First Day At School - # 18

Pretentious

Sublime and expectant

Walks she, into

Kindergarten

Head held high

Mommy’s - words

Braving in strangeness

Smiling in confidence

Embracing the learning

First day at

School

At day first

Learning the embracing

Confidence in smiling

Strangeness in braving

Words - mommy's

High held head

Kindergarten -

Into, she walks

Expectant and Sublime

Pretentious.

***

PS: And now our (as always, optional) prompt! Today’s prompt comes to us from Cathy Evans, who challenges us to write a poem that begins and ends with the same word. You could try for something in media res, that begins and ends with “and,” for example. Or maybe “if.” Or perhaps you could really challenge yourself and begin/end your poem with a six-dollar word like “antidisestablishmentarianism.” (Just kidding!) Whatever word you choose, I hope you have fun with it!

Birthday Post - # 17

The lovely summers
another journey
a stride forward
a chapter unread
a mob, strange, unravelled
an enigma waiting
a song desperate-
to be written
a story yearning to be told.

With another year 
spent in discovering 
miniscules of my existence
gathering bits and pieces of joy,
a purpose unfulfilled
a song unsung
a season unlived
a game unplayed 
a feast unrelished
and whole new life
waiting!
Unexplored,
after reaching the crest
and beginning again at the valley.
I wait for another year.
Welcome Life!

***
PS: Welcome Poetry
PPS: this is a birthday post, I wrote a few days ago, suits well! :)

Hell-hiker - # 16

The prompt: And now our (optional, as always) prompt. This is an oldie-but-a-goodie and it ties in nicely with our featured link! Today, I’d like you to write a “translation” of a poem in a language you don’t actually know. Go to the Poetry International Language List, pick a language, and then follow it to a poet and a poem. Generally the Poetry International website will present a poem in its original language on the left, and any translation on the right. Cut and paste the original into the text-editing program of your choice (and try not to peek too much at the translation). Now, use the sound and shape of the words and lines to guide you, without worrying too much about whether your translation makes sense.

I picked up this poem : 

HEILIGER

Gott, ach einen Affen

Brauche ich zu dem ich mich mache, taub

Die Menschheit unter der Binde aus Holz

Schweigt, da der Wurm drinnen

Nicht richtig tickt Zeit Unzeit Wie

Kippelt der Sockel darauf ich

In Blindheit fern seh

-by Kerstin Hensel

My translation:

HELL HIKER

got an ache in the afternoon
Brought ice for one dime one for me making two
The Mankind under the Binding on the Hole
shifted the worm drink
neither right ticket timed or untimed we
kept the socket daringly 
in the blindfold for you

PS: to read the actual translation, click on the title of the poem --> HEILIGER. :)
PPS: I couldn't publish poems from day 11 - day 15! May be some other time! Carrying on with Day 16 now! :)

To the snob, I don't like! - # 10

Your pretty face
and charming smile
is pretty fake
harms all the while

behind the innocence
is a docile mind
innocence is ignorance
it's so unkind

pretty features tell tales
of a damsel in distress
that invisible crooked smile
makes luck digress

it attracts people 
tries to keep them for life
bothers them a lot
puts them under the knife

there may be love around
but i have lovely things to tell
You loony old snob
learn to get out of that well!

***

PS: This was the best prompt ever! I never thought non-love poems could be so fun! Yes, I do have complaints from a few people. I don't hate them, but I don't respect them either :D Thanks NaPoWriMo for this wonderful Prompt! :)

Prompt : An un-love poem isn’t a poem of hate, exactly — that might be a bit too shrill or boring. It’s more like a poem of sarcastic dislike. This is a good time to get in a good dig at people who chew with their mouth open, or always take the last oreo. If there’s no person you feel comfortable un-loving, maybe there’s a phenomenon? Like squirrels that eat your tomatoes. (I have many, many bitter feelings about tomato-eating squirrels). There’s lots of ways to go with this one, and lots of room for humor and surprise as well. Happy writing!

