You write with such grace! Not sure if that compliment makes sense to you, but those are the words that come to my mind. Grace, like a ballet dancer makes things look easy and effortless.
The image of a poem sulking made me smile. Love the title. It is hard to write a normal love poem any more in this crazy world. I love the questions you ask, the clearness of your sight. Your closing stanza is just so good - everything trying so hard to fall into the right place, as humans are messing it all up.
Thank you, Sherry. It does feel like everything is in motion, in chaos...searching for a place to land. Sometimes humans just need to find the grace to get out of the way and let the world right itself....
Thank you, Martha...there must be an arc of justice and a sea of kindness...I can't give up on that, as bleak as it gets....otherwise how to wake up every morning? So glad you like this one.
Justice is sketchy, but kindness? It's all I've experienced since my accident. A slap in the face of what was becoming cynicism for which I'm very grateful
"I ask for a poem like the skin of a / snake. The kind that will be moulted, / will be renewed"
I love that--a poem that must regenerate! I agree with this poem so much. A love poem has loving passion even in its sadness and horror, in its distance from the beloved (whatever it may be).
Rajani, this is more than a fine Poem, this is an essential poem - a true Love poem, really - the love of life and wholeness itself, of kindness and acceptance and giving, written in the face of all the anger, theft and destruction we see around us in the world.
Thanks so much, David. I think the dark(er?) poems come from that place of love for a just and beautiful world, like a plea for light. Appreciate your kind words. Am so happy for the space and support on Substack to write these poems.
Fascinating poem, Rajani. The concept of a love poem has also been in my head recently, and I pondered whether I could actually sit down behind my keyboard and write one with the intention of writing a love poem!
And yet, writing poems has always been a semi-conscious phenomenon for me; and amalgam of expression and creation. I can have a conscious thought and it’s never gonna be the sole life inhabiting the form when I abandon the poem in the end. Your poem elucidates something fundamental about not only poetry but words with impact; that probably the best we can do is to write with love—and not necessarily of it.
Thank you, Mahdi and I love what you said: the best we can do is write with love... I am usually told my poems are dark and I always say it is because I want the subject to be better...that too is love. And yes, I agree...the thought that starts a poem has usually transformed completely by the time it is done...what a beautiful process!!!!
What a tremendous poem. Stupendous. I have written so many angry bitter poems. I have decided to stand up and dust myself off, and start leaning into the light. This poem of yours could be a template. It rings all the right bells. It hears the soft wind breezing itself through the ancient orchard of apples.
Thanks so much, Rebecca. Appreciate your kind words. I really look forward to your next poems as you realign. That sound of the breeze in the orchard should be an anthem of hope.
This poem has power, immediacy and universality, but in a way that belongs to a distinctly individual poetic voice. Only that kind of voice can write about love with new insights, as if it has never been written about before. I especially like this stanza which is worthy of the great Neruda at his best:
Thanks so much, Martin. I appreciate your very generous words. Dark poems also come from a place of hope and love ....it is all we have and must cling on to in these times.
Beautiful composition, Rajani. Not a surprise, coming from you. I marvel at the analogies you invite. The last two stanzas turn the tide beautifully. I am going home richer.
Very hard in today's world, but we have to keep open that hope for justice and kindness...else it would be unbearable. Thanks so much for reading, Jed.
You write with such grace! Not sure if that compliment makes sense to you, but those are the words that come to my mind. Grace, like a ballet dancer makes things look easy and effortless.
Thank you, Angela, that is so kind. Appreciate your generous words. Certainly made my day! :)
The poem has such a great flow!
'Otherwise, what separates us from
clouds – placeholders in the water
cycle? We too lead back to what led
to us.'... this will stay with me...
Thanks so much, Namratha. I almost abandoned it a couple of days ago, it was all tangled up. Am glad it seems to have figured itself out...:)
Beautiful, Rajani.
Thank you, Nazish :)
Beautiful poem—and also hopeful. "...as life must make way for life,
as love must make way for love. "
I love those lines, too, Reena!
Thank you, Paul.
Thanks so much, Reena. It would be too dark without hope... that tiny glimmer at the end of the tunnel. :)
The image of a poem sulking made me smile. Love the title. It is hard to write a normal love poem any more in this crazy world. I love the questions you ask, the clearness of your sight. Your closing stanza is just so good - everything trying so hard to fall into the right place, as humans are messing it all up.
