The semicolon

Tags

Brooklyn Bridge, Continuity, D'VersePoets Pub, Frozen in time, Heading to some place, In a moment, Momentary pause, Motion Blur, Open Link Night, Pause to reason, Photography, Race towards infinity, Spur of the moment, Static, The climb, Time freeze, Time in motion

Image shot from Brooklyn Bride, NY. Credits: Kavita Rao

 

In that one moment
Where each pixel stretched
from one frame
to the jagged edge of the next,
Where shadows
were mere dancing ghouls
of a strangely nomadic past,
Where humanoid forms
tautened to the craggiest peak
of their stringy existence,
Where images raced to and fro
like nervous vibrations
from a newly born strum,
Where now and beyond
were the two faces
of identical twins separated at birth
Where all that was dead and inert
sprang to life,
Where all that was living
was set into feverish locomotion

All that remained still
All that remained fixed
– transfixed –
Was I

*Sometimes it takes moments, but sometimes, even MONTHS fall short, to get an idea worth typing. But when such a thought does make an appearance, it finds its way onto paper (in my case, on to some screen or the other) 🙂
Dedicating this thought today to the incomparable Open Link Night at D’VersePoets Pub – clink your versed up glasses, and have fun!*

In fragile circles

Tags

Awaiting a lover's return, D'VersePoets Pub, Forgotten, Glint in the eye, Helpless, Hopeful, Hopeful eyes, In search of, Jilted, Lover, Magpie Tales, Open Link Night, Restless, Return, Waiting

Image credits: Tess Kincaid@Magpie Tales

She lay on the bed
Her arms extended
ever so listlessly
Her lips quivering
with a waxed passion
Her tresses arranged
in careless swirls…

Her skin radiating
a lingering warmth
of some passing summer
Her singular tear
with the ripping force
of a bursting volcano…

Her eyes searching
through the myriad pores
on the plastered ceiling
For one glimpse of return…
For one moment of benign sparkle…
For just one sign
Of he who had kept
– Of he who had left –
her lying on the bed
with her arms extended
ever so listlessly…

---

**Posted for Week 104 of Magpie Tales and for Week 31 of Open Link Night @ d’versepoets – the two poetic haunts you will never get tired of! **

*** Oh, and by the way, HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!!!! 🙂 ❤ ❤ ***

Smoked pearls

Tags

Alcohol, Breezer, Chocolate Caramel Martini, D'VersePoets Pub, Drink, Enjoy, High, Intoxicaant, Light-headedness, Liqueur, Liquor, Nice time, Ode to a drink, OpenLinkNight, Smoky liquids

Image shot by me at an Italian trattoria in Key West

You dance on a glazed iris
like a frozen flame
eager to burn
the very air
that breathes life into it

You pacify a rigid mind
like a cool breeze
ready to salve
a tense volcano
on the verge of explosion

You leap into action
like a snoozing engine
eager to roll
at the slightest touch
of rekindled embers

You make the blood rush
like a devious joy ride
one moment in the sky
the next, rolling down
with a thundering force

They say you are a tease
waiting to appease
a morose king
a jubilant beggar
a broken heart
a mended soul

They say you lure
They say you cure
Yet I know
you are but a liquid genie
trapped in an amber bottle
– no more –
– no less –
Sometimes kind
Sometimes vile
but always looking
at the world outside
with a resigned smirk

**After 2 weeks of inaction (no thanks to my own laziness and to the dreadful writer’s block), this week I decided to break those chains by writing a poem – and I dedicate it to the awesome poets at d’VersePoets Pub – OpenLinkNight… Cheers, peeps!! This round’s on me… alright?! 🙂 **

Unspoken message

Tags

Beggar, Captivated by a tune, Content, D'VersePoets Pub, Dark alley, Derelict, Hidden happiness, Hidden message, OpenLinkNight, Poor but satisfied, Shadow, Silhouette, Singing, Singing a silent tune, Spellbound, Tune of a beggar, Wanting nothing more

Image credits: str4y@DeviantArt

His raspy voice
beckoned me to turn
– to get a fleeting glimpse –
of the dead smile
that uncouthly flaunted
his broken incisor

His void eyes
stole my attention
– made me wince –
at the ashen skin
that gaily hung
from his sallow face

His limp gait
made me follow him
– down the deserted alley –
with eerie streetlights
that proudly emboldened
his gaping sore

And yet somehow,

His gaunt fingers
held my breath
– between the tuned strings –
of his greying guitar
that completed a scrawny image
of his receding silhouette…

---

**Posted for Week 8 of OpenLinkNight at d’VersePoets Pub – the coolest place to be! Check it out! I can bet you won’t regret it! **

Indelibly stained

Tags

Addiction, all for nothing, At a price, Burning away, Charred life, Cigar, Cigarette, D'VersePoets Pub, Drawn to danger, Empty life, Guilty pleasure, Life of a guilty pleasure, Lost cause, OpenLinkNight, Purposeless, Reduced to nothingness, Scarred life, Selling oneself, Sex worker, Smoking, Tobacco, Vice

