25 Comments
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Martha Ann Kennedy's avatar

We're in a terrible drought -- serious fire warnings and the Rio Grande is so low people are walking across it. Very scary. That said -- this is a beautiful poem. thank you. 😊

Rajani Radhakrishnan's avatar

Thank you, Martha. Have been totally caught up with editing and publishing my new book - was just released a couple of weeks ago . Must catch up with your posts soon. This is going to be a rough weather year. A huge monsoon deficit has serious consequences. Hope the most vulnerable are taken care of.

Namratha Varadharajan's avatar

The poem has arrived better than the monsoon! I love that part where you reach... open to earth and sky and welcome

Rajani Radhakrishnan's avatar

Thank you, Namratha :) Feeling relieved I can actually write again!!! :)

srinivasa rao Jayanthy's avatar

Beautiful words.

Rajani Radhakrishnan's avatar

Thank you :) Did you get the amazon link…left it in a comment on another post.

srinivasa rao Jayanthy's avatar

On the way.

Rajani Radhakrishnan's avatar

Oh lovely!!! Hope you like it!!

Arti's avatar

Ah! Read your poetry and felt the un-creasing of my brow, too. Thank you for noticing all the gorgeous possibilities with 'ifs'. News of the world, these days, is a WARNING-- whichever way you look at it. So a pause like this one is very welcome. Thank you.

Rajani Radhakrishnan's avatar

Thank you, Arti. News of the world is the kind I just want to hide from but can’t. And now I have the time to think about it more and write about it more!! :) Hope all your projects are going well…

Rebecca Cook's avatar

I love this--"and the scent or the possibility of scent," I know exactly how this feels. And I wonder if you are hyper-sensitive to smells, like I am.

Like Coleridge you were gifted with a poem, fully fledged, after sleep. Like a dream.

Rajani Radhakrishnan's avatar

Thank you, Rebecca. Love Coleridge, so thank you…though wasn’t he high on something when he wrote Kubla khan? :) I don’t think am overly sensitive to smells but there’s something about Jasmine and tube rose that gives that same sense of floating!!

Rebecca Cook's avatar

Yes, Coleridge was taking Laudanum...a tincture with opium.

Susan's avatar

"and the scent or the possibility of scent,

softens my footsteps and uncreases

my forehead . . . "

I enjoy how this poem picks the idea of possibility up in its "ifs" to end the poem. I wish all arrival was computable--or do I? Well, at least storms of every kind could be predictable.

Rajani Radhakrishnan's avatar

Thank you, Susan. Had emailed you earlier - hope I had the correct id!

Jacquelyn Cisper's avatar

lovely

Rajani Radhakrishnan's avatar

Thanks so much, Jacquelyn.

Rajani Radhakrishnan's avatar

Thanks so much, Richard.

Rosemary Nissen-Wade's avatar

I believe the flower will bloom ... some day. And bloom again. Whether any of us will be around to see it ...

Rajani Radhakrishnan's avatar

I’m rooting for that flower :)

Priyanka Sacheti's avatar

The jasmine imagery conjuring up the scent is so dizzying!

Rajani Radhakrishnan's avatar

Thank you, Priyanka. 🙏🙏

Kim M Russell's avatar

I love poems that arrive fully formed, Rajani. We are feeling El Niño across the planet, and it is enhancing our senses and sensitivities. I love how you captured the scent of jasmine, which is currently flowering in my garden and wafting through the windows. It does indeed soften footsteps and uncrease the forehead. And what a scent-filled ending!

Rajani Radhakrishnan's avatar

Thank you, Kim. It is very scary to think of a high-deficit monsoon and the consequences on water and food.