You Must Stand

"This poem

once wished to become

a fragment of sky,

a half-lowered flag,

a calendar day wearing a black badge."

You Must Stand is a poetry collection rooted in Bangladesh's political memory, collective trauma, and moral resistance. What does it mean to stand when everything urges you to bow? How does a nation remember without mythologising? What survives when justice is delayed but memory refuses to die? Tarik Sujat writes from within history, not as an observer but as a witness shaped by Bangladesh's post-1971 trajectory: the Liberation War, the assassination of the nation's founding leader, cycles of political violence, erased memories, and the recurring betrayal of democratic ideals. The book takes its title from its opening poem, a direct yet restrained call to moral courage in times when silence becomes complicity.

Tarik Sujat (b. 1965) has published eighteen poetry collections, alongside several research-based books. He has received numerous awards for poetry both in Bangladesh and abroad,

including India's Krittibas Award in 2006, and Prothom Alo in 2017. In recognition of his overall contribution to poetry, he was honoured with the Bangla Academy Literary Award in 2022. He has also served twice as Bangladesh's representative to the Executive Board of UNESCO.