Letting my Poetry Take Its Own Path

It has been more than three years that I have been writing regularly on this site. I have written articles, poetry and lately short stories. How I write my articles and poetry differs greatly. Let me explain – with articles I normally research about a topic to get some real data and facts before sitting down to pen down my opinion. I normally have a list of topics at hand, which I slowly expand into bullet points and later into a full article. This is a very top to bottom process – something well thought about and planned.

However, how I write poetry is very different from what I described above. If article writing is a top to bottom process, then poetry is a bottom to top process. If article writing is planned, then writing poetry is spontaneous. The articles comes from the head and heart, while the poems originate from the soul. The articles are meant to be read, understood and analyzed, while the poems are just meant to be felt.

I don’t plan and write poetry. I don’t have a list of topics on which I have to write a poem. Instead, poetry writing feels like someone else is writing through me. It seems like I am just the medium and the words just come out automatically when I am in the ‘zone‘. After finishing a poem, sometimes I myself can’t believe I have written it. It is like I am a mirror reflecting the emotions in words which I absorb from the world as it is.

Poetry for me is just an arrangement of words such that it touches the heart and soul of the reader

Poetry for me is just an arrangement of words such that it touches the heart and soul of the reader

When I write a poem, I feel a unique connection to the world. It is like I am painting a picture, but with words instead. It takes me into a new trance of consciousness where the possibilities are endless, and life is full of joy – even if the poem is about sad and tragic state of affairs. I feel poetry puts us all in touch with the most innocent child in us, and we are always going to need it.

I have not learned or studied about poetry ever. Poetry for me is a way of expressing my mood and emotions at that point. Depending on whether I am sad, romantic or nostalgic, my poems come out as reflecting the same. Even the subjects of the poem vary. I have written poems about corruption, politics, love, society, my mother, best friends, life depending upon the prevalent topic in my life at that time.

So my poetry takes its own path, independent of what I want to write. And I want to let it be that way. With poetry, I am willing to go where the flow takes me, without offering much resistance of my own. I am going to accept and write poetry about whatever life throws at me, rather than choosing a subject(s) and try to mold my poetry about it. Poetry also helps me to see things which are serious in a lighter vein. Life may be messy, chaotic, painful, sad at times and joyful, lovely, charming and completely perfect at other times. But the world as a whole is beautiful, and there is beauty all around us, if we can look at it that way.

The Final Act

I have tried to scream, and to yell
Tried every way I could react,
But can you hear me? No one can tell..
How could this be the final act?

Sometimes I feel mad
So hard was the impact,
I sometimes wonder and feel sad
Is this curtains on the final act?

Motherhood

Motherhood

Suddenly I had to say Goodbye
It all seems so abstract
The only question I ask is – WHY
But no answers after the final act..

I think I lost a part of me,
As I no longer feel intact !
She must have completed her duty,
Without notice she scripted her final act !

Life only moves in one direction,
That is the only true fact !
I guess I have only one option,
To start afresh after her final act!!

Don’t ask How? Ask Why?

A man was working on his laptop when his mother asked him “Do you want some coffee, I am making for myself?”

“No, mother. I am busy” came the reply.

“Doing what?”

“I am looking at some tips for how to write a book”.

“Ok. Then what will you do.”, the mother asked, looking lost by his software engineer son’s desire to write a book.

“Ah.. I have some vacations coming up too in December. I want to travel outside the country this time. I need to find out how to travel the maximum and see the most places in those 7 days of vacation.”

“But why?”, enquired his mother.

"There are no right answers to wrong questions." - Ursula K. Le Guin

“There are no right answers to wrong questions.” – Ursula K. Le Guin

“Why what?”, the man shot back.

“Why are you writing a book? Why do you want to travel outside the country? And Why do you want to visit a lot of places in 7 days?”

“Hmmm, never thought about it this way”, the man said.

“Then think now. Replace the ‘how‘ in your questions with ‘why‘ and see what happens.” His mom said, explaining further, “The hows will give you answers too, but the whys will give powerful insights about what you really want…”

Like in the above story, we also live most our days trying to figure out how to do this, how to do that? Even when we meet people, we ask them – How did you become popular? How did you get into this job? and so on. If we were to replace the hows with whys, we would get a real peek into who we really are and what do we actually desire. Just changing the hows to whys can make a lot of difference in our lives.