The Chase - # 9

A deceiving night,
Impinging solitude,
A shot of tequila in the bar
at the roadside,
eased the parching throat 
and fueled the seeking soul.

She picked up her purse,
Rich, she was, she flew
like a feather
in nothings of the night.

As the black car she always
knew, recognized,
stood at an apartment, strange,
new, suspicious.
She knocked on the door lightly
alcohol taking it's toll,
and she expected her
ring to fall down any moment
in the dungeons.

But the drop was for
her sister
and her husband aided the deal.
for money, he married one
and sold the other.
She never regreted carrying
a pistol.
and that's when she played
colors.
and the color was
RED.

***

PS: And now our (totally optional) prompt. I’m a sucker for a good mystery novel, especially the hard-boiled noir novels of the thirties and forties. There’s always a two-timing blonde, a city that keeps its secrets, and stuck in the middle, a man who just can’t help but rabbit after truth. Today I challenge you write a poem inspired by noir — it could be in the voice of a detective, or unravel a mystery, or just describe the long shadows of the skyscrapers in the ever-swirling smog. After all, “you know how to write a poem, don’t you, Steve? You just pick up a pen and you write.”

One Octave High - # 8

A year and a half, she's already begun to play

So many crazy tunes, with flair and style

sometimes she sings, or tries to say

And sometimes she simply flashes a smile

When I woke up on a fine winter day

I heard her serenade for a while

Then she looked at me and hit the key

Like a professional one could ever be!

***

PS: Ottava rima

The Everyday Talk - # 7

I'll write a rhyme, and sing it too
I'll play the cello along
I'll serve you snacks with some wine
Will you pretend to like my song?

I'll cook for you, the dishes I'll do
I'll paint your house in white
I'll grow pretty roses, and lilies too
Will you talk to me every night?

I'll live up our vows, I'll clean the stow
and bring up our children good and nice
I'll save prudently, like you say
Will you spend on me not once, but thrice?

Oh well, I think it's difficult to let go
your high expectations and mine
We can live well, but it's fun to argue
You think I'd give in this time?

***

Prompt: Speaking of which, here is our optional prompt for this, the seventh day of NaPoWriMo. I challenge you to write a poem in which each line except the last takes the form of a single, declarative sentence. Then, the final line should take the form of a question. With any luck, this will result in poems that have a sort of driving, reportorial tone, but with a powerful rhetorical finish. Let’s hope so, anyway!

Efa, good bye - # 6

Not just an electronic device

But like another heart

which would beat

with every message,

every call.

A delightful means of 

communication.

Surreal depiction of technology.

A friend in need.

I owe you the best conversations.

It's not one big deal,

you are a sum of tiny little

beautiful things

and even if I say I am in love

with a human, it's not enough

I cannot deny that I 

love you more than

any other thing,

any other being

in this world

But now the time's come

to let you go

Farewell, my love,

you were the best phone

I could've ever had!

***

PS: I am two days late for this one, Day 6, but it's apt nonetheless! :) Thanks for the amazing prompt! Seemed it fit in just well with my situation!

Here's the prompt: And now, our (completely optional) prompt for the day! This might seem like a bit of a downer, but I challenge you to write a valediction. This is a poem of farewell. Perhaps the most famous one is John Donne’s A Valediction Forbidding Mourning, which turns the act of saying good-bye into a very tender love poem. But your poem could say “good-bye” (and maybe good riddance!) to anything or anyone. A good-bye to winter might be in order, for example. Or good-bye to the week-old easter eggs in your refrigerator. Light or serious, long or short, it’s up to you!

Daddu - # 5

Look,

Those Eyes

Behind dusty spectacles

Tell me the saga of age

unkind.

***

Prompt: Cinquains

Irregular Apocalypse - # 4

I decide to breathe

and slowly look at faces around -

their rhythm

their pace

of breathing

and slowly i follow it.

i take life

from someone else

to survive

and a mighty sigh,

last breath,

of someone else,

gives me brightness.

Within me

there's euphoria

without -

an irregular

Apocalypse!

