Aug 5, 2016 Free Verse, Original Poetry, The Daily Post
Crossing
©August5th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
Come, lift your hands in praise.
Praise the woman who stands
Smiling, calm, unbent in the gale,
Maligned and slandered.
Praise the steely strength
The resolve that could move mountains
The centre of peace that allows
Her boat to bob on the waves
As she rows, tirelessly
To unknown terrain, but which exist,
For she mapped them out.
Praise the larger purpose
Which is her rudder, and her guide
The larger purpose and the greater good.
Beyond her own needs, the needs of her kin,
Lies the greater good of all,
And she will not be satisfied until
She works till the end of her life for it.
Praise her, and help her.
Guide her, too, for she is not infallible,
And she sometimes mistakes the way.
Praise her, and help her.
But while she has no need of praise,
She has deep need of help.
And while the other side is mapped
There’s still the Crossing ahead,
And there are Scylla and Charybdis
Waiting to devour her and her boat.
Slay them.
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Tags: #DailyPrompt, #GreaterGood, #OriginalPoetrybyVijayaSundaram, #Postaday, #Praise, #Rudder, #Strength, #TheDailyPost, #Women
Aug 4, 2016 Free Verse, Original Poetry, The Daily Post
Grape-Craving
©August 4th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
I crave grapes.
Yes, grapes!
Rich, luscious, succulent,
Tight-skinned, green-gemmed
Bursting-at-the-seams
Grapes!
Like chrysoprase cabochons
Strung together, grapes
Shining in the light, those
Green gems so tight,
Make me crave them.
Their translucence drives
Me sick with desire
And their sweetness
Causes me to swoon.
Grapes that ripen slowly
In the hot sun,
Inviting greedy raccoons
To feast at night.
Ah, those grapes!
Grapes, which, when you pluck them,
Give out an audible sigh of desire
And say, “Yes! Oh yes!”
And I imagine silken curtains
And sylph-like ladies
Passing them out on burnished plates.
And lazy, overfed Romans lying about
Eating the clustered globes
Filled with nectar that would
Intoxicate if they were allowed
To ferment into wine.
Now, as I write this, I arise,
Open the refrigerator,
Grab a container of washed grapes
And eat them, two by two,
Four by four.
I am sick with sweetness.
Drunk with greed.
So … sick, so drunk.
(Why did I do this?!)
(Why bother with wine
If you can have grapes?!)
No! I am not Lucullus,
Nor was meant to be;
I’m just a lowly grape-eater
Hedonist before bedtime.
My dreams shall be sweet.
And I shall be well-satisfied.
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Tags: #Craving, #DailyPrompt, #No!IamnotPriceHamlet, #OriginalPoetrybyVijayaSundaram, #Postaday, #T.S.EliotReference, #TheDailyPost
Aug 2, 2016 Free Verse, Original Poetry, The Daily Post
Keep Looking
©Tuesday, August 2nd, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
Every strand of my DNA
Takes me further back
And farther
And is woven through
All life around me.
Every strand of my DNA
Shivers when people suffer
And when they kill,
I feel killed, cell by cell.
And every nucleotide in me
Hears every nucleotide in you.
I hear you, and I see you.
What you feel is pain and rage,
And it hurts.
And when you hurt someone,
It hurts.
And when you hurt yourself,
It hurts.
There is a suppurating sore
In the body politic
Logic and empathy die by degrees.
Flawed reasoning struts about.
How shall we heal this?
Look deep within my eyes
I’ll look deep within yours.
Let’s look closely, and see
Who sits inside, crouching
Or strutting, who laughs,
Who cries, who rages.
What do you see?
What do I see?
Let it all seep out, all the
Hatred, rejection, anger, spite
Rage, hurt, sorrow, indifference,
All that rushing, tumbling loneliness,
And, hiding deep in there, a lost
Child, hurting, always hurting, alone,
Deaf and blind in a dark cellar,
Where love comes not,
And fear resides, and grief
Twisted into rage.
Keep looking.
Do not look away.
