Bottled Up

Day-30 NAPOWRIMO-2021

Prompt: Giving directions

                                                                         image:sunita

One can find 

Different ways to breathe

I know, it is not easy

To breathe in and to breathe out

But, nothing to lose

We can do it together

Suck your tummy in

Don't forget to close

The right nostril

And then

The left one

Take a deep breathe

Inhale and then exhale.

To breathe 

Take the right amount of water

Let it steam.

Don't forget to drop a pinch of turmeric

A few leaves of neem too will do

Now, inhale that concoction

Let your lungs flare up

It gets clogged and rusty

Take a deep breathe

Now stand tall and check

How far you have moved

The lungs feeling the heat...right?

I know the road was a little rough

There were those high cliffs

And to breathe with eyes closed

You feel you are walking

In a dark, shadowy corridor. 

But, there is no other way

To stay alive

One has to breathe

You know how it is

Fear comes without a sound

Death takes away the breathe

But, birth brings it in.

Shall we start again?

I mean breathing to survive!

Participating in : https://www.napowrimo.net/day-thirty-7/

Cycle of Motions

 Dat-29 NAPOWRIMO-2021

Prompt: Imagine a window looking into a place or onto a particular scene.

                                                                       image:sunita

Then....

It sees life

Brimming with energy

Dancing on a rainbow

The laughter of small children

Running on the roads

With a cricket bat and ball

Another one  pushing  a cycle tyre

His dream vehicle with a stick

A few ladies enjoying the evenings

Gossiping, sharing jokes 

With their sisters- in-arm

The carefree lovers, holding hands,

Throwing cautions to the winds

An old lady holding the finger

Of her favourite grandchild

Walking with laughter in her eyes

The cyclists, motorists

Going to their destination

With a broad smile  

To meet their loved ones

Just a year back ago

A panorama of happy faces

Displayed from the kitchen 

There was so much noise

Smells and fragrances

Breathing on those roads...

Now...

It mourns

Searching for a lifeline

In the silent echoes

The only pedestrians it sees

Are the four legged

Starving and barking

Fighting over a piece of bone

There is that lone cow

Munching on plastics and paper towels

The voiceless too miss their human friends.

The emptiness in the streets

Echoes desperate loneliness. 

But...

There is  hope

In the azurine skies, tempting,

With  sensuous evenings and better future

Hope is a strange thing

It becomes a prison for a person.

Participating in : https://www.napowrimo.net/day-twenty-nine-7/

Rotating Skins

 Day-28 NAPOWRIMO 2021

Prompt: To write a poem that poses a series of questions.

artbysunita

Why are you judgmental?

Why my color bothers you?

Is there any sense in how I look ?

Does this earth belongs only to you?

How about measuring the earth 

And the shades it wears?

What about the air, water and sky?

What is their skin color?

Shall we divide the sun, the moon,

And the stars too ?

What percentage your color demands?

Shall we check that percentage

And come to a conclusion

To see whose share is more or less?

Who gives you the power to intimidate others?

Isn't it time to check the chronology of time?

Shall we base our superiority based on that?

Who came first?

Who came last?

Who evolved first?

Who evolved last?

Which species will rule?

So, what is the verdict?

How many skins do you have?

Is your blood different than mine?

Does it slot people

And flows knowing the skin colors?

Does your fat pockets judge

People based on the weight in their pockets?

How about changing that  mindset ?

Can we stop finding faults in others' skins?

Don't you think acceptance is the peace word?

Well, shouldn't we co-exist considering,

Humanity is colorless, Am I right?

Participating in : https://www.napowrimo.net/day-twenty-eight-7/

Onism

Day-27 NAPOWRIMO

Prompt: To write a poem inspired by the entry from " Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows"

Onism the frustration of being stuck in just one body, that inhabits only one place at a time, which is like standing in front of the departures screen at an airport, flickering over with strange place names like other people’s passwords, each representing one more thing you’ll never get to see before you die—and all because, as the arrow on the map helpfully points out, you are here.

                                                                         image: sunita

A kaleidoscope  belonging to

Another world

 Carrying hope on its wings, cuts across the sky.

It tempts a prisoner , stuck in a quagmire

To break the walls

But, the noise within, shuts all the doors.

Participating in : https://www.napowrimo.net/day-twenty-seven-7/

Trapped

Day-26 NAPOWRIMO-2021

 

                                                                              artybysunita

A phone call and your world

Turns upside down. A friend

Without saying  goodbye.

Carried childhood memories

To the other world.

