two categories: the ghazal [plural: ghazalyaat], and free verse.

The ghazalyaat in Khusbu mainly deal with the feminine perspective on love and romance, and associated themes such as beauty, intimacy, separation, break-ups, distances, distrust and infidelity and disloyalty. Shakir made extensive use of the Urdu first-person, feminine pronoun in her verses which, though extremely common in prose, was rarely used in poetry, even by female poets, until Shakir did so. This was a revolutionary step for Urdu poetry, and can be seen as part of the feminist movement in Urdu literature. Also, through Khushbu, Shakir introduced the word larki in her poetry, the Urdu substitute for the word 'girl,' and one not often seen in Urdu poetry before her time. She also extensively used larkiyaan, its plural.

Parveen Shakir (Urdu: پروین شاکر‬‎) (24 November 1952 – 26 December 1994) was an Urdu poet, teacher and a civil servant of the Government of Pakistan.

Parveen started writing at an early age and published her first volume of poetry, Khushbu [Fragrance], to great acclaim, in 1976. She subsequently published other volumes of poetry – all well-received – Sad-barg [Marsh Marigold] in 1980, Khud Kalami [Talking To Oneself] and Inkaar [Denial] in 1990, Kaf-e-Aina [The Mirror's Edge] besides a collection of her newspaper columns, titled Gosha-e-Chashm [Corner of the Eye], and was awarded one of Pakistan's highest honours, the Pride of Performance for her outstanding contribution to literature in 1976. The poetry books are collected in the volume Mah-e-Tamaam [Full Moon] with the exception of Kaf-e-Aina.

Parveen died in 1994 in a car accident while on her way to work.

Following is a list of Shakir's published books. A translation of each book's title follows in italics.

Volumes of Poetry

Khushbu (1976) – Fragrance

Sad-barg (1980) – Marsh Marigold

Khud-kalaami (1990) – Talking to oneself

Inkaar (1990) – Refusal

Maah-e-Tamaam (1994) – Full Moon

Kaf-e-Aa'ina – The Edge of the Mirror

Prose

Gosha-e-Chashm – Corner of the eye

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