Untittled
(Double Elevenies)
Boy
Gazes longingly
At the window
No pretty damsel waiting
Dejected.
Girl
Looking pretty
Skips to balcony
Sees the boy gazing.
Elated.
#NaPoWriMo#
Month: Apr 2017
#NaPoWriMo# Day 22
Terrace Garden
(Georgic poem)
When one is stuck on a high rise building
From where giant trees appear like pygmy bonsai
Growing plants in pots becomes a challenge.
I decided to take up this herculean task
Hoping to have my own hanging garden.
It starts with selecting the right pot
Then comes the soil, compost and fertiliser.
You have to take a call on the right mix of plants
Choosing ornamental, flowering and herbs.
You next step is to make sure they get the right amount of light
The watering schedule is crucial too.
But the most important thing to keep in mind is
Give them your tender, loving attention To see them in their full growing glory.
#NaPoWriMo#
#NaPoWriMo# Day 21
The Neighbour
(Overheard speech)
“If you know what I mean!”
I would often hear our neighbour remark,
I was a young kid of nine then
Curious and with an overactive mind.
I would wonder and wonder
My brain going in overdrive
What exactly did she mean by that?
My imagination would run wild.
And for me that bespectacled, buck-toothed
Female of unfathomable age
Was nothing less than an oracle!
One who could see in the in seeable future
Who would leave things half said,
Juxtaposed with… you know what I mean…
And I wondered at the minds of the adults talking to her
Marvelling at their ability to read her mind.
And so I remained fascinated as well as fearful of this neighbour.
Till one day I had an epiphany
Suddenly this neighbour lost her aura
I realised she was nothing more than a snooty, nosey woman
Who actually knew nothing at all!
#NaPoWriMo#
#NaPoWriMo# Day 20
Love at Crease
(Sports imagery)
I was at the batting crease,
When she came from nowhere.
Her looks threw a googly
And I was clean bowled!
No slip was required,
Nor a mid–on needed
I was the maiden wicket
For I scarce scored in her presence.
Some say it was hit wicket,
Others accused me of not playing the ball
But the truth is the maiden bowled me over
With a quick flick of her gaze.
(The terms in bold are used in cricket.)
#NaPoWriMo#
#NAPoWriMo# Day 19
Tatting
(Creation myth)
As the kitty ran away with the ball of thread,
Rolling and unfurling it between its paws
It got knotted and pulled
in all directions.
Finally tired of all entanglement, the kitty came to a pause.
When she finally retrieved the ball from the kitty,
She was amazed to see the pattern as she pulled it taut.
The knots and the loops looked daintily pretty
And gave her the idea to not knit, but instead knot.
Thus using that as template she tried many a times
Knotting and pulling , then giving some slack
Her fervour waxing and waning in turns.
Giving up in frustration, then redoing at her pace,
At last she perfected the art of tatting on her own.
And gave the world a craft of making lovely lace.
#NaPoWriMo#
#NaPoWriMo# Day 18
Wedding in the family, guests and illness have put me back by almost 10 days! But I am trying my best to catch up. So I am posting 3 poems today.
Rain
(Neologism)
Pitter and patter the rain fell
Causing a rumblebeat on my roof
Phlat! phlat! It fell on the slats
Sometimes sounding like the pussyhoof.
The tiny droplets fell tippytoppytap
The big ones went plopish
At times the rain fell slumberingishly
At others, frenzichaotically.
I lay next to the window gazlongingly
Looking at the merrdance of drops
Wishing I could outdoors be
Waving my limbs like a field of crops.
#NaPoWriMo#
#NaPoWriMo# Day 16
To You, Forever!
(Poem in form of letter)
Dear Husband,
If you are reading this letter
Then I think I did better
And moved on to the next level
Where I don’t have to struggle
To be what you wanted me to be,
But rather be what I was always meant to be.
Forty years ago, I married a man I scarce knew,
Willingly, accepting without a cry and hue.
Trying ever so hard to please all the time
To be myself, I never had the time.
You loved me, I cannot deny it
But it restricted me and tethered me a bit.
Perhaps I too was at fault, I think,
Making you the centre of my universe in a blink.
Thus you got in the habit of lording over me,
It filled me with pride first, later it suffocated me.
Loving you was the be all end all of my life
But it was not reciprocated fully and ruined my life.
I could not go out without your permission,
I could never voice a contrary opinion,
Meeting my relatives was frowned upon,
To be true, on your relatives you didn’t ask me to fawn.
These were not a written writ
But subtly wrought bit by bit.
I thought love meant twin bodies and one soul
Your soul remained intact, I inflicted a self goal.
By the time I realised I was stifled and misused
To my ministrations you had gotten used
Every time I tried to flex my wings
You clipped them with baubles and things.
Thus I asked god for only one wish to grant
Outlive you, I simply can’t.
Now you would know my true worth
When in my absence you will be given wide berth
No one now at your beck and call
No one to help you when you fall.
Perhaps now you will have time to ponder
Maybe at your autocracy you will wonder
Every time you call out my name
Maybe it will be with regret and a bit of shame.
#NaPoWriMo#
#NaPoWriMo# Day 17
Missing You
(Nocturne)
Shallow clouds float languidly,
The moon hangs low over the horizon,
Zephyr blows softly, setting the mood,
I am here all alone, wishing you were with me.
I lie awake as sleep eludes me,
Your thoughts fill my whole being.
The moonlit night looks sad,
The fragrant breeze gradually dies down,
The clouds drift away.
I curse such beauteous nights
That I spend longing for you!
When you are not by my side,
Nothing gives pleasure to me.
#NapoWriMo#
#NaPoWriMo# Day 15
Journey
(Half way poem)
As I look back at my journey so far
After having reached the half way mark
I think of all that has happened
And wonder about all that is going to happen.
I realise life is not a profit and loss game
Where you tally the loss against gain.
It has been a learning process,
Learning and unlearning by osmosis.
At times life gave me some hard knocks
At others, I easily surmounted stumbling blocks.
Gaining friends as I carried forward,
Losing some loved ones moving onwards.
I don’t know exactly what future has in store
But I am prepared to lose some more for sure.
With age comes equanimity and acceptance
And the realisation of life’s impermanence.
This is how life goes on
I’ve learnt to take things head on.
#NaPoWriMo#
#NaPoWriMo#Day 14
Socrates
(Clerihew)
Who doesn’t know Socrates
He never wore any tees
But he never did balk
When made to drink hemlock.
#NaPoWriMo
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