Another one on ventilators

Struggling to survive.

And one more hits the bottom

When the results came out

How can one bear

So much pain around,

People who were part of your life

Leaving silently without warning

And you just stare at the walls

With a numbness trying

To absorb the distant wails.

Space- Time

 Day-25 NAPOWRIMO-2021

Today, I wrote something for my daughter. She is in the US and we in India. The world is going through a bad phase and we worry about each other everyday. Just to give her hope and to have faith, I wrote a few lines.

                                                                         image-sunita

Dear Sneha,

You are too young

To measure

The ridges of time

Spread across the skin

Some sagged

Some cracked

Some wrinkled

They have weathered

The stormiest of pain

The deepest of emotions

The softest of touches

And some have

Hardened when

The heart has melted

In an ocean of betrayal

You are too young

To know their depth

Be strong

To overcome

When they knock

And become your memories...

With Love,

Maa

Participating in : https://www.napowrimo.net/day-twenty-five-7/

Farewell

 Day-24 NAPOWRIMO-2021

                                                                          artbysunita

I don't know

What to write,

As words have

Worn a shroud,

There is silence

All around me.

I find dear ones

Who laughed

And made merry 

Becoming invisible,

They are in the realms

Across the meadows

Embracing the earth.

The heart is helpless,

It mourns, to see the

Long winding road

Taking  loved ones

To a place unknown.

Participating in : https://www.napowrimo.net/day-twenty-four-7/

I Carry Her Laughter In My Heart

 Day-23 NAPOWRIMO-2021

Prompt: To write a poem that responds, in some way, to another. This could be as simple as using a line or image from another poem as a jumping-off point, or it could be a more formal poetic response to the argument or ideas raised in another poem.

I  have chosen my favourite poet Kamala Das's  poem" My Grandmother's House"

                                                   image: sunita My grandmother's house.

How to put in  words the surging emotions I feel

Remembering, so much love and warmth,

In those wrinkled hands, caressing a broken soul.

A childhood, breathed in her loving arms

Forgetting all the pain, destiny had strewn in the path.

The walls of that house, still resonates with her presence

Every nook and corner, has her footprints in invisible shapes

The verdant backyard, stamped by her  tender hands

Smiles  with fragrances of fruits, vegetables and flowers

Now, when I am on a cliffhanger, I remember her the most

She touched others' lives positively with her ancient wisdom.

She has left  many fond memories to reminiscence 

When the heart is burdened and helplessness touches the soul

I let  those memories and her soft smile

Flow in my veins, to hope, and to accept, all the shades of life.

Participating in : https://www.napowrimo.net/day-twenty-three-7/

A Long Lost Memory

 Day-22 NAPOWRIMO-2021

Prompt: Write a poem of a specific object as a symbol of a particular time, era or place.

                                                                       image:sunita

Memories have a funny way to show up

In different forms, shapes and colors

I hold a few close to my heart

The vintage bottle is one of them

It carries the essence of an old world

Which had a bohemian charm.

A curious childhood found it interesting

To see what was forbidden 

Packed in this intricate shape

As adolescence took wings

The tongue tasted the first sip

What a memory it was!

To swallow what that bottle contained

And feel freedom passing through the veins.

I still remember fondly, the benevolent soul

Who gifted me this beautiful bottle decades ago

He must be smiling from the other world

Seeing the bottle taking a poetic form.

Participating in : https://www.napowrimo.net/day-twenty-two-7/

Delusioned

 Day-21 NAPOWRIMO-2021

Prompt: To write a poem with repetitive lines.

                                                                             artbysunita  

Someday, life will end

Waiting on the toes.

Someday, the end will have

Wilting  flowers to bury.

Someday, one will stop dreaming 

Wasting sweet memories.

Someday, one would have memories

When end came tiptoeing, without any warning.

Participating in : https://www.napowrimo.net/day-twenty-one-6/

My Little Friend

 Day-20 NAPORWRIMO-2021

Prompt: To write a Sijo a Korean poetic form which consists of  3 lines, each line of 14 to 16 syllables 

                                                                   cuckoo image...googled

Lethargically charged morning, and a cloudy skyline

salts the skin, stinking with frayed nerves, ready to hit the roof.

It's April, I wait for your melodious voice, to brighten my day.

Participating in :  https://www.napowrimo.net/day-twenty-8/

A Cluttered Life

 Day-19 NAPOWRIMO-2021

Prompt: A rant

                                                                         artbysunita 

In my cozy dwelling

Life moves in circles

Two senior citizens

And two four legged beasts

Each one rotates in different directions

Making life a comedy of errors

Dealing with the woof-woof is easy

Feed them some threats, for lifelong,

They become your slaves

But, how to deal with the better half?

