NaPoWriMo 27

So the tortoise is still at Prompt 27: 

We challenge you to pick a card (any card) from this online guide to the tarot, and then to write a poem inspired either by the card or by the images or ideas that are associated with it.

This is the card that I picked : 

I was not sure how to go about it. I began by actually describing what I saw and then it evolved into a message about saving the Earth. I don't think it was a conscious process. So this is what I came up with :

Daughter of The Sun

Where has she gone?

Did we send her on exile?

Seated she was

On scarlet velvet cushions

Wearing a tiara of starry gems

Robed in satin silky sheen

Falling about her stockinged feet

in downy ripples

A benign smile adorned

her firm and gentle countenance

eyes swimming with kindness and resilience

The shield of Venus abounding

in love, vitality and courage

lay by the side

Holding aloft a marble sceptre

Hand raised in blessing

Bestowing Power and fortitude

Bequeathing lushness of grain

And abundance of water

We need to find her and reclaim her

We need to cajole, coax , convince her 

Never again shall we disregard her

Never again shall we plunder her

We need to bring back her regime

Before the day of Doom

Gains upon us!

NaPoWriMo Day 26.

Had been traveling. The poetry challenge is over, but I wish to try out the various prompts. Today I attempt this one:

"Write a poem that includes images that engage all five senses. Try to be as concrete and exact as possible with the “feel” of what the poem invites the reader to see, smell, touch, taste and hear."

And then I was reminded of a translation that I did of my cousin's poem a few months back. Since I feel that this poem is replete with the 5 sensations, I present the same. The original was in Malayalam. 

Do you converse with the walls?
They may have no arms, but they can
bind you fast between their expansive, sleek veneers.

Keep up the chatter and
They might end up reaching out to our dialect
and we might end up living in theirs
And some might pierce through our warmth
Imbuing their concrete chill…

Be warned though of Ancient walls –
They might ensconce you deep
into their decrepit slumbering leaves
Taunt you with memories of bygone youth
Making you shudder in chagrin
Before their towering vainglory

However…
The new pristine walls through a forgotten switch
may gently graze your brows
with sizzling current;
Caress your forehead with
the dust off a Picture frame

A distressing odour of the paint
clings all over
and whispers into your ears: “WE”!

NaPoWriMo18 Prompt 3

My writing is all disorderly. So today I work with the Day 3 prompt which says:  "Write a poem that plays with voice. For example, you might try writing a stanza that recounts something in the first-person, followed by a stanza recounting the same incident in the second-person, followed by a stanza that treats the incident from a third-person point of view. Or you might try a poem in the form of a dialogue, which necessarily has two “I” speakers, addressing two “you”s. Another way to go is to take an existing poem of yours or someone else’s, and try rewriting it in a different voice. The point is just to play with who is speaking to who and how. 

SHE : ( 3^rd person)  

She struts about like she is royal

Her nose up in the air

She looks you in the eye

And answers like she dared you      

There is no smile

on her little upturned lips

She shrugs her mane

like the wind was her play thing…         

PC: from the www

She twirls her pretty little fingers

Drawing graceful arcs in the air

She sashays past ,with  cheeky impudence

swinging her arms, 

her head in the clouds

You can’t help but

Stand by star gazed…

How can she be so forthright

It is not  her time yet

She needs to wait, she needs to learn

Before she earns her worth

I : ( 1^st person)

I am just a young girl

Searching for my bearings

I wish you looked at me

A little more kindly

With a little more understanding

But I shall not ask, I shall not plead

Don’t judge me by the way I walk, talk or look

PC: from the www

Don’t look at me with scorn in your eye

Don’t look at me like I know nothing about life     

I may not, but I am learning

I shall not cower nor crouch

I am not afraid to learn

I too have my fears, I too have my doubts

But  I don’t let them

mirror in my eye

Pacing with steady steps

Looking at the world straight in the eye

Gives me the strength

To deal with what comes on life’s platter

You think you’ve got me all sorted

But let me tell you

The story may be different from

What strikes the eye…

YOU : ( 2^nd person)

Don’t you see?

She is a child woman

She is evolving

She is vulnerable

She is fragile

The fingers of life

are reaching out to her

Sometimes in gentle caresses          

PC: from the www

And sometimes in shoves

Be gentle, be kind

Don’t you remember?

How you longed to be understood

To be accepted, to be liked

Don’t you see a little you and me

In her eyes, in her words

And in her deeds?

Is it really not so easy

To cast the gaze of love

To stride along unobtrusively

With a gentle pat, a tender hug

To just let her know you care

Just to be there

If and when needed…

( all images are from the internet. ) 

NaPoWriMo 18: Prompt 25 : Warning Label

Today, we challenge you to write a poem that takes the form of a warning label . . . for yourself!


Caution! 

Fragile!

Handle with kid gloves!

Tread with care !

Waterworks in progress!

Take Diversion!
Explosive terrain ahead!

Searing Sarcasm Expert!

Thick skinned apparel advised!

Specialist in Cold shoulder treatment

Prudence recommended!

Shhhh! Silence mode!

Breathe only if absolutely essential!

Introspective Mode!

Don’t disturb!

Brainstorming session

Participation mandatory!

Loving cap on

Abject surrender Imperative !

NaPoWriMo 18 : Prompt (1) : Secret Pleasure/ Secret Shame

1. Write a poem that is based on a secret shame, or a secret pleasure

A secret shame or a secret pleasure?

