Saturday, June 15, 2019

NaPoWriMo -19 Day-24 : Dictionary Illustration


Day 24 Prompt: Write a poem that, like “Dictionary Illustrations,” is inspired by a reference book. Locate a dictionary, thesaurus, or encyclopedia, open it at random, and consider the two pages in front of you to be your inspirational playground for the day. Maybe a strange word will catch your eye, or perhaps the mishmash of information will provide you with the germ of a poem.

The words that caught my attention on the pages of the dictionary have been highlighted in Bold letters. 

Resurgence


Seething unspoken emotions
Bursting at the seams
Across the seesaw of life
Seize, Select and separate
Letting them seep through
In soothing semantics
The seed of absolution
Sown within the self
To Salvage a semblance                                               
Of sobriety and serenity. 




Tuesday, May 28, 2019

NaPoWriMo -19 Day-23 : Poem about an animal


Day 23 Prompt: Write a poem about an animal.

There was a time when I was terrified of dogs, slowly I grew to respect the unconditional affection of dogs- and without my realising it- a way was being paved in my heart for them... and recently when a Boxer joined our family- the floodgates were yanked wide open! All credits to the little one- Ginger!





 Rambunctious Love                                                                              


There is this new surge
of love in my heart
A strange, unknown,                                              
spring of affection that
I never knew existed
Until she looked at me
with those liquid eyes 
She romps onto my lap
Like Royalty
And I all but melt
Into  mush and pulp…



Monday, May 20, 2019

NaPoWriMo -19 Day-22 : Ekphrastic poem


PC: Borrowed from the internet
Day 22 Prompt: Write a poem that engages with another art form –  to express something about another form of art.




Dance: Language of the Soul





Quivering bells on poised feet
Pounding Heart waiting in the wings
for the music to begin...

The beats began- the lyrics flowed
I sailed into the arc lights
My face, my eyes
My feet , my hands
My body, my soul
Sprung to life
My dream unfurled

 ******************

The tinkle of my anklets 
had become silent with time
And now a whiff from the past 
Stir sleeping memories
No anklets on my feet
And yet the chime resonates
There is no dais
And yet my feet they dance
to a soundless melody...


Sunday, May 19, 2019

NaPoWriMo -19 Day-21 : Surreal Imagery


Day 21 Prompt: Write a poem that, incorporates wild, surreal images. Try to play around with writing that doesn’t make formal sense, but which engages all the senses and involves dream-logic.




Inferno of fear
PC: Borrowed from the internet

The wind was screeching
numbing sleet gnawed my limbs
as I plodded through the knotted creepers and purple lotuses
when a blood curdling bellow
imploded behind me 

I turned to look and a scream rose and
shattered down my throat
A gargantuan beast with dripping fur and slobbery tongue      
eyes like a million menacing daggers 
Pierced right through me

And then she moved ,in one giant leap 
she pinned me down
her nails and fangs
tracing scarlet creases
across my face, across my limbs

I saw her teeth drip slick crimson froth
sheer black terror gripped my heart
and yet I managed to give a mighty heave
staggering to my feet I bounded indoors
and closed the doors behind me

I stumbled across the hall through the corridor
Dragging my bloody knees
I could hear the lusty growls behind me
I crawled across the kitchen floor-
The growls still behind outside                 

I slumped down on the frosty tiles
I closed my eyes- icy terror racing
through my gory veins
suddenly I sensed a slimy fiery trail
snaking down my neck

I start and open my eyes to find
steely  menacing eyes slicing into me
fetid frothy breath and crimson dribble
splattered onto my face
I froze and the darkness swallowed me…





Friday, May 17, 2019

NaPoWriMo -19 Day-20 : Talking poem




Day 20 Prompt : Write a poem that “talks.” - based in spoken language, interspersed with the speaker/narrator’s own responses and thoughts. Try to write a poem grounded in language as it is spoken – not necessarily the grand, dramatic speech of a monologue or play, but the messy, fractured, slangy way people speak in real life. get away from formally “poetic” speech and into the way language tends to work out loud.

Oh- Never mind! 

