[Poem] Prayer

NaPoWriMo-21 GloPoWriMo- 21

The dyadic connection begins each morning—

“Don’t open your eyes upon waking.

Rub your palms together.

Hold them over your eyes.

Open them to the world with prayers,”

Mother would warn each morning.

“Don’t simply step upon Mother Earth 

As you rise from your bed.

Apologize. Give your thanks

To the sun and moon and earth’s kindness.”

 

Thus prayer lay entwined with the acts of the day:

The after-shower prostration, the whispered incantations

The evening bhajan, the prayer before sleep,

The countless observations and rituals of nearly every day—

those were the ordinary days of my childhood.

 

As I grew, it became a constant colloquy,

This quiet parley with divinity

Over all things grand and petty:

The hovering eagle with sacred wings

A cloak, a tether, a wisp of fragrance, 

A rope tied to a clanging bell.

It is a force that gathers strength

Through constant use.

It is the source of all compassion

The heart of incredible peace-

The profound core

 That feeds and swells with oblation, salutation, supplication.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The dyadic connection begins each morning -

'Don’t open your eyes upon waking

Rubs together your palms  

Hold them over your eyes

Open them to the world with prayers'

Mother would warn every morning.

'Don’t just step on mother earth

As you jump out of bed

Apologize, say your thanks

To the sun and moon and earth’s kindness.'

Thus, prayer lay entwined with the acts of the day.

The after shower prostration. The incantations.

The evening bhajan and the prayer before bed.

The countless observations and rituals of almost all days-

Those were the typical days of my childhood.

As I grew it became a constant colloquy

This parley with divinity

For all things grand and petty.

The hovering eagle with sacred wings.

It is a cloak, a tether, a wisp of fragrance,

A rope to a clanging bell.

It’s a force that gathers strength

From constant use

It is the source of all compassion

It is the heart of incredible peace-

The profound core

That feeds and swells with constant oblation, salutation, supplication.

[Poem] 3 Concrete Poems

Day 9
NaPoWriMo
GloPoWriMo

[Poem] Ekphraistic Poem

Day 6

An Ekphrastic Poem based on Jheronimus Bosch’s Painting The Garden of Earthly Delights

 

I am a child clement

I have no need for raiment

I am the child of god, the father of man

Before Noah’s arc

Before the flood

And the fear it instilled

Before Satan talked or walked

Before Eve’s flagrancy

Before One became Three?

Heaven, Earth, Hell

After the first man fell.

If it were a fall why then a ball?

Why the wild party, the orgy?

Why the vagrant Profligacy?

Every man, animal, being

Indulging in amorous coupling?

What if I drew a wrong analogy?

A gross misreading of a great allegory?

Perhaps the painting is from right to left?

What if I am the consciousness that sleeps as you dream up galaxies?

Or what if I am extra-terrestrial

Armed with machines industrial

In a world where men and women are equal

I gave light, music, I built transport buildings, museums.

But perhaps man fell 

As he is wont to fall

Every mortal greed stems from the flesh

The centre couldn’t hold?

In a blood thirsty virus’ strangle hold

The World burned whole

                   And

Manu or Noah was United

With the Pluralistic One?

[Poem] Dreamscapes

Trudging the yellow sand

While the sea stands -

A massive wall of undulating alum

I gather pearls from open clam

Shells, that lie scattered in the fog

Like cranberries in a bog

I am a boat unfettered, free

Floating upon a dancing sea

With senses lulled by the tender breeze

I join dolphins in unihemispheric sleep

I wake to the sound of thunder and lightning

In a boat that resembles a drum with no holding

I career this way and that upon a violent sea

While rain falls in torrents around me

My scream is an echo that floats in from afar

Through squinched eyes I spy a boatman with an oar

My spirits rise, perhaps he would steer me to the shore?

He gives out a blood curdling howl, I tumble and fall to the ocean floor.