Jul 22, 2016 Free Verse, Original Poetry, Uncategorized
Slowly Flooding, Slowly Ebbing
©July 22nd, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
It spreads slowly
This relaxing of a stiffening.
The body gives way to
Strange griefs of its own,
Unknown to the mind.
Toes and fingers,
And spine and elbows,
And neck and knees
And hips and hands
And feet beneath
All succumb.
A mysterious call
From within, from without
– Heavy, leaden, attractive –
Casts a spell on them.
There’s an ache that
Defies knowing, but Hypnos
Winds his arms around them,
Around me, forgiving all,
Making me prone, supine,
Swooning with slumber.
Take me away, O God of Sleep!
Waft me slowly, slowly away
On your bier so your brother
May see me, and nod and say,
“It’s not time, yet.”
I won’t mind his rejection,
For I seek only you,
O Beautiful Hypnos,
To dally with you,
And speak with your children,
The Oneiroi, with winged
Morpheus in his cave
Strewn with poppy seeds
And quiet Lethe flowing close by,
Flooding my senses and my soul.
Only, allow me to return
At a time of my choosing.
For, alluring though you are,
One has to fight the spell,
Any spell; it’s the only way.
So, let not Thanatos take me,
Though he, too, allures.
And slowly, slowly, bear me back
To the land of the Awake,
Bear me back to my bed,
Slowly, quietly, on tiptoe,
Then leave without farewell.
And though it’ll hurt my heart,
It’s the only way, as I
Come slowly back to life,
To the world of those
Who wake, and ache with the
Joy and the grief of those
Who live and love, in spite
Of life slowly ebbing away.
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Tags: #DailyPrompt, #OriginalPoetrybyVijayaSundaram, #Postaday, #Slowly, #TheDailyPost
Jun 30, 2016 Friday Fictioneers, Original Flash Fiction, Uncategorized
Copyright – Rochelle Wisoff-Fields
The Winter of Our Ennui
©June 30th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
You and I are like frost on that windowpane. Somewhere along the way, ennui and coldness set in. Our children have grown, and have children of their own.
What do you contemplate while you eat your dinner blankly, sitting opposite me? I know what I think of. I think of beautiful, vibrant you, filled with a life-force that seemed that it could never be squelched, back when when I wooed you. I remember your smile scorching me like a bolt of lightning. I miss it, endlessly, achingly, like summer-shine.
I want to break that window. I want to end winter.
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Thanks to Fairy Blog-Mother and story-teller extraordinaire, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, for that beautiful photo-prompt, and for hosting Friday Fictioneers with such grace and style week after week.
Tags: #FridayFictioneers, #Original 100-word Flash Fiction based on a photo-prompt, #Reference to Shakespeare's line from Richard III
Jun 22, 2016 Friday Fictioneers, Original Flash Fiction, Uncategorized
Word Count: Exactly one hundred words
GenreU Greek Mythology
Ship of Fools
©June 22nd, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
Come, Phoebus-Helios, in your chariot of gold. Awaken the sluggish morning – your sister, Eos, lies dreaming, while Tithonus grows as old as Time.
Come, rosy-fingered Dawn, Eos – touch this air-ship thing with gentle light. This imitation-bird, this parody of flight offends the gods, but you, with your brother Helios, sister, Selene, and your son, Zephyrus, can guide it home safely, if you so wish.
Yes, it has wings, not like yours, but wings, nonetheless.
Do they offend you? Take your ire elsewhere. This contains humans.
So, you don’t care for a bunch of pathetic, snivelling fools?
Still, try and restrain yourself.
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Thanks to our Fairy Blog-Mother, Rochelle Wisoff -Fields, for her dedication and unflagging encouragement and kindness to us all. Thanks, also, to Rich Voza for that vivid and arresting photograph.
Tags: #FridayFictioneers, #Original 100-word Flash Fiction based on a photo-prompt
Jun 22, 2016 Uncategorized
The European Space Agency’s Sentinel-2A satellite captured this time-lapse of the construction of Bulgarian–born artist Christo’s latest art installation in Lake Iseo in northern Italy. “The Floating Piers” is a 16-meter wide pathway made up of 220,000 high-density polyethylene cubes, covered in fabric. The walkable path spans nearly two miles (3-km), connecting two islands to…
via See Christo’s ‘Floating Piers’ From Space — TIME
Jun 18, 2016 Friday Fictioneers, Original Short Story, Uncategorized
Word Count: 100 words of text, exactly
Genre: Fantasy-Reality Fiction
Pianissimo, Pianissimo!
