May 14, 2016 Free Verse, Original Poetry, The Daily Post Photo Challenge

In response to The Daily Post’s Photo Challenge:  Face

Vis-à-Vis
©May 14th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram

Let me see you now
In the light of the glimmering water
Where fish swim swiftly, surely,
Like sparrows in a backyard, but we
Shall out-swim them, shall we not?

Let me see your eyes –
Inscrutable and bottomless
Full of sliced light, shimmering,
As you gaze at me, back-lit by blue –
I could drown in them.

Let me see you now
Face to face, clearly, not darkly
What do you see, my friend,
When you see me?

Do you wonder what I think of you?
Or, could it be that you dream
Merely of swimming free
Far from here, from all these eyes?

We shall face them all together
Standing face-to-face
Faced by the enormity of our fate
To be forever watched, seen, admired.

– Quick, let’s turn our backs on them all!

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Tags: #Face, #Face-to-Face, #OriginalPoetrybyVijayaSundaram, #TheDailyPrompt, #TheDailyPromptWeeklyPhotoChallenge

Oct 12, 2015 Original Poetry, Writing 201

I have NEVER done “Found Poetry,” nor have I ever attempted chiasmus as a device, although I knew of it, and had encountered it.  It seems that these days I’m doing things that  I’ve never attempted.  In any case, today’s (Day 6) assignment, in brief, was:

Create a “found poem”

Make it about “faces”

Use “chiasmus.”

I’ve typed up the text of my found poem, which I assembled from tea-bag covers, junk mail, an art catalogue, and a plastic bread-bag.  Not having a working camera currently, I took an awkward picture with my MacBook Pro’s PhotoBooth.  So, the picture below looks, let’s face it, bad and blurry.  However, I shall remedy that when I can get a clearer image with a working camera.  In any case, here’s the image, and then, my typed-up text below it, for those who cannot discern the words.

(Oh, and I was thrilled to FIND my chiasmus in the process of looking for words!  The first line occurs on line 10 (after the heading, which is “Not When Pigs Fly”):  The Power of each woman’s face.  The second part of the chiasmus occurs as the punchline, the end:  “Face each woman’s POWER.”)

Here’s the poem, in its entirety:

Not When Pigs Fly

©October 12th, 2015

By Vijaya Sundaram

We are women —

Friends of the earth,

Hope,

The People,

wise,

The Majority.

We shall converge on LITTLE DREAMS,

GIVE Clarity.

No Blisters.

Guaranteed.

VISIONS OF THE UNCANNY —

THE POWER OF each woman’s face

EXHIBITS passion,

SUPPORTS MEMORY.

SURVIVING THE ELEMENTS,

ULTRA CONCENTRATED,

OUR MUSIC ROLLS ON.

WE ARE PEACE.

WE ARE the Earth.

face each woman’s POWER!

Tags: #Face, #Hope, #Peace, #Writing 201, chiasmus, Dreamer of Dreams, Found Poetry, poetry challenge!, The Earth, The power of women