May 1, 2016 Free Verse, Original Poetry, The Daily Post
TRIGGER WARNING AND DISCLAIMER:
This is a very sensitive topic for many school-going teenagers, and may not be one you want to read if you’ve been in this emotional place.
And no, I have NOT been in this place, but I’m very empathetic to those who have, because I taught teenagers for eighteen years.
In response to The Daily Post’s Daily Prompt: Scars
Blade-Run
©May 1st, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
The word makes her shiver
As she reaches for
A shining thing to
Ease her endless pain,
Upend her blocked days,
End her numbness,
Make things flow
Smoothly, until
They’re blocked again,
Until the scars shine
Like smooth roads,
Shiny and pale,
Where a river might
Once have flowed,
Until it’s time to once again
Reach for the shining thing
To ease her endless pain.
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Tags: #Cutting, #OriginalPoetrybyVijayaSundaram, #Scar, #TeenageAngst, #TheDailyPost, #TheDailyPrompt, #TriggerWarning
Apr 30, 2016 Acrostic, Original Poetry, The Daily Post
In response to The Daily Post’s Daily Prompt: Stairway
Spiral (Stairs)
©April 30th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
Slowly, step by step by
Perfectly curving step, our
Intuition pulls us upward
Reaching, breathless with desire as we
Ascend, for the apex, where the
Luminosum dwells.
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Tags: #Ascent, #OriginalPoetrybyVijayaSundaram, #Spiral, #Stairway, #TheDailyPost, #TheDailyPrompt
Apr 29, 2016 Free Verse, Original Poetry, The Daily Post, Uncategorized
In response to The Daily Post’s Daily Prompt: Curve
From a Lover to A Beloved
©April 29th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
The curve of your ears
The curve of your eyes
The curve of your smile
The curve of your frown
The curve of your back
The curve of your neck
The curve of your mind
The curve of your life
Are the shell of you,
The shape of you,
The song of you,
The home of you.
And you, my love,
Make me smile,
Make me want to curl up
And nestle against the shell
Of you, and feel the
Deep, blue whooshing
Of the waves of the
Sea where you dwell
In secret, away from
The prying eyes
Of a busy world.
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Tags: #Curve, #OriginalPoetrybyVijayaSundaram, #TheDailyPost, #TheDailyPrompt
Apr 28, 2016 #Couplets, Original Poetry, Rhymed couplets
In response to The Daily Post’s Daily Prompt: Solitude
Haunted by Solitude
©April 28th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
And where I go, she goes
And everything she knows.
And when I sing, she sings
The song of beginnings
And when I play, she plays
She never goes away
And when I smile, she smiles
(Please leave me for a while!)
And when I cry, she cries
She’ll be silent when I die.
She’s always by my side
She stamps out all my pride
My muscles knot and twist
And dreams I can’t resist.
And she, my shadow-self
Stares from her shadow-shelf
Wills me to stay awake
Bids me my thirst to slake
Somewhere within, she lurks
And I, her puppet, jerk.
So, why am I alone
Holding sadness like a stone?
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Tags: #OriginalPoetrybyVijayaSundaram, #RhymedCouplets, #Solitude, #TheDailyPost, #TheDailyPrompt
Apr 27, 2016 Original Poetry, Senryu, The Daily Post
In response to The Daily Post’s Daily Prompt: Mask
Masked-Love
©April 27th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
If you wear a mask
As the moon wears a soft cloud
Is it to shine less?
Better to shine less
Than to have all look upwards
This way, I can rest.
Why do you hide thus?
To behold your mind is joy:
All are bathed in light.
None need come find me
I shall flood the night with light
But hide behind clouds.
When I glimpse the truth,
And you drift away from me
I’m bereft, forlorn.
Though I may cause joy,
Like mist, my mask protects us
Seeker, leave me be!
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Tags: #Mask, #OriginalPoetrybyVijayaSundaram, #TheDailyPost, #TheDailyPrompt
Apr 27, 2016 Original Poetry, Senryu, The Daily Post
In response to The Daily Post’s Daily Prompt: Crossroads
When the Crossroads Come – 14 Senryu
(An Offering to Hecate)
©April27th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
When the crossroads come
And you’re standing still, so still
Let them pass, softly.
When the crossroads come
And you see Her there, bow down.
Ask her for a gift.
Watch the clouds flow by.
The moon hides her pale, wan face.
Darkly, stars shiver.
Look into my past!
Guide me to my destiny
Help me choose it well.
Offer her your hand
Offer her your heart in trust
Bow to her wisdom.
She will study you.
She’ll gaze into your future
With a cryptic look.
Look into my past!
Guide me to my destiny
Help me choose it well.
And when the stars hide,
When a low moon wails so pale
She will decree it.
Thank her with a gift
Ask for your life in return
You have much to do.
Look into my past!
Guide me to my destiny
Help me choose it well!
