Friday 17 June 2022

Please Read The Letter -- A poet's plea -- WEP June 2022


In order to dust off my writing cobwebs, I decided to participate (for the very first time) in WEP's June Challenge.

It’s the year of Music Challenges at WEP, and for the month of June, the prompt is based on Please Read the Letter by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss – a break up song and a moving plea for understanding at the termination of a relationship. 

I had recently participated in a short form poetry workshop run by Namratha and Manas of Soulcraft Poetry Workshop and was introduced to a new (to me) poetic form called the 'Cleave.'

It's a form created by Dr Phuoc-Tan Diep. You can read more about it here: Cleave Poetry.  The form is as intriguing as its creator's story. Happy exploring.

Before you scroll down to read my poem, here's 

"How to read a Cleave poem?" (from the Cleave Poetry website)

Simply:

1. Read the left hand poem as a first discrete poem.
2. Read the right hand poem as a second discrete poem.
3. Read the whole as a third integrated poem.


Here's my WEP entry: Word Count : 154, FCA


"Please Read the Letter-- A Poet's Plea"


Call for Submissions: Knock. Knock. Knock.

 

We are now Closed! I touch wood for luck—just in case, fingers crossed!

 

Odd! how rejections, “We cannot carry your poem.”

 

folded in soft words—“not for us” pour and pour and

 

slip through bolted doors: my poetry will drown me – I write it aloud.

 

Please read the letter (it’s an attachment)

 

that I wrote. I’ve mailed it.

 

I’ve nailed it. I hope this time, at last, it’ll make it

 

to your door. They call them windows

 

on my laptop. But they’re always ‘currently closed’.

 

"We’re closed for submissions.” Knock! Knock! Knock!

 

Please read the letter. It’s a poet’s plea:

 

It holds just one question, of many broken parts. How do I piece together the perplexing  pieces of the publishing game?


When will you open up? When will my poetry be seen?

 

Should my poems wait? Is there hope?

 

Or should they give up? Please reply ASAP.

 ***********************

Thank you for visiting and for reading. I hope my poem's theme is clear to decipher.

You can read other WEP entries and even send in your entry (if time permits): here

Wishing you a happy and safe weekend. You know how much I enjoy reading your comments. So, don't be shy:)

 


Thursday 16 June 2022

Red Sun Yellow Sky


I've been an absentee blogger since April 30th 2022. All I have as a way of explanation is a bag full of excuses. 

This April, our first holiday since February 2020 crossed paths with my first #NaPoWriMo. I wasn't sure how I'd cope. But I did well:)

I was able to post daily and even got featured twice! Yay!! I absolutely loved the discipline of  crafting a new poem daily (to prompts-- no less). But what I loved even more was reading some amazing poetry and posts throughout April. 

Every time I participate in the April challenge of blogging from A to Z, I promise myself that I'll be as committed to my blog after the challenge is over as much as I am while it is on. But. But. Every year, all I'm left with is a bag full of excuses to offer.

I hope, fingers crossed, that with this short post, I'll put myself back in the saddle and ride, nay, trot along rather gently with my other blogger buddies. You see, I owe a lot to my blog and my blogging journey. Everything that can be counted as anything of substance in my writing career is somehow linked to this blog. The writing process-- its discipline of writing regularly escapes me when I'm not blogging. And funnily enough, it's only when I'm in this sacred space of writing and sharing that my writing stretches its limbs and shakes off its lethargy.

I do post on Insta every now and then but the 'instantaneous' quality of those posts (known as captions for a reason) is so short lived that I barely get the chance to dip my toes and its the next morning, the next week and just like that a whole month has gone by.

The tile of this post is "Red Sun Yellow Sky" because it's the title of the story I'm sharing here with you.

I had the good fortune of sharing this personal story on 26th March 2022 on a zoom session hosted by Shanty Rose who created a fabulous storytelling forum called "Across and Beyond the Arabian Sea". We, the story tellers, were asked to share personal stories on the theme of 'The Gift/Gifts". This is what I shared--


Thank you for listening to Rana's story. 

We are all stories after all. But, it's thanks to challenges and forums that stories embedded in us get aired.

I hope to see you all soon with some pics and posts about my first ever trip to Turkey.

How's the last month or so been for you? Are you making any travel plans? Is summer a time of the year you look forward to or dread? You know I'd love to find out, if you'd like to share.

Stay well. Keep safe and hydrated. Till we meet again.