Feb 5, 2016 Uncategorized
Choose Carefully
©February 5th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
Wonderstruck, thunderstruck,
You twirl on shifting sands
Of contradiction and paradox,
And the dance of life
Becomes dizzy.
To care, or not to care
To work, or not to work
To laugh, or not to laugh
To think, or not to think
To eat, or not to eat
These are choices when
You have plenty.
To be, or not to be —
Dolorous cogitations
That only comfort, and wealth,
And the having of things
Make possible.
Ah, but when you have nothing at all,
To be — that is the only question.
And the answer?
Ah, that’s for you to find,
And Life is patient
So is Time.
Choose carefully.
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Tags: #Original Poetry, Choose, Choose Life, To be, To do, To have
Feb 4, 2016 Daily Life, Uncategorized
Shadows of the Real
©February 4th, 2016By Vijaya Sundaram
Shadows chase shadows chasing shadows
And mirrors reflect mirrors reflecting mirrors.
And you stand to one side,
A shadow within a shadow,
Leaving behind no dent,
Causing no reflections,
Barely a whiff of air to prove you existed.
So easy to say, “What’s the point?”
As you watch squirrels chase each other
In pseudo-Spring in January.
So easy to feel nothing, nothing at all!
So easy to fold clothes endlessly,
Wash dishes, and see reflections
Bouncing off metal and glass.
So easy to get upset at news
And shrug silently, and watch
Dog settle with sigh upon couch
Knowing all reality is where one is
And yet, knowing that is not all–
Children wash ashore cold and dead,
And children from the cradle of the world
Lie hurt and fearful far away
In cold lands where they would
Rather not have been,
But for the hate and rage of adults.
Contradictions will kill us all
But we butter our toast
And drink our coffee
And read a book,
And wonder where Time went.
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Tags: #Contradictions, #Life, #Original Poetry, Syrian refugees, War
Jan 21, 2016 Uncategorized
Walking in the woods in the gathering gloaming late today afternoon, Holly and I were the only souls there … or so we thought.
As we reached the far end of the trail, before turning back, Holly, who had been bounding about happily, became still and looked away, as if listening to something. I felt a distinct sense that I should put her back on the leash, and did so.
And then, just ahead of us, perhaps twenty feet away, we saw a whole herd, nay, fleet of deer, silently leaping across the trail, and onto the snow-covered crags … one after another, they leapt, and turned and waited for each other, before melting away into the sides of the hill on our left. Holly was transfixed. So was I.
There was a three-quarter moon, which shone like melted butter on a silver plate. I love the darkness, I love the woods, I love being alive. On the way back, I sang at the top of my voice, and the trees and rocks echoed the sound, and my voice reminded me that I had, have, a body.
I missed my family (my husband and daughter were off with some home-school friends of hers — they have cats, and I cannot be there for any length of time before I get allergic), and yet … I really, really like solitude, too.
I had better watch out, or I’ll turn into a hermit.
Jan 21, 2016 Friday Fictioneers, Uncategorized
Piano, Piano
©January 21st, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
Word Count: 100 words of text, exactly
Genre: Magic Realist Heartbreak Tale
Softly, you stole her heart, and drowned it.
You spoke of dreams, played songs, and promised … nothing.
Stepping unsuspectingly in the wake of your beauty, your tightly-lidded passion, she was swept away.
And as she gasped for air, waving frantically, her hair was grabbed by seaweeds. Little fish nibbled at her feet. Twisting to look for you, she saw nobody.
Her clothes caught on spikes and coral, as she descended, coming to rest softly on a drowned piano, an ancient thing.
Her hands moved.
Undersea music rippled. A song bubbled to the surface like a sob.
Humming, you sailed on.
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Thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for being our beautiful Fairy Blog-Mother and warm, gracious host of Friday Fictioneers, and to her husband, Jan W. Fields, for that intriguing photograph!
Tags: magic realist short story, Original 100-word short story based on a photo-prompt
Jan 8, 2016 Uncategorized
Advice
©January 8th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
This you shall do*:
Love the earth,
Take care of her, as you
Take care of your family.