Her pole-cat will sing,
Her wolf-dog, in warning, howl.
She’ll see your future.
And she’ll sigh softly
There are things she cannot change,
Though she’ll try to bend.
Look into my past!
Guide me to my destiny
Help me choose it well.
So, when crossroads come
Stand so still, and tall until
They fade into mist.
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Tags: #Crossroads, #Hecate, #OriginalPoetrybyVijayaSundaram, #TheDailyPost, #TheDailyPrompt
Apr 25, 2016 Original Poetry, sonnet
In response to The Daily Post’s Daily Prompt: Whisper
Whispers of Another Land
©April 25th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
To wave your oar at every ship that goes
Upon the waves on which you row your boat
Is foolishness, for all it does is show
The world around you that you are afloat.
The whispers of a land from far away
Are just the wake in which your vessel flies,
But now, distracted by the waves that play
You turn around with wheeling seabirds’ cries.
When whispers of another world are drowned
By shouts of glee and mirth that pass like mist
In mid-day sun before you run aground
You push your oar into the waves, resist!
When distant voices try to reel you in —
Come, let them pull you up above the din.
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P.S. I seem to want to keep writing sonnets nowadays!
Tags: #Daily Prompt, #OriginalPoetrybyVijayaSundaram, #The Daily Post, #TheDailyPost, #Whisper
Apr 24, 2016 NaPoWriMo, Original Poetry, sonnet
In response to The Daily Post’s Daily Prompt: Borrowed
The Star-Poacher (On Borrowing)
©April 24th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
I was hungry; food had been denied me
I went abroad, my trusty net in hand
To hunt down stars which had been snagged by trees
I brought them down to eat, though they were banned.
I chased after a shooting star, but found
‘Twas full of salt and rock, and oily ore.
Besides, I liked to eat the light and sound
Of things I’d stolen from the Big Bang’s store
The moon came swimming by into my ken
I spread my net to catch her, but alack,
I fell in, but was hoisted there and then
Upon a passing comet’s friendly back.
Now, borrowing this comet’s tail I ride
To space to hunt and eat the stars that hide.
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Note: I already wrote a Petrarchan sonnet yesterday for NaPoWriMo, but I thought I’d write a Shakespearean sonnet as well for today’s The Daily Post prompt, and cross-post it to NaPoWriMo.
(Somewhere deep within, I think I was inspired by Italo Calvino’s Cosmicomics, although I didn’t think about it consciously while writing this sonnet! Calvino rules!)
Tags: #Borrowed, #OriginalPoetrybyVijayaSundaram, #Shakespearean Sonnet, #TheDailyPost, #TheDailyPrompt
Apr 23, 2016 Original Poetry, Senryu, The Daily Post
In response to The Daily Post’s Daily Prompt: Disappointment
Do I Disappoint?
(Three Light-Hearted Senryu)
©April 23rd, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
Do I disappoint?
Asks the sunflower of the sun –
Gentle light rains down.
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Do I disappoint?
Asks the child of her mother
(Love’s cocoon enfolds).
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Do I disappoint?
Asks a dog in mild disgrace –
Grinning tail melts stone.
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Tags: #Disappointment, #Original Poetry by Vijaya Sundaram, #TheDailyPost, #TheDailyPrompt
Apr 22, 2016 Free Verse, NaPoWriMo, Original Poetry
Written in response to The Daily Post’s Daily Prompt: Earth
Forgive Us Now … And at the Time of Your Death
©April 22nd 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
She bloomed
In the chaos of night,
In the clang and clamor
Of her birth-pains,
In the clash and clutter
Of planets forming,
Re-forming,
Dying, becoming moons
Or clouds, or dust.
She birthed
Microbes and giants,
And sea-things and air-things
And ground-things,
In a frenzied burst
Of lonely lust
Of love, perhaps.
Hostile space
Pressing down, down upon her –
An untamed sun,
A runaway moon,
Gas-giants in the distance,
And nary a friend.
She formed and re-formed
Herself, my sui generis
My Earth.
She, my mother,
Whom I love beyond all
Whose trees I worship,
Whose animals I adore,
Whose horrors I fear,
Whose gifts I revere,
Dies before our eyes.
Weep! Weep tears of blood!
Write pretty poetry!
Write paeans unending.
Write songs and ditties.
Dance for her,
Clear her air,
Plant more trees,
Halt her death,
Try!
Alas, you cannot,
You cannot,
You cannot.
Crumple down now,
Down on your knees,
Lift up your hands,
Cry!
Pray!
Ah yes, and do, please
Celebrate today,
Your Earth day!
Celebrate – and beg for
Her forgiveness.
This is the sin
I will own.
Forgive us all.
Forgive me,
O My Mother.
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Also submitting this as my second Earth poem to NaPoWriMo:
Tags: #EarthDay, #OriginalPoetrybyVijayaSundaram, #TheDailyPost, #TheDailyPrompt