Mother (OctPoWriMo & dVerse)

Day 19

Prompt: Story telling

Form: Quadrille

Her petite frame
and steely resolve
nurtured and
protected him
loneliness not withstanding

Then he grew up

Waiting for him
she died alone;
the funeral pyre
lit by a stranger

He hugs the urn
containing her ashes
for immersion in the Ganges*

too late…

Written for dVerse. Today’s host Sarah says: So tonight let’s write some ash quadrilles – 44 words, including the word ash.

*Hindus believe that the soul of the deceased stays attached to its body even after its demise, and by cremating the body, it can be set free. 

To fully liberate the soul of its mortal attachments, the ashes and remaining bone fragments of the deceased are then dispersed in a river or ocean, usually at a historically holy place, like the banks of the River Ganges.

Self expression or oppression (a quadrille)

(From Indian Express)

He is young; barely into his teens
fair, flashing narrowed eyes
and scraggy beard
his mind is made up and there’s no going back
he watches the armed personnel warily but unwaveringly
a slight movement and up goes his arm
He is a stone-pelter*.

Written for dVerse.Today’s host De Jackson aka WhimsyGizmo says: Leave no stone unturned. Stonewall us. Take us back to the Stone Age. Visit Stonehenge. Get stoned, and then write your poem (no judgement here). Stony. Stoning. A stone’s throw away. Listen to the Rolling Stones, and make sure your poem gathers no moss as you roll it our way. There are a million ways to play, so long as you set your poem in stone, and use only 44 words in total. 

*You can read more about stone-pelting here.

Same again (a quadrille)

(from Pexel)

That night, doubts lingered  like shadows
unspoken words hung like heavy chandeliers
eyes shuttered the unbecoming reality

we sat like two strangers
our misaligned hearts
refusing to beat in tandem
but cowardly courage refused to sing

So we went back to the usual drudgery.

Written for dVerse. Today’s host Linda says: The word today is Linger or any form thereof, or even one you create containing the word.

Living

The fine network
the roadmap of
experiences all along
you may call them fine lines or
wrinkles
but they are the ridges and grooves
left in the wake of
a life lived to the hilt
mindfully yet
spontaneously
life does kiss deep and long!

Written for dVerse. De Jackson aka WhimsyGizmo says:

Today, I’d like you all to get groovy. 
Tongue and groove. Groovy, baby. Grooving to the beat. Getting into the groove. Shake your groove thing. Noun it. Verb it. Adjective it within an inch of its groovy groover-ific little life. Invent a new word that blows our minds. Whatever you do, just be sure to include some form of the word groove in your poem of just 44 words. 

(Image from Pexel)

Maybe (a quadrille)

If only for one night

we had discarded religion like clothes

counted each others’ ribs,

run our hands over each others’ scarred hearts

read verses to each other from our scriptures

thereafter buried books that divided us

and saved us from religion

maybe then…

Written for dVerse. De says:
Put your heart into it, and pen us a poem of precisely 44 words (not counting the title), including some form of the word heart.

Rain lashing (a quadrille)

Rain moodily makes misty motifs
on the wall across the window
recreating the sodden past
writing tear soaked letters 
with melodramatic mawkishness

I slam the window-pane in its face
in retaliation,
it slams hard against the pane
the broken glass laughs

I stand shivering.

dVerse: Monday quadrille 133