Light, Rays here, there
A streak streamlined -
Center of that
beautiful heart
A blink and
click; hey done, ready for new
by Ashwini Dodani
This week we are celebrating Ashwini Dodani as onchain poet of the month. In 2025, the trpplffct poetry grant fund will celebrate an onchain poet of the month every month. A poet of the month will share a poem on these pages, and will also feature in an interview. This month, I comissioned Ashwini to write a poem for these pages. In the coming six months I plan to alternate between commissioned poems, rounds on Farcaster and another selection I'm still working on. Stay tuned for that.
Now back to this week. As said, we now celebrate Ashwini Dodani. I've known Ashu for a few years now. Before I stepped into the world of Web3. In fact, it was Ashwini who showed me the way here. He's a wonderful and versatile artist and poet, and a wonderful supporter of onchain artists. The highku poem above is written by him for this ocassion. High time to shine a light on him with this trpplffct poet of the month interview.
trpplffct: Hi Ashu, thanks for doing this. Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
Ashwini: I am a poet, a writer, a digital artist, and an empath. Someone who has always been obsessed positively with the digital world. A digital marketer with a decade of experience who has dived into Web3, crypto, and everything in between since the last 3 years.
What does poetry mean to you?
Something that art means to an artist. Something that food means to a hungry soul. Something that light would do to someone who is absorbed in darkness. Poetry is more than an art form to me; it's more of how I see life. Every experience is poetic to me. Poetry makes my life easier because it's a selfless expression without wanting to perform for an audience. It's something about who I am. It's something that is within me.
How did you come to the world of onchain/crypto?
I started off exploring on my own about NFTs and crypto around late September 2021 when Jack Dorsey's tweet as an NFT sold for millions. And my entire timeline on Twitter was talking about NFTs, art, crypto, and Web3. It made me curious and want to get to know, as I've always been curious about new things I keep seeing on my social platforms. I've been online since the age of Windows and the AOL era, the Yahoo and dial-up connection days. Here we are now, exploring the depths of everything onchain taking over. I've explored everything that relates to DeFi, AI, Crypto, Alts, Memecoins, SoFi, NFTs, Marketplaces, and more.
What would you say to a poet who wants to enter the world of NFTs?
Don't expect anything from anyone, but start making connections. Be a content creator, be consistent, and don't fear reaching out even to the most influential person you see around you. The walls have broken; the access is far better than in the Web2 world. And yes, there are lots of people who are ready to onboard you with everything you need. Be curious, study everything you need to make things happen, and experiment as much as you can and at as many places as you can. You will find your miracles.
If I would come to dinner at your place, what would we eat and drink?
Oh well, that's a tough one. I'd love to take you to different cities rather than different places in the same city. Probably a little bit of all directions in my country. We'd hop in and try out as many cuisines as possible, but most importantly, some Sindhi food for sure. Some dry fruit buttermilk, a wide range of sweets, and a whole lot of fried snacks (yeah, you can burn it later with some workout).
Thank you Ashwini for your beautiful poem and the interview. Looking forward to see more of your work.
Please support the trpplffct poetry hub by collecting this post via the button below. Or you can become a Trpplr by subscribing to our Hypersub. You'll get some amazing poetry airdropped then, too.
If you are a writer, and have an opinion about the the future of sufficiently decentralised social network Farcaster, there is a writing contest sponsored by Kiwi News and Purple DAO (I'm a member of Purple DAO). There's a prize pool of 2 ETH, that's over 6000 Euro. So, sharpen your pens, and take part.
More info here:
If you're not already on, you can join Farcaster via this link. First one to use it gets a free signup.
Poésie de la vie
Reciting poetry is an art. I love how at my kids' school, they participated in a reciting competition. Through it, I got to get to know a lot of children's poems. In the video below, Natalie Merchant brings poems to live in song. A wonderful way of reciting poetry, even if some might be rather frightening.