***

PS: Prompt: Our prompt for today (again — totally optional!) is a little odd, but here goes. Recently, I read an articleabout the Scottish science fiction writer Iain M. Banks. His books often have spaceships in them. And those spaceships have extremely odd, poetic names. Like:

Prosthetic Conscience

Irregular Apocalypse

Unfortunate Conflict of Interest

Gunboat Diplomat

Very Little Gravitas Indeed

A Series of Unlikely Explanations

Just Another Victim of the Ambient Morality

Jaundiced Outlook

Frank Exchange of Views

Lightly Seared on the Reality Grill

Falling Outside the Normal Moral Constraints

Abundance of Onslaught

Refreshingly Unconcerned With the Vulgar Exigencies of Veracity

A Fine Disregard For Awkward Facts

There’s a whole twitter account devoted to tweeting Iain-M-Banks-like names for spaceships. So your challenge for today is to write a poem with a title drawn from one of these spaceship names. Feel free to pick a genuine Banks, like the ones listed above, or to take one from the twitter. And if you think of your own Banks-like spaceship name title, feel free to use that! The poet Barbara Guest wrote an essay warning poets about starting from the title, but while I’ve found that a wonderful poem usually finds its right title, I’ve also found that the right title can easily lead to a wonderful poem!

Girl Power! - # 3

Do n say, say and do

Do n say, say and do

A thunderbolt of aims

Pretty me, Gorgeous you

Creation is thy name!

Power to thee, girl! you voice your pleas oh! high.

Get your wings, or get your broom, and get ready to fly

And if they ask, "where do you go", show them the way to hell

And if they insist, and hold you back, you better dance and tell

Do say, say and do,

A thunderbolt of aims..

Pretty me, Gorgeous you!

Power is thy name.

Be strong, amidst the patriarchs who think that they rule

shun the chauvinism, hold your head high, and show them they are fools

Vanishing Venus, Miserable Goddess, empathize with your pain

Stand for equality, be yourself, and start it all over again

Do say, say and do,

A thunderbolt of aims..

Pretty me, Gorgeous you!

Woman is thy name.

***

Prompt: 

And now, our prompt (remember — these are optional, so if they don’t inspire you or you have an idea of your own you want to work with, go ahead!). I’m playing to my own strengths here, but I challenge you to write a sea shanty (or shantey, or chanty, or chantey — there’s a good deal of disagreement regarding the spelling!). Anyway, these are poems in the forms of songs, strongly rhymed and rhythmic, that sailors might sing while hauling on ropes and performing other sea-going labors. Probably the two most famous sea shanties are What Shall We Do With A Drunken Sailor? and Blow the Man Down. And what should your poem be about? Well, I suppose it could be about anything, although some nautical phrases tossed into the chorus would be good for keeping the sea in your shanty. Haul away, boys, haul away!

A few straight truths - # 2

While painting picture of -
Mona Lisa
I realised I was also making -
Pizza
Pizza happened to be the yummiest food in town
I recorded a Guiness for putting that one down.

While talking to -
Brad Pitt
I put a tree trunk inside -
A Stick
That's why tree trunks are so brown
I won a Nobel, for putting that one down.

While taking a walk around -
Mars
I put some chocolate in Hazelnut -
Jars
That's how Nutella became a proper noun
They gave me Mars, for putting that one down.

While writing the -
ABCs
I messed up a thousand times
trust me.
So, The Picture of Dorian Grey was finally found
I got a Booker for putting that one down!

***

PS:  Here's Prompt:

And now, the prompt! Today’s prompt is drawn from an idea that Kelsey Howard gave me — that of a poem that tells a lie. I think you could have a poem that’s all lies (that could be very funny — full of things like “the sun is the size of a nickel”) or a poem that steadily builds to telling one big whopper. I can imagine these being very poignant, or very much like goofy shaggy-dog stories. I suppose it all comes down to what you want to lie about!

