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 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
Apr 21, 2016 Free Verse, Original Poetry, The Daily Post
In response to The Daily Post’s Daily Prompt: Locked
Locked Wor(l)ds
©April 21st, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
In a room so far away
A lady lives a black dream,
Locked away from
Everyone she ever loved.
Cold she is, and full of dread
For, soon one day,
She’ll be dead to all,
And no one will ever
Know that she lived,
And loved, and danced
And sang, and made
A whole world come alive
Painting by painting,
Dance by dance,
Song by song,
Word by word.
The earth grew things
Under her words, and
Animals took shape
And so did birds,
Titans and gods walked,
And people stood upright.
Rivers flowed silver-clear.
Oceans grew whales,
And fish and lobsters,
And the sky grew birds,
And the land grew trees,
And the trees grew people.
And the people saw her,
Mocked and teased her,
Saw her fright, laughed
In fierce delight,
And sent her far, far
From them in loathing.
Now, disease grew
Death came, clothing the land
In Stygian gloom.
Rivers flowed blood-red
And brooks flowed mud-brown
Songs of joy soon turned to
Songs of sorrow, while
People paddled barges of dirges
Through water-hyacinth-clogged
Lakes, through rivers that
Slowed with time, which swung
This way and that, a pendulum
Between one world and the next.
For still, she made worlds,
Still she sang – her words were daggers
A piercing blade, full of rage,
Blind fury, love thwarted.
Staging a coup, her people
Found her, flung her in a tower
A star leaned down, single and cold
And a moon cut away a sliver
Of itself day after day – her moon,
Her star, her world, her doom.
And here she lies,
Alone, outcast, the Mother
Of all, the Maker of beasts,
The Giver of all things
Mutely, she stares
Into the glaring darkness
Of her locked room,
Blind with sadness.
Now, slowly, slowly, in a
Dream, she takes the key
(For she made it), kisses it,
Flings it into the
Waiting arms of night,
And slowly, slowly
She unmakes herself,
Taking her locked tower,
The people, the animals,
The fish and whales,
The birds, the rivers and brooks,
The star and moon,
Disease and death, barges and dirges
Hyacinth-clogged rivers,
Songs and dances, and words,
As she vanishes into a dream.
And somewhere, the key
Floats along on a stream
Of stars, far, far away.
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.
Tags: #Locked, #NewFairyTale, #NewMyth, #OriginalPoetrybyVijayaSundaram, #TheDailyPost, #TheDailyPrompt
Apr 21, 2016 Original Poetry, Senryu, The Daily Post
In response to The Daily Post’s Daily Prompt: Fog
Fog Rising
©April 21st, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
Curtain lifts with sun:
Fog rises and dissipates
Coffee clears my head.
Gentle words soothe me
Mist of despair vanishes
Thank you for your love.
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Tags: #Fog, #Metaphorical poem, #OriginalPoetrybyVijayaSundaram, #TheDailyPost, #TheDailyPrompt
Apr 19, 2016 Free Verse, Original Poetry, The Daily Post
In response to The Daily Post’s Daily Prompt: Fake
Fake-itude!
©April 19th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
How lovely to see you!
You don’t look a day older
(Despite the wrinkles, that is).
Such gorgeous ladies!
Fabulous beauties, all of you!
(Fabulous is for fifty-year olds!)
Oh, we must meet again, soon!
Where’d you get that dress?
It’s beautiful! So … colorful!
(I must make a note of it,
So I can avoid it.)
Call me, okay?
It’s been too long!
Will do, surely!
We have to get together!
I’ll call you, okay?
(In your dreams!)
You’re the best!
Isn’t she amazing?
She’s so talented,
So accomplished!
(So full of herself –
Wish she’d stop showing off!)
Hey man, you’ll be missed.
The place won’t be the same.
Let’s have coffee sometime.
Yes, sometime.
(In the next century!)
Let’s play some music sometime
Hang out, chill, you know?
Imbibe some, shoot the breeze,
Like the old days, man!
Sure, man! I’ll call you.
It’ll be like old times.
And how are you doing today, Miss?
(Like I care – wish you’d all go away!)
What’ll it be? Mochaccino? With skim?
Perfect! Nice choice, if I may say so.
No way? Chai with soy?
My favorite – you’ve got good taste!!
(If I taste it, I’ll puke –
These millennials are weird!)
Have a lovely day!
(And leave me alone!)
Thank you so much!
I wonder where you come from
India? How wonderful!
(I hope you’ll go back there –
Stupid people taking over our jobs
Make Amewica gweat again!)
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P.S. I don’t love this poem, but I was hard-pressed to write about fake things. It’s okay if you hate it. Just don’t fake it! 🙂
Tags: #Fake, #Humor, #OriginalPoetrybyVijayaSundaram, #sarcastic poem, #TheDailyPost, #TheDailyPrompt