Waiting.
Thoughts not restrained
I meant to say
Words weighed…
Absolutely meant
To say heartfelt
Words weighed…
Caught unexpected
Paused by minutes
Words weighed…
I meant to say
Thoughts not restrained
Waiting.
Category: View Point
The Poet Within
“What should I look for while writing poetry?” A simple, straight forward question asked by a student who has been penning down lines and lines of verses, she calls “poetry”.
My immediate answer would have been “finding unusual in the usual”.
Technically, we are laid down by rules to writing poetry. The muse spins the words from the imagination that’s shaped to sleek avoiding the clichés; then laid to rest for a while, before re-reading it several times to tone it to perfection.
Well, poetic endeavours waylay grammatical rules often. Also, experiential learning enlivens rhyme, rhythm, meter, stanza and forms into newer poetic gestures that, over a period of time gains recognition.
A good practitioner of poetry writing feels poetry of others as his. Just like the use of Five W’s and One H, the poet at heart applies his senses to know the poem. Of course, our emotions will never fail us.
However, it is the freedom of expression and the unbridled thought patterns that encourage a healthy poetry.
On a practical note, “what does your audience want to hear?” should linger in the mind.
Indeed most of us are ruled by our hearts while writing poetry. We love them with their vices, and occasionally tread the path of rules to regularize them to acceptance. Apparently, it is interesting to analyse the way poet’s think.
But, what makes poetry lovable? I guess, only our “state of mind” at “that moment” can tell. May be it is our “poetic assumption” .
Visitor
A sparrow flew into my room
Chose to sit on top of the piled up books
Nothing seemed to bother it
My presence or the clatter of the keyboard;
A very rare sight indeed
Especially with its depleting population
Competing to win the survival race
The cute birdie was a struggler in the city;
With a good intention to welcome my guest
I crumbled the biscuit in my hand
But guess the undue attention paid was not well received
And it flew away, a stranger.
Published in Feeling the Way (2012), second anthology of poems by Deeya Nayar-Nambiar
Trusted Companion
The alarm began to ring. My friend searched for the button to put it off; politely apologised the group she had joined for lunch.
An alarm in the afternoon was something unusual. But, hers was a reminder set for a task she had to complete. She rejoined the group after making a call. “Life has become easy with the mobile.” She exclaimed.
Indeed, the smartphones have become the inseparable us.
I had replaced a phone long ago. With it had lost some important information too. My memory appeared to have had a seizure. The mundane duties assigned with passwords were unreachable. Of course, the endless contact list of family, friends, and acquaintances stored in the mobile phone was safe somewhere. I could not recollect the codes and numbers though.
Wandering in the wilderness of the dreams, the ability to identify the real may seem a task itself. At times the sleep takes us on the unknown paths and we also see the real world we live in. On one such “eureka moments” I happened to see the mobile phone dumped along with the used and ignored gadgets.
Within moments I was holding my phone. Old and worn out but still strong at heart. It was as if finding my soul mate! After giving it a complete care, I was back in action, searching, transferring files and documents.
The photos of family and friends smiled out of the phone. They were all clicked on my mobile phone at one or the other occasion. Apparently, every photo had one or the other pose with their mobile phone. How significant; better to describe the photos as a get-together of extended families of friends and mobile phones.
A few hours of happiness were captured in good memories. The information remained stored in the phone. But my mind needed to refresh its memory with the help of a phone! Ironically, changing a mobile phone for another smartphone had not worked wonders on my memorising skills. I was no different from my friend and her reminder set on the phone.
