powdered charcoal--half a poem

coldness seeps into him almost burning his skin after that intense heat
he turns towards it welcoming it
he puts out his hand, snatching it back again
why can't he feel anything in his fingers
he tries to open his eyes, finds only holes there
why is he smelling burnt wood powderded to charcoal
concentrating hard enough, he faces the inevitable truth

death can only have only colour, which is amalgamation of all others
his cremation could only come after he had died from drowning

fruition of a germinated thought

Today I go to my 25 years school reunion. I penned down these thoughts for my school friends.

#Update@11 Aug, 2008: It was great to meet many of my friends. I will write about it later on.

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a thought which was planted in a jest
germinated few months ago
finally came to fruition after nurturing

did you ever imagine that you would
meet thus with all your girl pals
with whom you shared your girly thoughts

is it not beyond your wildest dreams
that after quarter of a century
you gather at the very same place

which prepared you for life, to face it
the way you are doing now;
indeed, you have come a long way

"Nonetheless, ask yourself, is it the end?
no, my friends, you still have to go a long way
just keep climbing the never ending stairways"

Liberate yourself

Photo Credits: Rick Mobbs


To be free. What does it mean to you? How do you look at it? What is true freedom? I know I am asking the same question in different ways. And I am not here to preach either. Many a times, I simply talk to myself and this is one of those times. You can safely skip this.

For me, to be free means to think about the world. To think and do beyond oneself. To reflect and ponder over things and approach or tackle anything in the best way possible. It is about being unselfish. In today's context, it seems impossible. Majority of us are indeed wrapped up in our own world to look beyond it. True freedom for me means to break that shackle and come out of it. For me, God is not important, religion is not important. However, spirituality is. Humanity is. I do not even believe that you must love your neighbours. I truly believe that first you must love yourself. That too, unselfishly. Only then you are truly be free of everything. Self-love does not mean self-obssessed. It means to respect our own mind, body and soul. Many feel that it is our body, it is our life, we can do what we want. Is it? Should we? If we think this way, are we loving ourselves? I suppose, we all need to answer that question. We, only we, can truly answer that. We can hide away from the world but can we escape ourselves? At the end of the day, we have to face ourselves in the mirror.

Do I have to follow a faith or believe in God to perceive it this way? Answering for myself, I say no. As I see it, religion does more harm than good. Nothing can get worse than blind faith. Follow the goodness in your heart. Let your soul show you the path. You won't be needing anyone other than yourself to guide you. That is true freedom, ultimate liberation.

Entertain me, will you?!

How do I entertain myself? What is relaxation for me? Where do I find solace? If I had to answer it in one word, I would say books and add another two words, more books. Or just plain reading. In a way, that is true but not in its entirity.

I like to listen to music. In my college days, I use to go to rock concerts. I was and still am a rock music fanatic. Louder the music, it affected my blood. Thats the way I preferred it. Lately I like jazz but I have not given up on rock music. Music has no boundaries. It can uplift you from anything. You just have to give in to it. I completely give in to it. I let it take over my mind and body.

I am not much of a movie person. But I do like action movies. The blood and gore kind. Those feel good mushy movies bore me to tears. I an only watch the endings and thats about it. I prefer war movies and world movies too.

In my school days I liked going to circus. It was pure entertainment. Nowadays, those are rare. You don't get to see any circus. I think I have not visited any for 20 odd years. Anything that makes me stress free, gives me pure pleasure, makes me behave childish is entertainment for me. Be it writing poery, chatting on the phone, blogging or any other modern way of interpreting it. People watching, walking around doing nothing too relax me.

Lately I have taken to visiting museums, art exhibitions and book readings. Signs of senility? I suppose so!

Feel free to move around my blog---Rockin' Chair Writers

I got into blogging by chance. Before May 2005, I never wrote anything. Creatively, that is. A friend I met online, insisted that I write. He asked me contribute a ghost story to a network. Within an hour, I had written one and never looked back. I posted my story. Needless to say, I knew nothing of editing or finer nuances of writing. However, that did not stop me from writing short stories and 55 word fiction. Poetry came a bit later. I used to gobble up Browning and Burns' poetry in my school days. When I did PG in English Lit., I disovered other poets, medieval, modern and contemporary. Before that I had known nothing of modern poetry. Plath, Parker, Oliver, cummings and Neruda are just a few poets I am mentioning here. The list does not end here.

Initialy I had no vistors on my blog. I used to do it for my own pleasure. I taught myself writing various forms of poetry writing. Then visitors trickled in and I too started to interact. Then I discovered various prompts and writing exercises. These helped honing my skill. Creative writing communities help each other to write better. Many amongst us offer valuable tips. Critiquing is a part of it. However, encouragement is the keyword.

After a while, our blogs do become our homes. It feels good when we share this space with our visitors. Over a period of time some of us become fast friends too. It might be via the net but nonetheless very important. We open our blogs, our hearts to our friends. Any kind of writing is mostly derived from from personal experiences. In a way we reveal more in our creative writings than anywhere else. Happy or sad, it is for our blog friends to see. Many a times, they help us get away from despair. It may be on the net but it still feels good to know that complete strangers care about your well being.

My blog contains more than 700 posts. Most of it is poetry. Structured as well as free verse. A few pieces of prose poetry. I cannot slot my poetry. I write on wide and varied issues. As I have not seriously considered publishing, I think, this is the only way I can reach out to the world. Small one, may be. I also have a book blog where I write reviews for books I read. I also participate in various memes if I feel like it. That can and does help building up the blogging community.

Show you around? Hey, you are welcome to explore my blog. Get busy, get clicking, get going!

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Thanks Brian, for this prompt. It rocks!