©June 18th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
After Freddy Zhang came home from his after-school tutoring class, track team, or Robotics Club (he was forced to attend these), his mother made him practise piano first – no snacks until he was done.
Today, Freddy played scales, then stopped abruptly. He hated the piano, viscerally.
“What’s going on?” his mother shouted out.
Silently, he pressed the panels in front of him. They gave way.
“Freddy?” she called out again.
A clockwork key turned on his back. The piano keys moved silently.
Two hands reached out inside from the panels, and grabbed his.
Unresisting, he let himself be pulled in.
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Tags: #FridayFictioneers, #Original 100-word Flash Fiction based on a photo-prompt
Jun 6, 2016 Culture, Uncategorized
I know this has nothing at all to do with my blog, or poetry, but I just had to share this brilliant initiative of John Oliver, one of my favorite T.V. personalities (and even though I don’t have a T.V., I do like to watch his clips, as much as I enjoy Colbert and Jon Stewart, the latter now sadly retired from the scene).
Tags: #DebtForgiveness, #John Oliver
Jun 1, 2016 Friday Fictioneers, Original Flash Fiction, Uncategorized
Word Count: 89 words of text, exactly
Genre: Mythological epochal fiction
Wheel
©June 1st, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
The wheel turned, and time turned with it. The earth rose and fell in large, slow panting gasps.
No one knew the stone-and-mud abode existed. This valley had been formed millennia ago when the earth yawned, and everything caved in. All that was left was this dwelling.
Well, not just that. There was a person inside, sleeping. When the wheel turned again, he awoke.
“Mother?” he called, confusedly. Where was his large family whose footsteps shook the world?
Earth answered. The valley tumbled into oblivion.
The man slept again.
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Thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, our Fairy Blog-Mother, for hosting Friday Fictioneers, where story-tellers gather from around the world. Thanks, also, to Piya Singh for that lovely photograph!
Tags: #FridayFictioneers, #MythologicalFiction, #Original 100-word Flash Fiction based on a photo-prompt
Jun 1, 2016 Ramblings and Musings, Uncategorized
This was my first post on this blog a year ago.
Around this time last year, I was in the process of letting go of the shackles of being a school-teacher, and leaving the profession in order to spend more time with my family, dog, and myself, and in order to write.
The first couple of months that I began this blog (June and July) were not great blogging months, and neither was August, but come September, and I began blogging more and more. Around January, I resolved to have at least 365 posts to average out over my first year of blogging on StrangeLander2015 (aka magicsurrealist2013.me). This meant I needed to write more than a couple of blog posts every day, which I began doing from March 2016 onwards.
I’ve made a total of 384 posts during these past twelve months. Now, I can heave a sigh of relief, and blog in a less frenetic fashion – or not! Hah! This blogging thing can be a serious addiction. Actually, for me, it’s a sense of urgency. I haven’t put my work out in the world since I was a teenager, even though I’ve written forever. Next, I’ll aim to publish my work in a non-digital format.
Thank you to all those who have been my readers and commentators, and those who’ve followed, and been supportive.
Thank you, @WordPress!
Yours,
Dreamer of Dreams
Tags: #Blogging, #FirstYearAnniversaryofmagicsurrealist2013 / StrangeLander2015 blog
May 29, 2016 Free Verse, Original Poetry, Uncategorized
Strange Quark
©May 29th 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
It’s a strange quark of my nature
That interacts with my various
Flyaway particles, and is bound with them,
Making me stable, forcing me
To be seen, known, stay in one place
Not vanish in a trice,
Into a strange half-life,
Wondering whether to be
Or not to be.
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Tags: #Half-Life, #Metaphysics, #OriginalPoetrybyVijayaSundaram, #Physics, #Quark, #QuirkofNature, #SciencePun
May 27, 2016 Uncategorized
I’m sitting in my car, in a strange unsettled state, at a Whole Foods parking lot. This does not please me. I feel bad going there, but it’s closer at the moment than our Food Coop.
The sun is hot, and I’m feeling bothered.
I’m ashamed to say this, but for the first time, I truly wish I were in my mid-twenties again, just for the sheer pleasure how how free my body felt, entrammelled though I was in other ways.
This feeling will pass soon, I tell myself.
I am still fit, though no longer youthful.
Life still holds honey. Feeling young is mostly mental, but the physical part helps!
Passing thoughts in solitude in a parking lot on a late Friday afternoon.
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