Thank you, Sherry. It does feel like everything is in motion, in chaos...searching for a place to land. Sometimes humans just need to find the grace to get out of the way and let the world right itself....
This is beautiful, Rajani! “I ask for a poem like the skin of a snake.” — absolutely wonderful writing.
Thank you, Samuel. So glad you liked the poem. Appreciate your kind words.
I love the way this poem resolves itself. Beautiful.
Thank you, Martha...there must be an arc of justice and a sea of kindness...I can't give up on that, as bleak as it gets....otherwise how to wake up every morning? So glad you like this one.
Justice is sketchy, but kindness? It's all I've experienced since my accident. A slap in the face of what was becoming cynicism for which I'm very grateful
"I ask for a poem like the skin of a / snake. The kind that will be moulted, / will be renewed"
I love that--a poem that must regenerate! I agree with this poem so much. A love poem has loving passion even in its sadness and horror, in its distance from the beloved (whatever it may be).
Thank you, Susan. I think so too...the hard poems too are there because of love...we need to write them...and read them!
I love those last lines. We do place too many restrictions on love.
We do!!! Thanks so much, K. Glad you like it!!
"I say I want to write
about everything that is wounded:
earth and bones and truth and
light and certainty. Is that not love
enough, love poem enough? "
Rajani, this is more than a fine Poem, this is an essential poem - a true Love poem, really - the love of life and wholeness itself, of kindness and acceptance and giving, written in the face of all the anger, theft and destruction we see around us in the world.
Thanks so much, David. I think the dark(er?) poems come from that place of love for a just and beautiful world, like a plea for light. Appreciate your kind words. Am so happy for the space and support on Substack to write these poems.
Fascinating poem, Rajani. The concept of a love poem has also been in my head recently, and I pondered whether I could actually sit down behind my keyboard and write one with the intention of writing a love poem!
And yet, writing poems has always been a semi-conscious phenomenon for me; and amalgam of expression and creation. I can have a conscious thought and it’s never gonna be the sole life inhabiting the form when I abandon the poem in the end. Your poem elucidates something fundamental about not only poetry but words with impact; that probably the best we can do is to write with love—and not necessarily of it.
Thank you, Mahdi and I love what you said: the best we can do is write with love... I am usually told my poems are dark and I always say it is because I want the subject to be better...that too is love. And yes, I agree...the thought that starts a poem has usually transformed completely by the time it is done...what a beautiful process!!!!
What a tremendous poem. Stupendous. I have written so many angry bitter poems. I have decided to stand up and dust myself off, and start leaning into the light. This poem of yours could be a template. It rings all the right bells. It hears the soft wind breezing itself through the ancient orchard of apples.
Thanks so much, Rebecca. Appreciate your kind words. I really look forward to your next poems as you realign. That sound of the breeze in the orchard should be an anthem of hope.
This poem has power, immediacy and universality, but in a way that belongs to a distinctly individual poetic voice. Only that kind of voice can write about love with new insights, as if it has never been written about before. I especially like this stanza which is worthy of the great Neruda at his best:
"I ask for a poem like the skin of a
snake. The kind that will be moulted,
will be renewed, as wounds heal, as
spring comes, as a dark nimbus must
rain, as words must make way for
words, as life must make way for life,
as love must make way for love. "
Thanks so much, Martin. I appreciate your very generous words. Dark poems also come from a place of hope and love ....it is all we have and must cling on to in these times.
Ranjani, you are entirely right to speak about hope and love. In the darkest of times I always keep this simple truth in mind:
"Everything summons into being its opposite." Thanks again for your wonderful poem.
Thank you for that.. I will remember it every morning as I read the news.
Beautiful composition, Rajani. Not a surprise, coming from you. I marvel at the analogies you invite. The last two stanzas turn the tide beautifully. I am going home richer.
Thanks so much, Sonia.
The sun tells me even a lament will end in hope.
I think I will make this my last read of the day and go to sleep with that thought.
Very hard in today's world, but we have to keep open that hope for justice and kindness...else it would be unbearable. Thanks so much for reading, Jed.
Achingly beautiful, deeply moving. Thank you Rajani, for sharing your beautiful heart and beautiful art.
Thanks so much, Deborah. Appreciate your kind words.