He gets my goatee and my blood pressure

Somersault on a roller coaster.

First thing first, the morning saga

He takes a shower and the bed 

Displays the masterpiece! A wet towel!

Then comes the breakfast table

A charger, a cell phone, a laptop

And every wire one can set eye on

Strewn across the space,

Sheltered in-between the breakfast plates.

There is no end to my woes

Here comes the supreme lethargic accomplishments 

The dreaded afternoons

Post lunch scenario-

The blinking television on full volume

And the display of various remotes

On the teapoy, hand in gloves

With toothpicks and nail cutters,

And a number of pens, papers and ashtrays!

All the cushions on the sofa

Moans as if hit by a hurricane

Angled in different postures

There is no mercy for those lifeless beauties

Imagine somebody dropping in at that moment

And finding a messy sitting room in corona times!

To save the occasion, I go around 

With cleaners, disinfectants and sprayers

Keeping the gems away and to breathe in fresh air

I preen with a satisfactory smile

The room smells nice and looks spotless and shine.

But, all my efforts come to a full circle

As soon as the dinner is served

I am on guard to maintain the truce

Alas! the sloth in the house thinks otherwise! 

He plops infront of the television

And goes on a repeat mode.

Participating in : https://www.napowrimo.net/day-nineteen-6/

The Winning Line

 Day-18 NAPOWRIMO-2021

Prompt: To write a poem on one of the chapters from Susan Woodridge's "Poemcrazy: Freeing your life with words".

I am going off prompt today. My take is on the movie " THE GREAT INDIAN KITCHEN" which I watched last night on Amazon Prime. A hard hitting slap on patriarchy. It reminded me of my newly wedded days as a docile daughter-in-law.

                                                                           artbysunita

Her fragile shoulders

carried the burden of starry dreams,

woven with silken threads, to bond, to build a nest,

she entered the hearth 

with  blind faith in her eyes.

 

She stood there

Reeling, in a new world,

 where the walls whispered, and the roof echoed as

a thunderous roar and a quizzical look

shattering  her fragile soul.

Seasons after seasons

the chill set in and she got transformed

from a happy maiden, to a wingless bird,

listening, obeying, following, believing

in the ordains and rituals.

Her caged existence

fluttered many times

to breathe, to feel, the fragrance of freedom.

Whenever she moved forward

they barricaded the walls. 

She became invisible

in the shadows of unsung dreams.

Her womb and her silent heart

bowed down  to the dormant, 

vicious cycle of demands .

As the decades moved ahead

her heart rebelled.

 The soothing voice of reasoning, opened the gates

 to hope, to new dreams and to break  

 the bonds of societal norms.

Participating in : https://www.napowrimo.net/day-eighteen-7/

Moonshine

Day-17 NAPOWRIMO-2021

Prompt: A poem about the moon

My take : A Nonet

                                                                           artbysunita

A silent lover or my soulmate,

How do I describe you my friend?

Time has wept in your presence

Many times silently.

My sepia  pain

Did find solace

In your beams

Healing

Me.

Participating in : https://www.napowrimo.net/day-seventeen-7/

A Lost Cause

Day-16 NAPOWRIMO-2021

                                                                           artbysunita
 

Tiny bits 

           In slits

                 Jointly split

Making faces

             Mixed races

                 Without traces

They spun

         And churn

             A home run

A cozy nest

            Coiled in knots 

                Shelters in the breast

                    

Dreamer that I am

           A short rhyme

                In hope I hum

Participating in : https://www.napowrimo.net/day-sixteen-8/

Lingering Images

 Day-15 NAPOWRIMO-2021

Prompt: Habits inherited from parents

                                                                         image:sunita

She remembers, 

stooping in the shadows of the lamp

a stoic image, breathing slowly

in the waft of printed lines

The glowing eyes

hidden behind perched glasses

reflected hunger as he shuffled 

through pages after pages.

A little girl in two plaits

who adored this role model

observed  and absorbed keenly

his bonding with his best friends.

When he left abruptly, 

an emptiness engulfed her

she was broken, and found solace 

in the embrace of his best friends.

His existence breathed

between the pages

and her aching childhood anchored,

 in the fragrance of the parchment.

