Jan 8, 2017 Free Verse, Original Poetry, Uncategorized
Impermanence
©January 8th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
So, it snowed yesterday, and winter came in
Furred and booted, and full of fierce winds
Within, pizza baked, and root vegetables roasted.
We watched from within the warmth
Of home, cluttered and messy and bright
As the snow drifted endlessly down, dream-like, dusty.
Now, Holly leaps in a field of white
And returns, with snow-hardened spaces
Between the pads of her paws.
Patiently, she stands, as I bend down,
Excavate each glob of tight-packed snow,
And rub her cold, cold pads.
Her nose is white, too, snow-encrusted
And her eyes look bright and puppy-ish
As she awaits the end of my ministrations.
The backyard is a small wilderness now
And the first reluctance to step outside
Melts away with the powdery essence of winter.
Blue-white shadows vie with sunlight
As the day lengthens into afternoon, but for now
Blue skies spill down light and lack of warmth.
Cold winter gives way to warm days, then
Returns, like a revolving door,
Slamming me in the face.
Every moment of my life goes by thus
Captured like icicles that glitter in daylight
Permanent in the moment.
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Tags: #dog and snow, #impermanence, #Original Poetry by Vijaya Sundaram, #Winter
Jan 7, 2017 Free Verse, Original Poetry
Sharp Diamond Breath
©January 7th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
Sometimes, I take a breath
And hold it in, faint with need
As the atmosphere thins,
So that all the air within
Crystallizes into a diamond
So clear, so dispassionate,
I gasp, and choke as I try
To take in more.
See, it’s not literal, although
Sometimes, I feel I cannot
Breathe, and then my held air
Becomes precious, faceted,
A gulp of carbon
Forged deep within,
Cutting me to pieces.
Perhaps, there’s terror in
Letting it all out again.
One can trust this world
Only so much.
Then again, it might be
A practice session for that
Precious, beloved, sharp
Intake of breath, that
Final one.
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Dec 13, 2016 Free Verse, Original Poetry
Jester in Repose
(Hanging at My Kitchen Window)
©December 13th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
(Hanging at My Kitchen Window)
©December 13th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
A boy in a jester’s suit lies sleeping,
Chin in his frilled collar,
His three-belled court-jester hat
Curving over his dreaming face.
Curved upon a yellow-sickle-moon,
He folds one arm onto his chest –
The other arm slides away from shoulder,
Hanging down, sliding Earthwards.
His arm leads to a little hand
Holding a little golden bell,
That’s forever poised to ring
“Wake up!”
But it stays silent,
Until I give it a shake.
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Dec 13, 2016 Free Verse
Lines From a Dream Meet Lines Upon Awaking:
©December 13th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
Let’s climb, my friend
Up the Blue Mountain
Because inky stairs
Drip slowly up
And rain weeps down
Like a trembling veil,
And my legs yearn.
I can’t, not yet
Because marble clouds
And unicorn trails
Send sighing winds
And I might swing
Upwards and on,
And never return.
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Tags: #Original Poem by Vijaya Sundaram, Dream-Awake, Yearning and Climbing
Sep 18, 2016 Free Verse, Original Poetry, The Daily Post
On Working With Hypocrites
©september 18th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
An arrow comes straight at me
Pierces the skin, goes right through,
And vanishes into sub-space.
So many arrow-cuts!
So many entries into
An alternate universe!
Every unkindness, every slight
Every stabbing by the two-faced
Bring a revelation
If only it weren’t quite so painful!
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Tags: #DailyPrompt, #Hypocrisy, #OriginalPoetrybyVijayaSundaram, #Postaday, #TheDailyPost, #Zing
Sep 18, 2016 Free Verse, Original Poetry, The Daily Post
Radical
©September 18th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
Things take root where they can –
Sandy soil, clay-ey soil, soil rich in humus –
Things take root, and grow.
Ideas grow, too, and minds,
And passion and fervour,
And hatred and mistrust,
And love and kindness.
Plant well, weed well, nurture well.
When radical change happens,
Keep yourself rooted
in that which matters.
Find your soil first.
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Tags: #DailyPrompt, #OriginalPoetrybyVijayaSundaram, #Postaday, #Radical, #TheDailyPost
Sep 8, 2016 Free Verse, Original Poetry, The Daily Post, Uncategorized
Sidewalk Woes
©September 8th, 2016
I will avoid the cracked and bleeding sidewalk
And dance on the road in bare and sore feet.
So what if a storm were to come
And whisk me far away from home?
So what if a car were to crush me, and
Speed away without a backward glance?
The sidewalk’s no good, it’s broken and boring.
Look there! I could slip and fall on that banana peel.
How ignominious a death that would be!
I shall avoid all banality!
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Tags: #DailyPrompt, #OriginalPoetrybyVijayaSundaram, #Postaday, #Sidewalk, #TheDailyPost
Sep 8, 2016 Free Verse, Original Poetry, The Daily Post
Anahata Nada
©September 8th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
When the chord is struck, and
Silence dies away,
Listen!
When the hand reaches
But does not play a note,
Listen!
An orbit shapes its wandering,
Seeking a hidden desire:
Listen!
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Tags: #AnahataNada, #DailyPrompt, #Melody, #OriginalPoetrybyVijayaSundaram, #Postaday, #TheDailyPost
Aug 29, 2016 Free Verse, The Daily Post
When the obvious is obscured
When vision is clouded
What do we see?
Whom can we trust?
This, then, is the goal:
Sweep away the clouds.
Toss out old curtains.
Wash the glass.
Open the windows
Open your eyes.
See what is there.
Leave behind desire.
Abandon supposition
Forsake need.
Desert all that you feel.
Go forth through the fog,
Seek what is true.
Find what exists.
Learn to respect it,
Treat it with care.
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Tags: #DailyPrompt, #Obvious, #OriginalPoetrybyVijayaSundaram, #Postaday, #TheDailyPost, #Truth
Aug 29, 2016 Free Verse, Original Poetry, The Daily Post
Learning Beyond
©August 29th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
Don’t take me away!
She cries to Death
Who comes quietly
And waits in shadow.
And Death asks in a voice
As dry as deserts:
Why do you seek to stay?
And she replies,
With thirst in her throat:
There is much to learn
And I’m not done
This life still calls.
Death’s voice is warm
Caressing her like a lover,
As he replies:
You cannot stay.
Your time is up.
Why prolong misery?
It’s peaceful out there
Where I’ll take you.
Come. Come. Come.
With honeyed voice,
He opens his arms in invitation.
She gasps. His cloak is endless.
Shadowy shapes sweep across
Moving tapestries, skulls
With wine and roses,
Ancient stories full of blood
Destruction and endings,
And creation and infinity, and
Songs like childhood’s end.
Beauty like sunlight folded
Into itself, over and over.
Stars winking out, one by one,
Spiraling into darkness.
And she is impelled
By a strange new thirst
She wants to know.
She has to know
What lies in the folds
Of that cloak.
Death speaks again, his voice hard:
You have no choice.
She smiles.
I do.
She steps forward, lithe and young
Her laughter shakes the air
Like a girl shaking water
From her hair, as she flings
It away from her drowning face.
Death gazes at her now,
Spellbound, in love.
Throws wide his cloak
She slips into its folds,
And they swirl away.
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Tags: #DailyPrompt, #Learning, #MetaphysicalMusing, #OriginalPoetrybyVijayaSundaram, #Postaday, #TheDailyPost