Snap! There!
I release you!
Don’t listen ! Don’t understand!
I hardly saw it coming
You were always around
Anytime, anywhere
But now you’r always elsewhere
No, no I’m not jealous
No way!
PC: Borrowed from the internet
Ya, I know that
I know I just have to call out
But I don’t want to
I don’t want to wait,
Tap your shoulder
To remind you                                            
I’m still here
Very much here
You ought to have known
I mean how can you forget?
It’s ok
You move on
I have myself for company
The good, the bad, the sad
I’ll keep to myself
No, no I’m not whining
I don’t sulk
I’m fine, really I’m fine
You keep going…



Thursday, May 16, 2019

NaPoWriMo -19 Day-19 : Abecedarian poem


Day 19 Prompt: Write an abecedarian poem – a poem in which the word choice follows the words/order of the alphabet. 

Onerous Errand


Arranging words
By the order of
Consecutive letters
Drafting meanings
Eloquent and elegant
Flourishing in finesse
Groping for ideas
High and low
Imagination fails me as I
Juggle my vocabulary
Kneading out expressions
Lucid and apt
Minting and churning
Nifty and neat
Ornate imagery
Packed with punch
Quaint and quippy
Ringing with rhyme
Sparkling with wit
Tricky task trying to
Unravel layers of
Vivid views and purport  
Weaving texture like in
Xylographic etches in
Yarns of text
Zingy and zesty!






Sunday, May 12, 2019

NaPoWriMo -19 Day-18 : Elegy


Day 18 Prompt: Write an elegy of your own, one in which the abstraction of sadness is communicated not through abstract words, but physical detail. This may not be a “fun” prompt, but loss is one of the most universal and human experiences, and some of the world’s most moving art is an effort to understand and deal with it.


The Viscosity of Grief 


Coming to terms with reality…
Yesterday that which was full of vivacity,
 that which pulsated with vibrancy
is now still, mute- not even there?
Can’t comprehend…

When we laughed, and cried together
PC: Borrowed from the internet
Where were the lungs, kidneys & the liver
I knew them not..
and now because these floundered
Resonance with the mind, the thoughts ,
feelings and emotions came to a naught
Where do all those moments go to

It stings, it burns
It hurts…
Where?
Some place that cannot be seen,
heard or touched…

The pain is just viscous void
Sticky, murky layers
Soldered to the soul

What ‘was’ yesterday
Stopped being  ‘is’ today
Neither here nor there.
an ambiguous plateau for sure!

Friday, May 10, 2019

NaPoWriMo -19 Day-17 : Unusual POV

Day 17 Prompt: Write a poem that presents a scene from an unusual point of view. 

A poem written from the POV of a pair of Bedroom slippers

Ready to Go! 

PC: Borrowed from the internet

We wait patiently
For the dawn to descend
Waiting for your lazy gaze
As you stretch in languor
We wait for your tender feet
To snuggle into our softened leather
Curved in dents to caress your soles
We are ready always
To help you gently tread
Across the tiles,
Across the stone walk
Across the dewy grass
Across the murky spills
Just slip in your feet
And we’re ready to go…


Monday, May 6, 2019

NaPoWriMo -19 Day-16 : List


Day 16 Prompt: Write a poem that uses the form of a list to defamiliarize the mundane. 


Finesse



Wrap not derision as humour
Relish not another’s chagrin
Humour is healthy
Humour is pleasant
Humour is kind
Humour is sensitive
Laughter is not an island
Laughter is a team
Laugh not at others
Laugh along with others

NaPoWriMo -19 Day-15: Dramatic Monologue


Day 15 Prompt: Write your own dramatic monologue. It doesn’t have to be quite as serious as Browning or Shakespeare, of course, but try to create a sort of specific voice or character that can act as the “speaker” of your poem, and that could be acted by someone reciting the poem.


Non- Judgmental

Repect! Respect!
Is it really so difficult?
To respect another
Even if I might not agree
Neither do I need to approve
But respect I can
Another’s idea or opinion

 Accept! Accept!
I want acceptance
So then why shouldn’t another expect
To be accepted
Isn’t it a two way lane?
Anyway I can’t walk alone
I need company

Empathy! Understand!
Is it indeed so difficult
To look kindly upon
Another’s idea or opinion
Do I have to always be right
And another wrong

It is all about
Accepting, respecting and Understanding
The others in me
And the me in others.



Friday, May 3, 2019

NaPoWriMo -19 Day-14 :Homophones, Homographs, and Homonyms

Day 14 Prompt: Write a poem that incorporates homophones, homographs, and homonyms, or otherwise makes productive use of English’s ridiculously complex spelling rules and opportunities for mis-hearings and mis-readings.