Participating in : https://www.napowrimo.net/day-fifteen-7/

Sunita

 Day-14 NAPOWRIMO-2021

Prompt: Meaning of your name

Form: Acrostic

                                                                       image:sunita

She finds it difficult to live up to that Sanskrit name

Under the pretext of being meaningfully civilized, her nature speaks otherwise

Never could she control  the stubborn streaks or her rebellious vibes

Ingrained in age old traditions, she breathes fire being impatient and too righteous 

Totally! She eclipses the "polite" "civilized" "well-behaved" tags!

Arrogantly, aloofly, happily, she  brushes away the number of sanskari avatars!

Participating in : https://www.napowrimo.net/day-fourteen-8/

 

My Friend

 Day-13 NAPOWRIMO-2021

                                                                         artbysunita

I am a dreamer

Dreamer of  memories

Memories of sweet times

Times spent in the caring arms

Arms of  the benevolent nature 

Nature my teacher, my best friend

Friend who always embraces 

Embraces my sadness and happiness

 

Happiness is all that matters as I still breathe.

Participating in : https://www.napowrimo.net/day-thirteen-7/

Reflection

 Day-12 NAPOWRIMO

                                                                       Divar island.

dream in multi shades

the heart of the blue lagoon

ferries towards life

Participating in : https://www.napowrimo.net/day-twelve-9/

C for Colors or …

 Day-11 NAPOWRIMO-21

Prompt: Two-part poem in the form of of an exchange of letters.(Epistolary) 

My take: A prose form.

                                                                           artbysunita

Dear Col,

I am writing to let you know how grateful I am for your presence in my life. I have no words to describe what I am feeling at this moment. You have added so many shades in my life. I remember , when you suddenly landed at my doorstep one fine morning last July. What a surprise it was! We bonded from day one. If you were not there I might have landed in an asylum. Everyday for the past one year the heart bled in the caged existence. You caught my hand and made me understand that struggles, and especially nature induced, are not long lasting. I am healing day by day in the company of beautiful hues.. I know "C" .the villain , is still lurking around. It is hell bent on destroying my mental health. But, I am determined to stay sane and face it with all my might. With your support I am going to pull this through.

Yours lovingly,

Suni 

Dear Suni,

First of all a huge happy splash. I am so glad to know that you are healing. I am just doing what I am supposed to do. To be there for you. To make you smile and breathe colors on the blank pages. You are a strong person who has moved many mountains. Don't let this hiccup make you lose confidence in your abilities. This bad phase too shall pass. You can always depend on me. I am here to comfort you in your dark hours. Let there be more sunshine in your life. I remember every shade you have painted on the blank canvas. Flowers, birds, houses, seashores, sunsets and everything which makes you happy. Don't let "C" destroy your peace of mind. Stay strong and let hope make a home in your heart. Don't worry, I will hold your hand forever.

Yours truly,

Col

Participating in : https://www.napowrimo.net/day-eleven-9/

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A sense of ennui

 Day-10 NAPOWRIMO-2021

                                                                        artbysunita

Nothing more to say

Nothing more to write

A void gape at me 

Deep inside

Words elude

Thoughts glaze

There are too many shadows

In front of the eyes

I immerse in colors

To find myself

To stay sane

In a world

Diseased with chaos

Participating in : https://www.napowrimo.net/day-ten-9/

Life is not a bed of roses

 Day-9 NAPOWRIMO-2021

Prompt: A to-do list.

image:sneha

Not an easy life to be a flower

So many things to do

And so many people to impress

From morning till evening the list is too long.

First thing first.....waiting for the sun

Then letting the whorl feel the rays

Phew! Struggling to open the whorl of hues

Not yet done...have to work on the fragrance

Hmm...that will make a nice perfume.

Now, let me check the itinerary for the day

Yes, I have to get ready to adorn the gods and goddesses

It is the spring season 

The temples are brimming with worshippers

The gods will be happy enveloped in my delicate petals.

The florist is a task master..

He wants me to do so many things

Today, he wants me to help a young man

To propose to a young lady

I have to look my best

No soggy or saggy appearance.

I cannot even take a break

A beautiful lady wants to adorn me in her long tresses

To welcome her husband with the fragrant of love

Oh I forgot! A politician is about to land in the town

His sycophants' will be ready to grab me

And shower his corrupt face

And garland his bulged neck.

I have to bear that sweaty boar...Oh No!

What not I face in this journey of mine

So many things to do and so many people to impress

To end in a dustbin or get crushed under the feet....

Life is not a bed of roses even for a rose...

Participating in : https://www.napowrimo.net/day-nine-7/