जो ज़िन्दगी को जीना सीख ले – Jo Zindagi Ko Jeena Seekh Le

जो दिल की धड़कन पहचान ले
वोह गालो में लाली नहीं ढूँढता
जो ज़िन्दगी को जीना सीख ले
वोह उसमे अपने पसंदीदा रंग नहीं ढूँढता

 

“Life has three aspects: Paradox, Humor, and Change. - Paradox: Life is a mystery; don't waste time figuring it out. - Humor: Keep a sense of humor, especially about yourself. It is a strength beyond all measure - Change: Know that nothing stays the same.” ― Peaceful Warrior

Life is a mystery; don’t waste time figuring it out.
― Peaceful Warrior

जो खुदा की दिखाई राह पे चल पड़े
वोह मस्जिद और मंदिर नहीं ढूँढता
जो ज़िन्दगी को जीना सीख ले
वोह हर गली अल्लाह राम नहीं ढूँढता

 

जो अपने काम में दिल लगाने सीख ले
वोह दिन के बाद शाम नहीं ढूँढता
जो जिंदगी को जीना सीख ले
वोह शराब में अपना जाम नहीं ढूँढ़ता

 

जो मुश्किलों में खड़ा रहना सीख ले
वोह दूसरो में अपना सहारा नहीं ढूँढता
जो ज़िन्दगी को जीना सीख ले
वोह हर समुन्दर का किनारा नहीं ढूँढता

 

जो मंजिल मंजिल मुसकाना सीख ले
वोह हँसने के लिए चुटकुले नहीं ढूँढता
जो ज़िन्दगी को जीना सीख ले
वोह दूसरो में अपनी पहचान नहीं ढूँढता

 

जो मौसम का आनंद लेना सीख ले
वोह बारिश में छाता नहीं ढूँढता
जो ज़िन्दगी को जीना सीख ले
वोह रात में सूरज दिन में चाँद नहीं ढूँढता

 

जो जीवन की शायरी पहचान ले
वोह हर लम्हे में उसका अर्थ नहीं ढूँढता
जो ज़िन्दगी का जीना सीख ले
वोह हर कविता के लिए शब्द नहीं ढूँढता

The Cash Counter and the Little Girl

Kids and their curiosity

Kids and their curiosity

“Who will eat these biscuits?”, the little girl asked her mom at the check-out counter of a nearby grocery shop. “Your papa likes them with tea, na, now give it to bhaiya”, she said pointing towards the boy at the counter. “And who will eat these?”, came the follow up question followed by another, “Can I eat them too, are they sweet or salty?”.. Little kids, and their knack of asking questions. I guess it is their way of understanding how this world works..

But standing right behind them in the checkout line, the next thing I saw was the hand of her mom snatching away the biscuit and namkeen packets from the little girl so that they can be billed. “You talk too much, don’t you see we are already late, now keep quite and don’t touch anything”, screamed the mom, clearly frustrated and eager to get out as soon as possible.

Ten more items later, the billing was done, and the mom hurried, with the shopping bags in one hand, and the hand of her little daughter in the other. The girl must have been thinking “What is the hurry, today is Saturday, an off for everyone?”

Obviously she is unaware of the fact that when we humans grow up, we all find it difficult to really enjoy what each moment has to offer. We are all too caught up in the rat race, either thinking about the past or the future, but not about the present. In the above incident, the mom might very well be thinking of her daughter’s school admission, or what to cook for her at dinner, but didn’t have the time to answer the questions which are very much a part of her growing up. We all have been, and are like this mother at different times.

How simple life is as kids? Do what you like. If you don’t know something, ask questions. You don’t know whether the questions sound silly, or no worries. You laugh with others if you see them laughing at you without getting conscious, so no worries again. Even if you realize you’ve done a mistake, you say ‘sorry’ and move on like nothing happened in the first place. You are more interested in what is going to happen the next minute, rather than what happened one hour ago, or earlier today, or yesterday, or years ago. You can get excited by little things like a biscuit or the colors of the your dress, and your expression can change from a smile to a frown to again a smile within five seconds.

But alas, I am a grown up now, and maybe I am not supposed to talk, think or write like this.