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
Jun 5, 2014 Original Short Stories
PHOTO PROMPT
Copyright – Douglas M. MacIlroy
I couldn’t resist another story! Thank you to Friday Fictioneers pioneer, Rochelle-Wisoff-Fields, for hosting, and to Douglas M. MacIlroy for today’s prompt!
Euphemism
(My second 100-Word Response to this week’s prompt)
©June 5th, 2014
By Vijaya Sundaram
Sleep doesn’t come, despite his silent screams. A feverish disease consumes his bones. He dreams of cool, snow-covered mountains, an icy river, a boat. The darkness floods in from outside, swirling around his prone form.
Raju’s end is near. He is angry, afraid, and impatient.
Beside him, a woman sits, cigarette dangling from her lips, feet on table, three lit candles courting the darkness. She’s tapping a syringe.
There’s a spoon on the table, some jars fading into the mist that’s closing in, and a shell. Faint music wafts from it.
He croaks, “Give it to me.”
Shrugging, she does.
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Tags: #Death, #Friday Fictioneers, #Original Short Story, Euphemisms, Euthanasia, Flash Fiction, Pain
Apr 11, 2013 Character Vignettes for Possible Novels, Original Poetry
The Enemy
Or: To a Non-Friend
©By Vijaya Sundaram
April 11th, 2013
This is the day I was surprised.
It’s not my skin-tingling recoil
That surprised me when I saw you.
It’s not my memory of all
The little jabs and major stabs
That you aimed so casually and
So shamelessly at my open
Heart through all these years that we had
Passed each other grim, unsmiling.
It’s not your mockery and your
Usual barely suppressed malice
Which made me stop in my tracks and
Caused me almost to forget
Forget the injuries, insults …
Incalculable pain that you’ve
Caused me, making me want to die,
Washing the rocks on some hillside.
No, it’s not any of those things.
It’s that today, you were not well.
And, in sickness, your laughter bloomed.
You were vulnerable, you were
Shorn of bluster, you were truly
There, truly true, truly open.
You were without defense, or hate.
And you were giddy, funny, good.
And I felt for you a great rush
Of affection, of empathy,
Which bore me away on fair winds
Which made me laugh with you today.
Which made me feel for you, for you,
Of all people, you, who have hurt,
Insulted, derided, questioned,
Rumored, destroyed, rebuilt, torn down.
You altered your face. No longer
Bitter nor hateful, no longer
Jealous nor spiteful. You were real.
You were funny. You were open.
Laughing, you changed all you had been
For one moment, in the blessing
Of the spring, the sunshine pouring
Down on us, through ceilings and roof.
This is what surprised me today.
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Tags: #NaPoWriMo, altered, empathy, Friendship, Hurt, Laughter, mockery, Pain, sunshine, surprise