To know mere, click here --> Two for the Show

The Dilemma - # 1

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood

I wonder if I had to take, which one I should

A life of independence, respect and fame

Or one of mere dependency, selflessness and shame

One would bestow me with relations and bonds

I could be the weakest when I am expected to be strong

The other could put me on a lonely street

But with fairness and honesty I could retreat

A chance to experience the joy of love and care

or just have all infinities with no one to share

I could pick one if its gravity I'd understood

I stand and stare at two roads, diverging in a yellow wood.

PS : The prompt for this poem :
Continuing with the theme of firsts, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem that has the same first line as another poem. You can use a favorite poem, pick up a random book of poetry and get a first line that way, or perhaps use one of the following:  Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? / She walks in beauty, like the night / Slowly, silently, now the moon /anyone lived in a pretty how town.

I have used the first line of one of my favorite poems The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost. 

NaPoWriMo

Ohh Kay! 

So this is a poetry marathon. 30 days, 30 Poems. I haven't done this before, so am not sure if I can keep up with this, but I shall try nonetheless! :)

For more details.. Click here --> http://www.napowrimo.net/

My first poem for the run, coming up next! ;)

Pun Intended

I have this group of friends who are added on whatsapp and we discuss potential weekend travel plans. 

V : Speculative Program .. How about a small trip to Dahanu on the weekend of April 5th-6th?
     Dahanu is 180 Kms from Mumbai.

Me: I have to see the distance from Bangalore.

V: Incase planning fails, I may be coming to Pune the same weekend.

Me: Then you all can go to Dahanu-kar colony.. :D :D 

(You have to have lived in Pune, to get the joke ;))

***

Everyone knows who Evelyn is. She is my adorable little neice, Jincy's daughter who's 1.5 years old.

So we get this status update from Jincy the other day.

Jincy: Evelyn learned 'tomato' yesterday so today she recalled it and pointed at a banana and said 'tooamaatoo'

I said, no.. Banana! and then I showed her the tomato.. She nodded.  After a while she says "Banatoo"

Rest of us: ROFL!


***

FRIENDS series can be really liberating at times. Especially when  you say something about it and the other person instantly gets the joke and vice versa. The FRIENDS fan club is a unique group of people who can get the moment going by uttering anything insane and yet making complete sense out of it.

So, at 1 am, past midnight, me and D were having some conversation ranging from books to television, where we came and stuck on FRIENDS for a moment. She narrated the relation of number 'seven' that she'd heard somewhere to one of the most amazing scenes of FRIENDS. She simply said it thrice. Seven, Seven, Seven.. and I understood what she was talking about. I immediately logged on to Youtube and re-visited that scene!

That's the beauty! If anyone of you get it, then I'd say, thumbs up, and those who couldn't co-relate...well.... "how you doing?" ;)


***

I have always been a lyrical mess. I find it really hard to remember lyrics, more so the tempo of the song too. So, the other day, after trying to recollect the main leads of the song "Tune jo na kaha main wo sunta raha", I began singing this song. To say the least, I was indeed in that mood. You know, contemplative kinds! So i sang that song.. Like this..

tune jo na kaha, main wo sunta raha,
khamakha, bewajah, khwaab bunta raha
Jaane kiski hume lag gai hai nazar
Iss shehar me na apna thikana raha
duur jakar bhi main paas aata raha
khamkha bewajah khwaab bunta raha..

(OK, i know these are not the correct lyrics, but in my mind, they fit perfectly and they give me the requiste feel!)

After this.. I continued singing the para

Log kehte hai pagal, hu ye main bhi na jaanu.
Dil lutaya hai maine
ab kisi ki na maanu
chain dekar ke maine
bechainiya ye li hai
neende uda ke main
tumse wafaye ki hai

----confused!---

Yeah, that's when I realised, I'd messed it up. The contemplative mood went to the dogs, and laughed my ass out, for singing the entire thing in feel, as if, you know, I was the one suffering indeed and singing my heart's state out. But mixing up the para of one song with chorus of the other? I banged my head on an imaginary wall! Thrice~

Damn, I thought, even words betray me ;)

***

Jee haa..Aisa bhi hota Hai! ;)

PS: Wishing everyone a great All Fool's Day. Foolishness is the real way of finding nirvana! ;) Trust me!