Burden of Carrying---Sunday Scribblings

Sunday Scribblings makes us write about I Carry...

bronze coin tarnished with age
lost in the recesses of my bag
somehow makes me feel more
secure. carrying this talisman
since how long, I do not know.

only way I can have dad by my
side that same coin picked out
from his assemblage of hundreds,
I singled out his all time favourite.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Carrying is part and parcel of life. We human beings have a tendency to hoard and carry things forward. All those stuff, we have not needed for years still end up being there forever. I suppose we are all programmed not to let go, may it be things, feelings, emotions or thoughts. We carry excess of baggage everywhere. While travelling as well as in our minds.

We need to let go. Only true power over ourselves is to shed what we always carry, shedding like a skin and start afresh. It is not as easy it seems but we human beings can do it, if we try hard enough. The point is we do not want to. In fact, humans revel in it.

My motto in life is to move forward, leave the past behind, learn from it but not dwell on it. Carrying forward should not get on the way of living. It should not take over life.

nicking a name---Fiction Friday

[Fiction] Friday Challenge for November, 16 2007:

Pick an existing character. Give them a nickname, but don't wimp-out and make it a common one. Now tell the story of how the nickname came about.

naming him after a great saint, his parents
did their duty, assuming he would turn out
like his namesake. living up to it was one
tough act, God knows, he did try his best.

guilt was never far away, saintly feelings
were so outmoded, how does one go on
being one? stuck forever with a moniker
like that forever was an utterly abhorrent

shortening his name made it meaningless
yet it made the burden a lot less agonizing.

shoes ramble on---Totally Optional Prompts

Totally Optional Prompts wants us to write about places

sun beats down on my back
tarpaulins has holes, i barely notice.
my wares are placed haphazardly,
right in front of me.

nails, polish, strings, leather,
plastics with solutions of various hues.
disarrayed shoes, clogs, sandals
lie in wait to be renewed.

i might stay at the same place
for forty odds years now,
repairing broken, torn down shoes
soles reattached, fixed with glue.

stayed, i have not in one place, shoes
do have tales to tell of places visited.

icy patch------3WW

Icy
Pause
Train

with a slight pause,
I train my eyes towards
a movement behind the bushes.
mist sweeps the surroundings-
cold seeps through my pores;
I shake like a leaf, my feet
holding on to hard ground.

visibility being almost zero,
I follow the sound
taking care not to make a noise.
tripping on a shrub
I fall flat on that icy patch.
numb for a few moments
I examine myself for bruises.

‘what else is broken other than my ego?’

weaving webs---Writers Island

a world of web, spider weaves webs steadily
with gossamer silken threads, chained strong
waiting to swoop for an unsuspecting prey
to fall into that parlour of smoothened edges

resistance is useless, as the lure of unknown
breaks it with skill. well versed with the art
of story telling, clairvoyance too coming forth
to conclude that breaking. wings smeared

with honey cannot fly away. crawling out
of it, with so much dignity, difficulty- victim
gets away, cleansing away that stickiness;
shaking to core, it flies soaring to open sky.

if friendship was the agenda, it had to fail
spider’s web can draw, however, has to let go
promises never made, can never be broken
persistence can never turn into persuasion.

mind’s rivulets have the potential to hold
another mind to ransom, yet with strongest
of will power, it escapes. it has to, for its own
sanity- out of nothing, no life can be built.

a world of web, spider weaves webs steadily
now it is with words, which are meant to pierce.

stonewalls enthrall---Monday Poetry Train and Cafe Writing

Using the following image from Option One of November Project for Cafe Writing, I wrote a villanelle after a very long time. I offer the same for Monday Poetry Train too. I know it needs a bit of re-work. I am still posting it.

















candle light casts flickering shadows on stonewall
marked with time’s stamps. attention fluctuates
between reality and fantasy, poised- thoughts stall

for more composure, pen flows with almost a crawl
on yellowed parchment, all of a sudden accelerates.
candle light casts flickering shadows on stonewall,

projecting images from the psyche, enthralling all
for unexpected adventure, which only can accentuate
between reality and fantasy, poised- thoughts stall

with closed fists, helplessly compelled. shawl
pulled tight, it is the cold, surrounding assimilates.
candle light casts flickering shadows on stonewall.

wavering by winds, awaiting eagerly for downfall
pen moves briskly on paper, whatever lips advocate,
between reality and fantasy, poised- thoughts stall.

so much history is contained between these walls
yet secrets have to be kept away- not precipitate.
candle light casts flickering shadows on stonewall
between reality and fantasy, poised- thoughts stall.

