The Poetry Marathon

Hour 2

A prayer to dEvi saraswati in Kannada in the akkara metre (this metre is to be sung rather than just read for the flow to be understood)

vINe tantiyin incharam eLpidoDam
jANeyappeyEm I nanna jihveyoLam
mANadimbiTTu solgaLam nuDisidoDam
kANe oppuvem maimeyan AgaloDam

ವೀಣೆ ತಂತಿಯಿನಿಂಚರಂ ಎಳ್ಪಿದೊಡಂ
ಜಾಣೆಯಪ್ಪೆಯೇನೀ ನನ್ನ ಜಿಹ್ವಿಯೊಳಂ
ಮಾಣದಿಂಬಿಟ್ಟು ಸೊಲ್ಗಳಂ ನುಡಿಸಿದೊಡಂ
ಕಾಣೇ ಒಪ್ಪುವೆಂ ಮೈಮೆಯನಾಗಲೊಡಂ

“How can I accept your cleverness, dexterity and prowess if you just create sweet notes and music from your vINa strings? That won’t do! Make words and poems with eternal beauty and sweetness flow from my tongue too, right away. Only then will I accept your greatness”

A house i built nowhere.

I constructed it near the mountains,

It has opened me like sky with compassion towards the grounds.

I let the windows unconverted on both sides,

It taught me to be open for changes,

I let bushes grow around it,

It has pushed me to grow and nourish no matter what,

I let the sun peep through the holes in the ceiling,

It has brought me the moonlight amidst the darkest hours of the night,

I have kept it empty of furniture

It has helped me empty my thoughts of grief and  painful attachments,

I have let all sorts of creatures to cherish inside it,

I had helped me survive amidst all the unwanted hardships,

I have made it with the waste and leftover woods,

It has shown me to rebuild  broken dreams with whatever hope is left,

 

A house I built out nowhere

And then I let it build me out of nothing.•

Crooked shack on a snowy plain near mountains

More of the same fields rise

when driving past. Skim over

the ancient junk piles,

measures of time and waste from

the rural professor,

the ubiquitous poverty

of ideas about how to clean this

abandonment and romance.

Romance is not actually happening

here or anywhere.

Repose inside the lack of touch,

the lack of poet body

like a house slowly eroding into the ground,

present and unknowable.

Put two hands on the steering wheel

at whatever time seems to offer

the most control. Get to work

on time.

The Android’s False Promise -Prompt 3

It started as a hobby

It started as a game

Everyone wanted a piece

of glory, honor and fame

They came from miles around

Just to look around

The arena was stained red,

and bone pieces littered the ground.

Rain

Blood rain

Blood battle

Death match.

Within the cages lurking,

A creature does now prowl.

Awaiting its next challenger

It lets out a gruesome howl.

Built like a man its secret lies

In bones made of titanium

An android monster hell-bent

On smashing in your cranium.

Rain

Blood Rain

Blood Battle

Death’s Match.

Soon the number piled up

With corpses left and right

And still the spectators came

to watch each epic fight

Soon the sponsors began to worry

If the creature was too strong.

They knew that people might get bored

If the battles took too long.

Rain

Blood Rain

Blood Battle

No Catch.

So glory and fame became a new religion

The sponsors wrote a book

To beat this monster was immediate heaven

And soon the world was hooked

Not one man among them wanted to go to hell

So many came each night

And each night many fell

One after another heard death’s knell.

Rain

Blood Rain

Death Match

No Catch.

Rain

Insane

Blood Rain

Death’s catch.

Now all are dead who would challenge the beast

Now all are majorly deceased

The sign still burns brightly

Inviting the dead in.

Within this cavernous chamber

Now remains their sin.

To think they could out battle

A creature made of fear

It lurks inside still waiting

For a fool to draw near.

The Android Monster ticks

Promising Eternity Now

Glorified in a moment

By blood and guts somehow.

Hour 1- 2nd poem to prompt

hair flying
our boy screams
fire fire..
a handful of water
onto the dandelions

The Light

Standing alone wanting to dance
Bright
Warm
The sparks, I see them
Coming
Coming
Pouring into me
Pouring out of me

Dancing alone but I’m dancing
Exhilarating
Euphoric
The sparks, I have them now
Holding
Holding
Lifting me up
Lifting this weight

I’m dancing but not alone
Alive
Free
I’ll keep these sparks
Staying
Staying
Making me whole again
Making me dream

Hour 1

Poetry Marathon- hour 1

A prayer to Lord GaNESa to remove all obstacles, in Sankethi language, set to the vasantatilaka metre

appOdu nAmiDara hejjehaLathayUmE
appA gaNESa unakarpaNa paNNaNAme
tappAde sAgipi sadA nudivuLLe OmE
heppaNDamella aLahE ira bEDaNAmE

ಅಪ್ಪೋದು ನಾಮಿಡರ ಹೆಜ್ಜೆಹಳಥ್ನಯೂಮೇ
ಅಪ್ಪಾ ಗಣೇಶ ಉನಕರ್ಪಣ ಪಣ್ಣಣಾಮೇ
ತಪ್ಪಾದೆ ಸಾಗಿಪಿ ಸದಾ ನುಡಿವುಳ್ಳೆ ಓಮೇ
ಹೆಪ್ಪಂಡಮೆಲ್ಲ ಅಳಹೇಯಿರ ಬೇಡಣಾಮೇ ||

Always, every step we take, O gaNESa, are dedicated to you. Without fail, lead us to completion, fill our words with “Om” and may the universe fill with beauty. This is what we pray for!

Still Wondering

Closing my eyes after a tiring day
Sleep is still far far away
But sleepless dreams haunt me still
An old memory of us up that hill
Where we used to run around
Holding hands and with books abound
No one there just us and them
Pretending common stones to be gems
And exchanging them in place of rings
Promising our love will never be just a fling
Oh! Such a happy place of the days past
To think of the meeting that was our last
Upon that same hill where we used to laugh
You left me crying with a heart broken in half
And today , I am again thinking of you
Still wondering if any of your words were even true.

3~17

An ocean of love in me for you.

Do you see from above?

I miss us.

Prompt three

 

 

 

The snow came

As it did every spring

A fresh blanket

Over winters faded fast

Starving on remnants of wishes and want

The skeletons began to show

At first our eyes then cheeks did follow

The hunger rose to meet us

We could not contain what wasn’t ours

We let this storm

Deplete us