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Tags: #Connectedness, #DailyPrompt, #humanity, #Love, #OriginalPoetrybyVijayaSundaram, #Postaday, #Profound, #TheDailyPost
Aug 1, 2016 Free Verse, Original Poetry, The Daily Post
Sorry!
©August 1st, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
I’m sorry, she said
After flaying him.
Recriminations, regrets
Tears, rage, had all
Poured out like torrents
Of water down a street
After a colossal storm.
And he picked up his
Spirits, tucked his
Sadness under his arms,
And carried on,.
Love bears all things
But sometimes, it can
Crack in places,
And tear in others.
And the water waits
To flood those cracks.
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Apology
Tags: #Apology, #DailyPrompt, #OriginalPoetrybyVijayaSundaram, #Postaday, #TheDailyPost
Jul 31, 2016 Free Verse, Original Poetry, The Daily Post
I Admire
©July 31st, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
The hummingbird that hovers
Magical and suspended in a sea of perfume
Drunk with nectar and delight
Whirring silently before taking off:
I admire her.
That cat that walks, soft-padded
Sure and silent, unblinking
Like a lighthouse in a sea of darkness
As it watches for a night mouse:
I admire him.
That dog, whose nose senses changes
And shifts in mood, whose presence
Heals the heart-broken, and whose smile
Chases away clouds that gather:
I admire her.
That girl, as she does somersaults
Like a being from non-space
Filled with sheer lightness of self,
Loving the air as it moves around her:
I admire her.
That woman who moves, sylph-like
Through bursts of colour in her garden
Whispering love to flowers, and
Coaxing vegetables to grow, as she works:
I admire her.
That man who holds his wife aloft,
As she cries quietly in a spasm of grief
For her sudden sense of a life adrift,
And as she feels her strength ebbing:
I admire him.
And the mother who holds her family,
When her husband isn’t around,
And her children look to her for hope
And she cannot surrender to sorrow:
I admire her most of all.
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Tags: #Admire, #DailyPrompt, #OriginalPoetrybyVijayaSundaram, #Postaday, #TheDailyPost
Jul 29, 2016 Free Verse, Original Poetry, The Daily Post
An Ill Wind
©July 29th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
I am the bringer of coolness.
But I can fan the flames too.I fell trees and buildings,
And whip the sea into froth.
I blow people hither and yon,
And the windmills turn.
Wildly the weathercock turns
And the earth turns, as I blow.
And I whisper and rage, and blow
And sigh, and sing, and know
That my songs are heard by those
Who care to listen, and heed me well.
Heed me well, for my ill wind
Will blow everything away.
Heed me, for I am sick, and
Contagion flies along my back.
For lies and hate will twist their eyes,
And rage and lust for power swell,
And kindness is ground underfoot
When the people race to first place.
Trap me, use me, feed me goodness.
Turn my illness round, make it stop.
I’ll bring in breath so sweet,
My songs will scent your days.
Bring filters and sails to catch me.
Clean my soot and my shame.
My ill wind is sickening this world,
So restore me to health again.
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Tags: #DailyPrompt, #OriginalPoetrybyVijayaSundaram, #Postaday, #TheDailyPost, #Wind
Jul 28, 2016 Free Verse, Original Poetry
Unstoppable
©July 28th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
That slippery slope?
I call it the hell-slide.
Begin that descent.
You’ll justify it at all costs.
You’ll bluster and shout
You’ll wave your arms.
You’ll step on some skulls
And you’ll keep on waving.
Your conscience will call
And you won’t hear.
And, as the water gathers
Around your ankles,
You’ll still be waving
And you’ll drown.
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Tags: #DailyPrompt, #OriginalPoetrybyVijayaSundaram, #Postaday, #TheDailyPost
Jul 27, 2016 Original Poetry, The Daily Post
Crisis-Planet
©July 27th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
Once, there was a planet.
She was a beautiful jewel.
With blue, green, white and brown
Her birds sang everywhere,
And bees and butterflies
Flew from flower to flower,
And fruits grew in profusion
There were animals that roamed
And fish that swam, each
Eating and eaten in turn,
But always in balance, in harmony,
While the winds swirled, and the rains fell,
And the earth gave of herself
In an ecstasy of abundance.
