I would so love that!! Thank you, Martha...we should try and talk online some time! Love the thought of listening to your stories instead of only reading them on WP!!
I love the opening lines, which drew me into you poem, Rajani, and I agree that the small ‘always hides something big behind it’. I also love the final stanza – and the final line.
Ah Mahdi...it wasn't meant to trigger your tears, my friend. They are too precious. I pray you can return soon, that life can go on to where it was supposed to go and everyone back home is safe and well. I am so sorry you have to endure this - the madness has gone on long enough, there will be light soon. There has to be.
i cannot tell you how much i love this. you are doing some things i have been nervously exploring in my own poetry. i find myself torn between what i learned, Poetry! and what is inside me, ya know? and you have smashed all that away. here you are, doing it. why don’t i?! 🙏 thank you!
Thanks so much, Carolina. That’s very kind. It is hard to find words these days - am just channelling whatever comes. But it is up and down, I know what you mean.
That is true…thank you, K…and despite us being “safe” and so far away, the exhaustion, so privileged, is real…hard to imagine what people in the thick of it are going through.
I feel every line of this poem. I just penned a weary rant . I especially resonate with the stanza beginning "I must give in...." This poem really speaks to me, Rajani. I cant even believe all the horrors. I am profoundly weary in body and soul.
World events are giving you a dose of psychological vertigo, at the same time as a physical manifestation of the same .....
I only have to cope with the former, and that is hard enough.
What we all need is an emotional gyroscope. Meg is mine, and I try to be the same for her, but collectively we can all do it for each other. I see it happening in the many kind comments here, and your always thoughtful responses.
Calmness, reason and love cannot immediately end a crisis - either in ourselves or in the world. An emotional plunge into the pit, or a zoom to a manic height, takes time to stabilise - all Poets have lived through that. Wars are the same, on a huge scale. It will take many many people around the world to speak reason, and to hold onto truth and offer love, and it will take time.
Even when the immediate crises end, as they eventually will, current events are causing perturbations which will keep rippling for years... decades.... but they will - slowly - dampen.
Meanwhile, we have to hold onto to our emotional and rational centre, and help others to find and then hold their own.
Sound advice, Dave and accepted with gratitude. I love the idea of being each other’s gyroscope. May we, here on Substack and elsewhere, be the best gyroscopes we can! I’ve been here less than six months and I feel the kind love! 🙏
Too bad we can't meet for coffee.
I would so love that!! Thank you, Martha...we should try and talk online some time! Love the thought of listening to your stories instead of only reading them on WP!!
Thanks for sharing @1sunflower 🙏
I'd have been happy with just the first stanza. It really nails the frustration.
But the second stanza is very interesting to me. The idea of things already being baked in.
Great work.
Thank you, Shaun. I think bias is a reality and it impacts how some people look at things....
I love this. It feels like a familiar place.
Thank you for reading...and sorry if the dark parts felt familiar...I hope we're moving towards the light.
Beautifully articulated! Hope the spin stops soon 🤞🤞
Thank you, Madhuri…hope so..literally and metaphorically 🙏
I love the opening lines, which drew me into you poem, Rajani, and I agree that the small ‘always hides something big behind it’. I also love the final stanza – and the final line.
Thanks so much, Kim. 🙏🙏
"Though this time I don’t know why
my world wobbles
like its axis is scarred
like its pelvis is cracked
like something promised up in the sky
is going to be unleashed upon unsuspecting soil."
As I read these lines, tears welled up in my eyes. You know why.
Ah Mahdi...it wasn't meant to trigger your tears, my friend. They are too precious. I pray you can return soon, that life can go on to where it was supposed to go and everyone back home is safe and well. I am so sorry you have to endure this - the madness has gone on long enough, there will be light soon. There has to be.
I will come back later, Rajani. It is all so unbearable.
Take your time, Richard. It is hard to cope with what has just happened...or where it might lead.
Brilliant, overall; and the phrase that whispered to me: "The walls move like kaleidoscope
patterns, changing without colour." Yes and yes.
Thank you, Catherine. Prompted by an attack of vertigo and of course events spinning rapidly around the world.
i cannot tell you how much i love this. you are doing some things i have been nervously exploring in my own poetry. i find myself torn between what i learned, Poetry! and what is inside me, ya know? and you have smashed all that away. here you are, doing it. why don’t i?! 🙏 thank you!
Thanks so much, Carolina. That’s very kind. It is hard to find words these days - am just channelling whatever comes. But it is up and down, I know what you mean.
No place to rest now. The world is exhausted, and we are beyond even exhaustion.
That is true…thank you, K…and despite us being “safe” and so far away, the exhaustion, so privileged, is real…hard to imagine what people in the thick of it are going through.
I feel every line of this poem. I just penned a weary rant . I especially resonate with the stanza beginning "I must give in...." This poem really speaks to me, Rajani. I cant even believe all the horrors. I am profoundly weary in body and soul.
Me too, Sherry. Take care of yourself. Hugs.
My heart goes out to you, my dear. And especially:
"Though this time I don’t know why
my world wobbles
like its axis is scarred
like its pelvis is cracked
like something promised up in the sky
is going to be unleashed upon unsuspecting soil."
Just love and love and love for you.
Thank you for your wholesome generosity and kindness, Nazish. Lotsa love, right back at you. 💕
Dear Rajani
World events are giving you a dose of psychological vertigo, at the same time as a physical manifestation of the same .....
I only have to cope with the former, and that is hard enough.
What we all need is an emotional gyroscope. Meg is mine, and I try to be the same for her, but collectively we can all do it for each other. I see it happening in the many kind comments here, and your always thoughtful responses.
Calmness, reason and love cannot immediately end a crisis - either in ourselves or in the world. An emotional plunge into the pit, or a zoom to a manic height, takes time to stabilise - all Poets have lived through that. Wars are the same, on a huge scale. It will take many many people around the world to speak reason, and to hold onto truth and offer love, and it will take time.
Even when the immediate crises end, as they eventually will, current events are causing perturbations which will keep rippling for years... decades.... but they will - slowly - dampen.
Meanwhile, we have to hold onto to our emotional and rational centre, and help others to find and then hold their own.
Best Wishes - Dave
Sound advice, Dave and accepted with gratitude. I love the idea of being each other’s gyroscope. May we, here on Substack and elsewhere, be the best gyroscopes we can! I’ve been here less than six months and I feel the kind love! 🙏
This is so apt. I feel like I have vertigo too.
Thank you, LeeAnn. Yes it is very disorienting.
What a beautiful rendering of the vulnerable human condition in this world of flux. Bless you.
Thanks so much, Rachel. Glad you liked it.