Jan 10, 2017 Free Verse, Original Poetry, Uncategorized
Wake, Awake
©January 10th, 2017
By Vijaya Sundaram
When the day narrows to a point,
And blue-white night expands,
I bob, laughingly in the wake
Of all I intended to do,
Holding tightly on to the
Silken, translucent thread
That keeps me above water,
The thread spooling before me,
While I, skidding lightly
Behind it, grow giddy with
Uncertain, heady anticipation
Of all that I plan to do
First thing
Tomorrow.
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Tags: #Being Awake, #OriginalPoetrybyVijayaSundaram, #Procrastination, #Wake
Jan 9, 2017 Original Poetry, Uncategorized
To My Daughter, On Her Birthday
©January 9th, 2017
By Vijaya Sundaram
Can it be that the entire known universe
Arises from a single, careening meeting
Of brooding star-egg and speeding star-sperm?
What sperm travels millions of miles
Full of urgent need, driven through nothingness,
While the warm, dreaming egg awaits?
And when they meet and mate,
What pleasure occurs, and what pain, and what
Amorphous thoughts gather and morph?
And what enormous soundless clashes
Create crackling cradles for stars and comets,
As they make great swoops through space?
And what forces all that void to expand
Endlessly, pushing outward, breaking off
Making stars, making room for planets?
And what fills all that room, in vain
Trying to defeat that yawning void
That looms always, a dark presence?
And what laughter echoes around that void
As we stumble into being, look around, love,
Light candles along the way to our end?
And how did you come to be,
A minuscule embryonic presence
Heavy like a gulp of self inside me?
And how did you emerge, whole, from this,
My body, and grow so tall, so sweet,
So full of song, so full of acceptance?
Twelve years flowing backwards endlessly
To that singular moment when you emerged,
I heard the sound of light pulled into air.
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Tags: #Birthday Poem, #Metaphorical poem, #Mother and Daughter, #OriginalPoetrybyVijayaSundaram
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 18, 2016 Haiku, Original Poetry, Senryu, The Daily Post
Lines Written in Response to My Wounded Dog at the Vet’s
©September 18th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
Canine puzzlement
Gazes out from deep, brown eyes
Pain forms a question.
My voice in her ears
Words she understands dimly,
Whose intent she knows.
Reassurance grows
Amidst these entangled threads
Perplexed eyes soften.
Love is absolute
Days wheel around her and me,
With her at my heels.
My dog’s trust humbles
I am sworn to keep her safe
Confusion, begone!
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Tags: #DailyPrompt, #OriginalPoetrybyVijayaSundaram, #Perplexed, #Postaday, #TheDailyPost
Sep 17, 2016 Haiku, Original Poetry, Senryu, The Daily Post
Gathering
©September 17th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
We sit side by side
Friends all, gathering bright words
Eating cool night air.
The moon weaves her spell
And our attention wanders
Everything listens.
This is illusion
Togetherness passes on.
Solitude awaits.
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Tags: #DailyPrompt, #OriginalPoetrybyVijayaSundaram, #Postaday, #TheDailyPost, #Together