And then, the Makers of tools came,
And created things, beautiful to behold.
And the Makers needed more
To make more, and they took more.
And they planted and dug and grew
Things to make more of themselves.
And as they took, they broke the rules
Of nature and of regeneration,
And dug and mined and broke and built.
And they added debris and dust,
And waste and wretchedness to the earth.
Now, fires lick the arms of trees
Sweeping madly across the forest
Animals flee, creatures die
The air is dry as dust
With smoke, and burning brush
Assails the senses.
Water dries up in its wake
And a vast, roaring sheet
Of flame engulfs the ground.
Oceans fill with plastic and oil
And human-made machines break
The delicate sound-scape
Of whale-song and dolphin-click.
And fishes flee, turtles die
Birds are trapped, whales lose the way.
Deserts grow, forests recede,
Highways criss-cross ever more terrain
And the rain forgets to visit.
The Arctic melts, methane fields
Await release, and carbon dioxide
Soars silently past the numbers
That climb and climb, even as we
Pump out more exhaust, more factory-smoke.
How, then, can we say
The earth is not in crisis?
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Tags: #Crisis, #DailyPrompt, #OriginalPoetrybyVijayaSundaram, #Postaday, #TheDailyPost
Jul 25, 2016 Original Poetry, Senryu, The Daily Post
Sanctuary
©July 25th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
This is my refuge.
And in our intertwined lives,
I’ve found sanctuary.
There are some storms, yes,
And gusts of wind, pouring rain –
So much grows after!
A garden of peace –
A quiet place of wonder –
Sweet music wafts through.
Here are dreams and songs
Kindness ripples around rocks.
Graceful trees abound.
When the world grows stale
I retreat to my refuge.
Moonlight grows bright here.
Is gratitude parched?
Mine drinks deep from rippling streams.
I come home to you.
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Tags: #DailyPrompt, #haiku, #OriginalPoetrybyVijayaSundaram, #Postaday, #Sanctuary, #TheDailyPost
Jul 24, 2016 Free Verse, Original Poetry, The Daily Post
Slip
©July 24th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
I’ve said it before,
I’ll say it again:
I hate clocks!
I hate Time!
Treacherous old King!
Stupid we are, so willing,
Enslaved to that tyrant!
Tick-tock, tick-tock,
Drip, drip, drip, drip!
Always dribbling through
The hourglass of our days,
He drags us (that traitor!)
Feet-first into the ocean.
Every minute hastens us
Closer to the end.
And we go willingly.
Why don’t we fight?
(Mind you, I’m not afraid!
I just don’t like surprises.)
I want to be everywhere
And everywhen, all at once.
Engulfing the void that opens,
That stretches before us all,
But Old Father Time, grinning,
Toothlessly cackles, “No, no, no!”
We could suspend Time,
Draw him up by his ankles,
Leave him dangling,
Screaming over the cliff,
While we have a leisurely picnic,
And watch the waves with
Indifferent admiration.
I watch the Old Clock-Man
That old, shuffling Watch-Man,
Grinning, grinning like a mask
Walking around us, avoiding
Direct contact, whispering
Bad thoughts in our ears.
And I think wicked thoughts.
Evil beast! May he perish
Without a whimper, a whisper.
May he be swept away like dust!
For he grinds away the hours
He turns the crank on the minutes
He grins in his hideous mask,
His face empty behind it.
And when he’s done, he sits
And counts the hours, like a miser
Sitting among piled hills of gold.
He counts the beating of my heart
The pulse of my temples,
He numbers my days.
He likes that – gives him a thrill.
How can we wear his avatar,
Grinning like an empty thing
On our wrists? See how he
Lurks inside our phones
Our cars, our computers?
Are we MAD?
This is proof of our slavery:
We shackle ourselves
Time and time again,
And even decorate our chains.
Fie!
I shall paint strange patterns
On that grinning mask,
And while he sputters and gasps,
I shall turn my back, and march
Straight into the sunshine
Beyond his gilded prison.
He cannot catch me,
For I shall give him the slip.
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Tags: #Clock, #DailyPrompt, #OriginalPoetrybyVijayaSundaram, #Postaday, #TheDailyPost