Apr 1, 2017 NaPoWriMo, Original Poetry
We Wave You Away
©April 1st, 2017
By Vijaya Sundaram
Everything waves away
The encroaching end.
Off with you, begone!
Look! Bright lights and warmth!
You cannot approach.
There is no place here
For the likes of you!
Hearth-fire leaps and twirls,
Dog curled at our feet.
Sonny Rollins blows hard
While Max Roach
Whirls his sticks and skates
Across meters, dancing.
And Tommy Flanagan
Punctuates all with light
Finger-tips, master-ease.
Brown rice, tofu, spinach
Cooked with tomatoes,
Spices, onions, peanuts,
Settles like a sigh of
Pleasure in our bellies.
We sit, and we read
Before the fire. The dog
Is content, her people
Near her, two-egg omelette
And yogurt for her dinner,
Her drowsing attention
Ready to leap into
Fierce action at a sign.
So, you cannot come here,
You, the inevitable
Face of the end of things.
Do not approach at all.
Take a break, leave us be,
Leave the world for now.
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Tags: #Contentment, #DeathDeferred, #OriginalPoetrybyVijayaSundaram
Oct 2, 2015 Daily Life, Ramblings and Musings
So, after a long, long spell of dryness and crackling heat and dust, we’ve had a spell of three rainy days.
And it’s darker and darker earlier and earlier outside.
Usually, I have ambivalent feelings about autumn because of that, but I love that frisson in the air when it’s colder, and the leaves get golden and red (as they’re starting to do, finally).
This fall, I’m thinking of planting ginger and curry leaves indoors, in our downstairs bathtub-converted-into-a-grow-space-with-grow-lights-and-planting-containers. I hasten to assure you that I didn’t convert the bathtub into a grow-space, lest you gasp at my imagined multitude of skills — it was my husband, the amazing handyman at home, who did that. And outside, in our various beds in the front yard, I plan to plant the following fall crops:
- Beets
- Garlic
- Turnips
- Radishes
- Carrots
- Spinach
- Lettuce
- Kale
- Mustard greens
- Swiss chard
- Cabbage
We’ve grown so much this summer already — heaps and heaps of tomatoes (which are still growing, but not as lushly as half a month ago), heaps and heaps of green beans (and those are still growing), broccoli, cabbage, some not-as-prolific green peppers and eggplants, and lots of green and chillies! We do not really want to spend grocery money on store-bought veggies, which cost more for less. We like our food fresh from the vine or bush or plant. It tastes like one’s own heaven on earth. Our front yard, and garage-top container vegetable garden (also created by my beloved) is tight in terms of space, and our home is on a small, small plot of land in an semi-urban setting, but this garden does its job with pride and purpose.
I also want to plant bulbs before October goes — daffodil and tulip, crocuses, iris, narcissus. This weather is helpful. I neglected the fall flower-planting aspect of the garden for the past few years, and when spring came, our garden looked sad, with a few straggly tulips and daffodils here and there. The summer was much better, and things looked prettier. Vegetables always do well, but flowers? They require a lot of care and thought, and I hadn’t had the time for that. Now, I shall.
Fall is here, and it’s filled with hope: I shall plant, and I shall sing, I shall write, play music, and cook delicious food, and I shall learn to bake nice things for my family.
I thank the forces in this universe that aligned just right to make this time of freedom open its doors for me. From having lived long enough and seen some poverty and sadness, I know that things can change rapidly, that times can be replaced with bad in the blink of an eye, and one cannot rest too easy on one’s happiness, and yet … I am happy. If things go bad, I will remember the good times, and when things are good, I’ll focus on keeping them so, and sharing them.
Thanks for reading!
~Dreamer of Dreams
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One of my favorite poems of all time by John Keats:
| Francis T. Palgrave, ed. (1824–1897). The Golden Treasury. 1875. |
| J. Keats |
| CCLV. Ode to Autumn |
Tags: #Autumn, #Contentment, Beauty, fall, Family time, flower and vegetable garden, memories to store, season of mists, time of happiness, time of plenty
Feb 16, 2015 Awake in Real Time: Coffee-induced Meditations and Journal Entries
What I wrote yesterday:
Snowed In. Contented
By Vijaya Sundaram
The wind howls down the street, blowing drifts of snow back on the steps, no doubt, and the dog barks in response. She suspects the wind as being an entity that’s up to no good. She’s a mysterious dog, and has deep thoughts of her own, none of which she’ll share with us, although her almond eyes gaze unwinkingly at me when I stare into them. Then, she looks away, somewhat embarrassed at such intimacy, no doubt. Her love, however, is absolute.
My daughter is making a “family tree” of various important cats in the Warriors series. She is into family trees, it appears. I love what it implies about her need to know the history of things, and also her need to create sequences. She’s always been a list-maker, and a lover of lists since she was very little.
The smell of Biryani masala wafts up the stairs – rice and mixed veggies and tofu are on the stove.
I love my husband.
He’s lovely.
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Tags: #Contentment, #Dog, #Family, snowed in
Apr 24, 2014 Original Poetry
Dog-Joy (Or: Completion)
©April 15th, 2014
By Vijaya Sundaram
I find I take delight
In my dog’s proud walk,
As she picks up a stick
And claims it in the
Name of Holly.
Utterly undone, I kneel,
As she twists her whole
Frame in wordless ecstasy
When she sees me —
This smiling curve of dog
And joyful tail,
And gentle teeth
That grab my hand
And nip and hold it in love
Beyond reckoning.
I am complete.
Who greets me like this?
(Oh, I know I am loved,
But like this? This pretzel-
Shaped frenzy of joy,
This luminous, numinous
Delight in my being?
Oh, I know I don’t deserve it,
But who cares?!)
And when she lies near me,
A love unlike no other,
Her soft, puppy fur
On my feet, warming them,
A wild presence at the
Boundaries of my own,
I find my brain
Dissolves in a mist
Of dog-thought.
I think:
Why dream?
Why do anything?
It doesn’t matter,
Not now.
Oh, I know I’ll arise
And go about my duties
And do stuff, but
I don’t really care
For any of it.
I have this dog,
This now-sleeping
Weight of dog
At my feet.
I am complete.
No, there is no despair here,
Just utter, total quiet
A settling, as it were,
Of soul and self:
A house settling deeper
Into earth.
I am complete
With her on my feet.
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Tags: #Contentment, #Dogs, #NaPoWriMo, Canine joy, Puppy
Apr 24, 2014 Uncategorized
Listening
©April 15, 2014
By Vijaya Sundaram
After you’ve stood
And listened to silence,
Words seem like leaves
Eddies of leaves
Whirling in a flurry of wind
In an empty field.
And yet, it’s nice to stand
To watch and listen
To stand in quietude
In solitude, checking
The wind, sniffing the air,
Looking for signs
Of life in an attitude
Of quiet reverence.
I had thoughts once,
And dreams, and songs
And stories.
I had visions of the future
Of people and things
I wanted to meet, and do.
I had melodies flowing
Clear and bright through
Dark woods of uncleared
Thoughts, once, not long ago.
Yet, today, I am spent
Not sad, almost content
Dreaming dim dreams,
Hearing muffled songs,
Stopping any visions
Of what the future
Could hold.
It’s dangerous to dream.
Needs energy, nu?
Needs courage.
Needs strength
And endurance.
Today, I don’t have that.
Today, I just sit
And listen.
To listen is to pray,
To listen is to look deep
And give the gift of self.
To listen is to surrender,
To disarm oneself.
And so, I listen.
It’s the least I can do.
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Tags: #Contentment, #Listening, #NaPoWriMo, #Original Poetry, Dreams and Reality