Love your family,
Keep them close,
Give them space.
Do not intrude,
Love them freely.
Offer a listening ear.
Offer a hand if someone wants it.
Enjoy company,
Enjoy solitude.
Love animals.
Pledge allegiance to them.
They are cut from the fabric of life
They feel and think,
They mourn, they rejoice,
They love. Love them.
Honor your parents.
Honor your grandparents.
Keep friends in your heart.
Remember those who are without:
Share what you eat.
Give of your love.
Keep the peace.
Unlearn prejudice, and
Learn all you can.
Do not hold grudges,
Forget past ills.
Rejoice in beauty,
Whether human or not.
Sing with your whole being,
Open your throats,
Sing!
Live freely. Love fully.
Love your earth,
Take care of her.
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*My homage to Walt Whitman
Tags: #Life, #Love, #Original Poetry, Advice, generosity, Living
Jan 7, 2016 Friday Fictioneers, Uncategorized
Word Count: 100 words of text, exactly
Genre: Realistic fiction
Parentheses
©January 7th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
The Cessna stood on the tarmac, polished and shining in the sun.
Seven-year old Julia read its tail fin: N173VP it read. She looked up at her father, round eyes worried: “Dad, will it take us all the way to Peachtree?”
Her father smiled tightly. “Yes, but we’ll have to flap our arms up and down, like this,” demonstrating it.
She laughed, her eyes still round. “It looks so tiny, Dad,” she said. She didn’t add, “I’m scared.”
“It’ll be all right, sweetheart,” he said. He didn’t add, “I’m scared, too.”
He was acutely claustrophobic.
The plane held. They survived.
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Thanks, as always, to our Fairy Blog-Mother, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for hosting our wonderful mid-week writing salon, counter-intuitively titled Friday Fictioneers, and to Melanie Greenwood for the photograph prompt!
Tags: Claustrophobia, Original 100-word short story based on a photo-prompt, Parent and child, parenthetical remarks
Dec 23, 2015 Uncategorized
Click on the audio link above to hear John Lennon sing “Julia,” written for his mother (with references to Yoko Ono, as well).
All photographs @Vijaya Sundaram / Warren Senders, between July 2008 – December 2015
Dec 23, 2015 Culture, Daily Life, Uncategorized
Of Human Boatage* Photograph ©Vijaya Sundaram, Nov. 14th, 2015, View of the Yamuna River across from the Taj Mahal, Agra, India
With apologies to W. Somerset Maugham
Tags: #YamunaRiverTajMahal, Original Photograph by Vijaya Sundaram
Dec 18, 2015 Uncategorized
Bound for Canaan
©December 18th, 2015
By Vijaya Sundaram
Hello! Goodbye! in one breath,
We come into our birth and death,
We fly in and out,
Our cries are a shout,
Huddling together, we sisters and brothers
Seeking some warmth and love from each other,
Seeking a word or even a sign
That who we are is totally fine,
We gather our fruits
And look for our roots.
Upside down, our
Visions abound.
We see with our ears —
We shed a few tears,
We hear with our eyes —
Our breath is a sigh.
We taste with our nose —
And cling with our toes.
Then, before the gilding dawn,
We know it’s time to move along.
So, one by one, we take off in flight,
Finding our way to infinite night.
Was it just a hazy dream?
We ask, as we float on upstream.
But the stars guide our ears,
And our wings help us steer,
And something pulls us up and on.
It’s time to go, and be unborn.
The thorn goes in, the rose grows red,
And though your hearts be filled with dread,
Do not mourn, and do not grieve,
It’s only right for us to leave.
And so, my friends it’s time I went,
The dark star calls, where light is bent.
And so, goodbye, my lovely friends
We’ve found some life, and now it ends.
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P.S. Feeling philosophical, not gloomy.
P.P.S. Also, it’s just a response to a prompt. Do not worry! 🙂
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Tags: #Original Poetry, #Writing 101, Poetry, Bats!, Bound for Canaan, Day 10, Farewell, Life and Death, Reference to The Nightingale and the Rose by Oscar Wilde