Blog Award--A Roar for Powerful Words

'A Roar for Powerful Words' award was started by Seamus. Canterbury Soul of door left open has bestowed upon me this award here.



The three reasons c.s. listed for awarding this are:

1. the ability to hook - there are writers who are capable of using the right words and arranging them in the right order in the right structure to generate in readers an addiction. has bestowed upon me this award

2. imagery skill - there are those who are so good at creating images with words that it makes you wonder if they already knew how to write when they were still in their mothers’ wombs.

3. the ‘wow’ factor - then there are people who, through their words and stories, just simply ‘wow’ you. it’s like the moment you start reading, you ‘wow’. halfway through your reading, you ‘wow’. at the end of the reading, you ‘wow’. as you think about what you have read, you just ‘wow’, ‘wow’ and ‘wow’.

I thank him for this award.

Before I choose five bloggers, I too must state three reasons for awarding this.

1) Impact: Some people have that ability to get across what they want to say in a a forceful manner. Thet can do it with flourish and unintentionally.

2) Beauty: A few have the ability to create beauty in our minds with their sheer use of language. Their words have eloquence.

3) Hooking factor: Then there are those who keep you hooked for more. You want to go on reading their posts.

Taking all those into account, now I present this award to the following, in alphabetical order. I know, I selected 7 instead of 5!

Brian
djpare
Don Iannone
floots
pia
paris parfait/tara
polona

So friends, go ahead and proudly display this award on your blogs!

random selections---Sunday Scribblings

our routes are set,
through familiar vicinity
for our comfort and easiness.
no visible marks are left.
nature’s trail strolls
all through field forest and hills
with breathless simplicity,
there is no simulated shock here

each foot seeks out its own
set of laws and convention.
paths collide or converge from time to time
tar and soil congregate.
the fatalities of their assembly lie
unmoving. frozen. mottled.
every ephemeral instant splashes its own suggestion
yet we go by unmindful of our part

~selecting left or right randomly~

wired electronically ----[Fiction] Friday

[Fiction] Friday Challenge for November, 9 2007:
Your character met their love in a unique way. How?

in the silence in my room
the methodical deliberation of fingers
on keyboard,
compile the tacit exchange between you and me,
soundlessly beating across a net of stars and dreams,
meeting you in my half-comatose slumber
in a place that only sort of exists.
i glimpse through the window,
not your countenance,
but the words i would verbalize
if you were truly here.

mere text only simplifies the emotion
complicating mood making me speechless.
no matter how infuriated,
sound of my fingers on the keys,
try to convey everything,
and hide it too all at the same time.
i stop, realizing
our friendship is my weakness,
to be fully frank with you.
however, it cannot be more than this.
across this electronic chasm.

at the end of a journey--totally optional prompts

Totally Optional Prompts wants us to write evocative poetry.

I chose a random word from read. write. poem as asked by Jillypoet on her NaBloPoMo page and wrote this 11 line poem. Hope this works for both!


at the end of a journey

you endure an ice-coated carapace,
much like a goldfish swathed by aspic.
heartbeat picking once more to full moon.

rousing too soon onto a gallery of glass,
cavorting dewdrop lets off cold tentacles.
thorns of a plant prickle as you pass.
your voyage outlines obliterated passages
like water wandering in crumbled drains.

skin crumbles into itself, crawling over
veneer of ostensible spirited strength-
giving in, you gaze into vast nothingness.