That is an interesting take ... the visual in my mind was of the raptor coming and landing on my arm, finding the poem as it were :) That's why they say the poem always belongs to the reader!!
reading Black Kite, Circling was like reliving a scene--both in reality and inside my head--where words and I hold on to each other until lines and stanzas--or rather a giant block of prose poem--materialize. Incredible read as always. Thank you, Rajani.
Thanks so much for your kind words, Mahdi. I feel that - the way we hold on to words till something materializes...yes, that! Appreciate the restack, too.
I love love how you took the black kite, and the poem that wasnt arriving and made it into a excellent poem! Even the prose is just right! You inspire me
Too kind, Namratha, thank you so much. I think it reveals how random my process is and how the tiniest things sometimes trigger a poem...thank goodness!!
Wow! If this is the poem you write on a day when the words dont come, I am unsurprised at your consistently brilliant writing. Just beautiful, uplifting and inspiring, Rajani.
I love the build-up and then how you land the poem itself. Once is not enough to read your poetry, Rajani. To make words out of nothing has wowed me. I am wondering how does a poem arrive to me? And if I can describe the process just as beautifully. Also, I deeply resonate with your words... for days I have been afraid of this, of an empty poem.
Thank you, Sonia. It is interesting to look at our own process, I think mine is very random...but the empty poem is a poem too and perhaps we just have to, on some days, just embrace it :)
Thanks Anne. I did see the bird while at the gym and from that point I suppose the mind was parallel processing this poem while I finished my workout!! :)
Ah! Well…. I didn’t see them in Bordeaux, but we have very many Whistling Kites and Fork Tail Kites in Central Australia. It seems that wherever you are, there is always at least one in the sky above, circling……
Did you go to the market at Capucins? Or walk along the river? They leave for Spain on August 8 precisely so maybe you missed them. The red kites are sedentary, but the black kites are migratory. In the countryside we only get the red ones.
"I love the easy poems. The reluctant ones, I love even more." You must love this poem then, tied up in "muscle mass and hollow bone," imagination working in and between exercises! I am a little confused by the switch to "you," as if competitors exist in the search for words, or as if the voice of the poem started looking at herself from the outside. I love all the questions, hurried, like a curious child, the one we all have living inside of us. Of course, the Kite poem is in your opening prose!
Thank you, Susan. The "you" I think is to the poet who is able to write at that moment, asking how their words are so easy to come by, while the narrator has none. Bemoaning the empty poem!!
Thank you, K. It's beautiful how so much has to be absorbed to converge into one little poem...or maybe one thing expands within the writer into a large poem.... :)
That is an interesting take ... the visual in my mind was of the raptor coming and landing on my arm, finding the poem as it were :) That's why they say the poem always belongs to the reader!!
:-)
I like this very much.
Thank you, Martha. So lovely to see you here on Substack too!!!
This has left me speechless, dumbstruck like an empty poem that knows the futility of words.
Thank you, Jayaram...there are days and there are...days! So much to say and yet...nothing.
reading Black Kite, Circling was like reliving a scene--both in reality and inside my head--where words and I hold on to each other until lines and stanzas--or rather a giant block of prose poem--materialize. Incredible read as always. Thank you, Rajani.
Thanks so much for your kind words, Mahdi. I feel that - the way we hold on to words till something materializes...yes, that! Appreciate the restack, too.
I love love how you took the black kite, and the poem that wasnt arriving and made it into a excellent poem! Even the prose is just right! You inspire me
Too kind, Namratha, thank you so much. I think it reveals how random my process is and how the tiniest things sometimes trigger a poem...thank goodness!!
Wow! If this is the poem you write on a day when the words dont come, I am unsurprised at your consistently brilliant writing. Just beautiful, uplifting and inspiring, Rajani.
Thanks so much, Sherry. Poetry works in unexpected ways :) Appreciate your kind words.
I love the build-up and then how you land the poem itself. Once is not enough to read your poetry, Rajani. To make words out of nothing has wowed me. I am wondering how does a poem arrive to me? And if I can describe the process just as beautifully. Also, I deeply resonate with your words... for days I have been afraid of this, of an empty poem.
Thank you, Sonia. It is interesting to look at our own process, I think mine is very random...but the empty poem is a poem too and perhaps we just have to, on some days, just embrace it :)
Right. Maybe we just need to develop the right kind of instinct for that emptiness. The empty poem is a poem too. Thank you.
This is brilliant ❤️
Thanks so much, Ruth. :)
I truly love this, Rajani
I wish it were my poem that visited your city:
"..dressed as a kite,
with hollow bones and pulsing heart,
the sun in its claws
yesterday in its beak
signing the sky —"
Best Wishes - Dave :)
Thank you, David. It might have been your poem...poems travel more easily than poets do :) So glad you liked this one!
Ah, Rajani! I will have to check and see if one of mine has gone missing... :)
Wow—this is gorgeous.
Thanks so much. Glad you liked it :)
I love references to muscle and bodily exertion as an extension of the mind and creative process.
Thanks Anne. I did see the bird while at the gym and from that point I suppose the mind was parallel processing this poem while I finished my workout!! :)
There are more poems in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
To paraphrase WS, the truth, and not just for madmen.
True that...and if we're lucky, we'll run into a few of them!! :) Thanks so much for reading, Jane.
It’s a beautiful poem, and I must thank @David Kirkby for pointing me to it. We have black kites in Bordeaux too. Loads of them.
I’ll remember that when I look up at a black kite next… Bordeaux, Bangalore…same skies!
Same river with same dead things to scavenge :)
Ah! Well…. I didn’t see them in Bordeaux, but we have very many Whistling Kites and Fork Tail Kites in Central Australia. It seems that wherever you are, there is always at least one in the sky above, circling……
Did you go to the market at Capucins? Or walk along the river? They leave for Spain on August 8 precisely so maybe you missed them. The red kites are sedentary, but the black kites are migratory. In the countryside we only get the red ones.
This is a wonderful poem. Thank you.
Thanks so much, LeeAnn. Glad you liked it!!!
"I love the easy poems. The reluctant ones, I love even more." You must love this poem then, tied up in "muscle mass and hollow bone," imagination working in and between exercises! I am a little confused by the switch to "you," as if competitors exist in the search for words, or as if the voice of the poem started looking at herself from the outside. I love all the questions, hurried, like a curious child, the one we all have living inside of us. Of course, the Kite poem is in your opening prose!
Thank you, Susan. The "you" I think is to the poet who is able to write at that moment, asking how their words are so easy to come by, while the narrator has none. Bemoaning the empty poem!!
The writing process is so interesting, different for everyone. I like the way the struggle to write expands beyond itself and is set free here.
Thank you, K. It's beautiful how so much has to be absorbed to converge into one little poem...or maybe one thing expands within the writer into a large poem.... :)
Thanks for sharing. Its really well written and was a pleasant read. I usually have the attention span of a gnat but it held me!
Thanks so much for reading, Marie. Glad you liked it!! :)