Not an easy knot! 



There are certain things that we bear/ bare
and then some that we can barely  bear/bare
I know/no that it needs to be a no/know
There is no other go
It is just not easy- it gets you in a knot
One is wary that one has to wear a mask
One feels weary and tired
One has to become someone one is not
And I do not like that
It would be like putting on an act
It would mean
That one has to be mean and sly
And that  is just not fair
It would be such a tardy fare




Monday, April 29, 2019

NaPoWriMo -19 Day-13 : Belief In Magic


Day 13 Prompt: Write a poem about something mysterious and spooky! Your poem could be about something that is mysterious and spooky in a bad way (like a witch), or mysterious and spooky in a good way (possibly also like a witch? It depends on the witch, I guess!) Or just the everyday, mysterious, spooky quality of being alive.


Magic Spell


I have with me words and language
And I know magic to 
PC: Borrowed from internet
use them any way I will

I can marinate words in
acerbic sauce of sarcasm
Toss it around my mouth
Stir it with my scalding tongue
And when I spew it forth
I can see the mucky vitriol splatter
sear and scorch the victim

But I don’t relish watching
another writhe in agony

I’d rather soak my words in
Empathy and compassion
Blend in dollops of tenderness and
top it with glazed generosity

And Voila! As I watch their face transform

Eyes sparkling with joy
Cheeks burnished with cheer
I too feel a fuzzy warmth
Seeping through my soul
Gratitude and serenity
saturates my being…




Sunday, April 28, 2019

NaPoWriMo -19 Day-12 : Dull Vs Significant


Day 12- Prompt : Write a poem about a dull thing that you own, and why (and how) you love it. Alternatively, what would it mean to you to give away or destroy a significant object?

Resolve


Very staid, very steady
Anytime, any day trustworthy
It stands right there in its abiding wholeness
But not a second glance does it claim
But the other one there so bright , so zesty
Simply clamouring for attention
I deliberately turn away
I walk sedately, steeled and set
For doesn’t one know
of life’s regular dictum
Glitzy, cheery is fine
But screaming transience
Something today and until forever
Is just that plain, stolid stance…


Thursday, April 25, 2019

NaPoWriMo -19 Day-11: Origins


Day 11- Prompt : Write a poem of origin. Where are you from? Not just geographically, but emotionally, physically, spiritually? Maybe you are from Vikings and the sea and diet coke and angry gulls in parking lots. Maybe you are from gentle hills and angry mothers and dust disappearing down an unpaved road. And having come from there, where are you now?

Let sleeping Memories lie...



Everything has changed
I had been gone too long
But fool that I was
I thought that
the memories in my heart
would keep the place alive

Everything has changed.. 
the smells, the sights
I deliberately tried to coerce
my sleeping memories alive.
I searched for familiar sights,  
I tried to breathe in familiar smells,
I tried to retrace my steps,
I closed my eyes, conjuring up images of the past.  

PC: borrowed from the internet
Everything has changed
I saw nothing, smelt nothing, felt nothing.
It was the same place and yet it was no longer.
I had grieved the passage of time,
yearned for lost moments.
I had come back but
found nothing that I thought I was seeking.
Is there a sense of loss?  No, not even that.
Just an emptiness and a numbness.

I have changed. Forever..

Everything has changed
That place in the depths of my heart
no longer exists outside.
I can now stop looking for it
every time I return.
Let sleeping memories lie...





Sunday, April 21, 2019

NaPoWriMo -19 Day-10: Regional Phrase ( weather related)


Day 10- Prompt : Write a poem that starts from a regional phrase, particularly one to describe a weather phenomenon. 

There is a phrase in Malayalam related to the Monsoon showers: “Thullikkoru kudam pemari”… which means it is raining in such torrents that a single drop runs to fill up an urn…


Elysian Nuptials


Gigantic droplets  
PC: Borrowed from the internet
brimming into urns
Was that a cloudburst
Cascading in ebullient joy
Splashing  into gurgling puddles

The skies have descended
With splintering charm
The earth has risen in embrace
Melting into the Azure haze           
Soaked, soused and sated…

Thunder rumbled in murky echoes
Slivers of lightning
Shimmered in glory
The fumes of petrichor
Whirled up in swirls…