The secret shames or the secret pleasures?

This one or that one

So many buried under the avalanche of memories

Sometimes I rake one up

Some harmless, innocent ones

And some not so pleasant

Some real awkward that I shudder with shame

And some bring a smile

On my face

And then I realize

One just cannot grow up too soon

One shall commit the deeds of

Folly of innocence and ignorance

There is no skipping to maturity

One stumbles and falls

Before one takes steps of

Confidence and cognizance!

#NaPoWriMo18

NaPoWriMo Prompt 24

And from Prompt 1, I jump straight onto Prompt 24! Why? Because  Prompt 24 says: 

Today’s craft resource is a long-ish essay by Hyejung Kook regarding how poetry can be created from absence, or in the wake of loss, and how awareness of mortality drives a desire to produce art, people, poems.

Today, we’d like to challenge you to write an elegy – a poem typically written in honor or memory of someone dead. But we’d like to challenge you to write an elegy that has a hopefulness to it. Need inspiration? You might look at W.H. Auden’s elegy for Yeats, which ends on a note suggesting that the great poet’s work will live on, inspiring others in years to come. Or perhaps this elegy by Mary Jo Bang, where the sadness is shot through with a sense of forgiveness on both sides.

And since I had already written something a few years ago on these lines, I thought I might as well post it here. It is about a very special person who left in 2010.  

To someone who left...

Hi, are you there? Are you listening?
I want to tell you something
I am angry, very angry
But sometimes I miss you, lots…
But let me also tell you that
sometimes I don’t…
You know,
Sometimes I want to talk to you
Sometimes I just want to listen to you
And sometimes I don’t know what I actually wish-
Sometimes I think I should wipe out every memory,
every thought of you…
And sometimes I want
to cling to even the tiniest moment
And don’t want to let go ever…
Sometimes I ask why, how..
Sometimes I just don’t care…
Sometimes I think
I’m getting used to your absence
And sometimes I feel its unbearable
Sometimes I think I’ll get over you…
And everything will be fine,I’ll keep moving on
And sometimes I’m stuck, I am lost
Sucked into a bottomless vortex
Struggling to stay afloat

Sometimes suddenly I get the feeling you are right here
Right in front of me or by my side
And when I reach out
Colliding into the emptiness and the silence
A sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach
A wrench in my heart, a sob in my throat
Reminding me that you are not here nor anywhere
Sometimes I think I heard you giggle
I fancy I saw you here or there
And I forget you are elsewhere or nowhere
And then when it dawns yet again
It is another stab for the millionth time
Knowing that the past will never come back…
It is so hard to believe that
That which was is no longer is …
Sometimes I can accept, and sometimes it hurts
in some place that cannot be seen, heard or touched

Sometimes I want to call out your name Loud, loudly…
Sometimes I want to hear you call out my name Loud, louder
And I want to answer
And then I realize with a shudder
I’m forgetting how your voice sounded
I keep looking for remnants of your voice, of your touch
And I drown in an abyss of despair and desolation
Of helplessness, of hopelessness
And yet, there is an absurd sense of relief
A weird reassurance
That you still exist- in my memories
Because I’m terrified of letting myself forget you
Because if I forget you then that will be the true end
And that I can’t bear
When you flash in my memory
It means you still are, and that you remain
I want to talk about you without my eyes welling up
I want to smile when I think about you
And for me to go on
I need to know that you are watching, listening,smiling too
I want to let the waves of your memories wash over me
I want to drown in them
I keep reliving those moments,
keep retelling those stories
In a frenzy to keep you here

Of how you chided me
How you teased me
How you annoyed me,
How your eyes crinkled when you smiled,
How you waggled your finger in mock anger
How you laughed, how you rolled your eyes
You said this, you did that…
The calendar is now marked forever
As before you left, and after
You just picked up and left
No goodbyes, no farewells
The onus on us left behind
To trudge through the quicksand of life
I always knew you’d leave
But when you did
I realized I was hoping you’d stay…

Hey ! Are you there? Are you listening?
I want to tell you something
I am angry, very angry- but
Did I tell you how much I have loved you
Did you know how much you meant to me?
Wait, I cannot let you go yet
I refuse to think you are not here
You are still here amidst us
In our words, in our thoughts
Now and forever…

#NaPoWriMo18

NaPoWriMo 2018 ( Prompt 1- Early Bird)

NaPoWriMo 2018

I am very late to the party. But no worries. Let me start from Day 1prompt

Day 1 Prompt  :  to write a poem in the form of a love letter . . . to an object. Ideally, the poem will be a kind of riddle, where it’s not totally obvious that the addressee is your beloved childhood pogo stick, or a dish of pad thai from your favorite restaurant, until near the end.  A great opportunity to play with some of the clichés and tropes of love poetry.

You were a gift

A very thoughtful one

You looked very strange

And yet I liked you

From the very beginning

You sang the sweetest songs

Your voice like the tinkle of bells.

I held  you in my arms

day in and out

Never wanting to let go

You were mine and  only mine  

And then one day

It happened

Everything changed

We had a fall out

I lashed out

In mad, blind fury

You were shattered

You whimpered

In feeble, garbled tones

And then you went silent

Silent forever

I’ve often wondered

What became of you

(Music Box : p.c: Internet)

I still remember the songs

That you sung

Your tinkling sound

Continues to Haunt my dreams

#NaPoWriMo18