Srinagar, June 11 -- 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.

You won't find literary games here. This is poetry stripped bare. And ...