Feb 23, 2017 Free Verse, Original Poetry
Cold Fire, Warm Fire
©February 23rd, 2017
By Vijaya Sundaram
Fires which cast a cold, impersonal light
Are fires that do not warm.
I want to be one who casts a flickering glow
And warms you to your very core.
And I shall try not to burn out too soon.
But when I do, remember this:
I vanished in smoke, and climbed to meet the Sun.
And this, here, mattered not one whit.
And yet, this, here, matters forever, endures
In contradiction is truth born.
So, thank you for what you’ve been, and are to me
Though the wind buffets, I’ll hold on.
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Tags: #BeingMortal, #ColdFireWarmFire, #Immortality, #OriginalPoetrybyVijayaSundaram
Oct 16, 2015 Original Poetry, Writing 201
Immortality, OR: Art Causes Pain and Pleasure
©October 16th, 2015
By Vijaya Sundaram
It’s You of whom (sometimes) I think when I
See people work at art or song or verse
While making beauty with their minds, traverse
The lands invisible that touch the sky.
Your shadows lurk so menacingly stark
For ’tis a place of light and shade, this land
Where dreamers, poets, artists, singers band;
In vain, we seek our songs in brooding dark
We seek You, Immortality, and roam,
Our paintbrush, flute, guitar or pen in hand
And (vagabonds so far away from home),
We spread across these vast, uncharted lands
And hacking ‘cross the tangled brush, we come*
To You, whom now, at last, we understand.
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*Okay, so I took some liberty with the rhyme there, don’t razz me!
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Our Day 10 (FINAL DAY!)’s prompt was: Write a Sonnet, about pleasure, using Apostrophe as your device.
Our esteemed host and Muse @benhuberman had this parting gem:
If you happen to be one of those who find sonnets easy, have no fear — you can still challenge yourself further. How about going for a crown of sonnets? Or branching out to the sestina, another structurally difficult form?
I’ll have my readers know that this sonnet (my first, my first!), which took me TWO FULL hours exactly, I used a Petrachan sonnet form, with a couple of exceptions. So, instead of abba, abba, cd, cd, cd rhyme scheme, I used an abba, cddc, ed, ed, ed rhyme scheme. I also tried, desperately, to use iambic pentameter, reading it aloud to myself as it went, tweaking a word here, or rearranging some words there.
Note: There is another Petrarchan form is abba, abba, cde, cde, which I did not even want to attempt.
(Now, I shall go and lick my wounds, and sorrow over my terrible poem!)
Hats off to those who can do a “Crown” of Sonnets, and Sestinas, to boot! (I’m thinking of you, Melinda Kucsera!)
Anyway, I’m done.
And no, I’m NOT going to attempt a Sestina today. Too much else going on in my life, and writing a meaningful Sestina will take up more time, no doubt.
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Tags: #Immortality, #Pleasure, #sonnet, #Writing 201, Art, Artists, Final Day, Pain, Seekers, uncharted lands, vagabonds