Image Credits: sketchonme@DeviantArt

You were once
that faithful friend
with a wooden shoulder
to cry on

You could have been
so much more…

Yet you chose
to be just a fistful
of dead leaves
picked and rolled,
coaxed and cajoled
into a chamber
Of suffocation,
Of humiliation
waiting to be smelt
– to be consumed –
by a lustful mouth
that holds the power
to set you free
into an irreversible swirl
– of smoke –

Now here you lie
Used
Abused
on a deserted crossroad
of grey ashes,
charred
scarred,
trying to choose
between the void of uncertainty
and the certain path to hell

You could have been
so much more…

---

**Posted for Week 6 of OpenLinkNight @ D’VersePoets Pub… Oh yea, it’s this cool new hangout with a fabulous poetic patronage! Check it out, link in your work, read on, and say Cheers!! 🙂 **

Arms wide open…

Tags

Autumn, Change of seasons, D'VersePoets Pub, Embrace of a lover, Fall, Lover, Onset of Fall, OpenLinkNight, Return of a lost love, Return of Fall, Signs of Autumn, The coveted embrace, Undying wait, Welcoming Fall

Image credits: This beautiful painting is by LeonidaFremov.. and I saw it @ DeviantArt.com...

Shush not your footfalls
I can hear them move
behind the curtain
of a timid zephyr

Dampen not your warmth
I can taste its fullness
from the urn
of a melting sun

Efface not your smile
I can see it arc
upon the froth
of crashing waves

Withdraw not your presence
I can feel its weight
midst the rustle
of amber leaves

Bury not your fragrance
I can smell its richness
in the birth
of autumnal showers

Tease me not
with your impish ways
While I lie in wait
beyond all summers
for your coveted kiss
…yet another time…
While I herald
the chirruping harbingers
of your crisp arrival
…yet another time…

---

**Posted for the fifth week of OpenLinkNight @ d’VersePoets… this is one pub you all ye poets would wanna make your home.. Link in your poem here, read on, and have fun! Cheers!! 🙂 **

Confoundedly simple…

Tags

Begging for freedom, Chained, Confused, D'VersePoets Pub, Faith, Freed, Gasping for breath, Hope, Joy followed by sorrow, Light at the end of the tunnel, Mixed feelings, OpenLinkNight, Simple yet tough, Trapped

Image Credits: RomanticFae@DeviantArt

Obscured
by laced veils
of broken thought
I wonder if I want
to really be seen

Tethered
to these pillars
of unyielding resolve
I suspect the strength
of my pliant will

Shadowed
by a shroud
of crystal emotions
I search the depths
of my hardened heart

Strangled
by tentacles
of unwelcome dreams
I gasp for a breath
of some noxious chance

And yet
Here I am…

Enamored
by the aura
of a glowing spirit
Ready to soar
into the vastness
of unending skies

---

**Posted for OpenLinkNight (week 4) at  d’VersePoets Pub… Check out the yummy stuff offered here… you will be glad you did!! **

An uncalibrated shift

Tags

Avatars, Change, D'VersePoets Pub, Different incarnations, Growth, Journey, Life, Life Cycle, Love, Metamorphosis, OpenLinkNight, Progression, Relationships, Roles to play, Water

Image Credits: wb_skinner@DeviantArt

First a few driblets
Scattered
like a misty spray of fate
Across hopeful faces
in the midst of a drought

Then a fragile stream
Meandering
through mystic woods
Gurgling
in baby bursts of elation

Then a splendid waterfall
Cascading
with an unstoppable force
As strong as
the thirst for life

Then a determined river
Flowing…
Sometimes narrow for thought
Sometimes broad as the horizon
Its tributaries creeping quietly
Until the ultimate merge

Then a magnificent ocean
Struck by passing storms
But housing
islands of unperturbed sanctity
Yet raging
for attention at the shores

Finally a seething tide
Trying to adhere
to sands of a glassy promise
Yet ebbing
into realms of a briny embrace

---

**Posted for the third week of OpenLinkNight @ dVersePoets Pub – the most interesting pace in town, for the artistically oriented! Link in your poem here, enjoy the critique & attention and simply ENJOY!! 🙂 **

Reverse progression

Tags

A curbed thought, Analogy, Backfire, Brain, D'VersePoets Pub, emptiness, Empty mind, going backwards, idea, Lack of creativity, living organism, Mental decay, Metaphor, nerve endings, Open Link Night, Working of a mind

Image credits: Joane@DeviantArt

A stray notion
that once wandered freely
Now wrought
Heavily fraught
by the gravity of ennui

A zealous nerve
that once was a messenger
Now slain
With disdain
into an untraversed groove

A living cell
that once housed purity
Now stranded
Brutally branded
as a chamber of disgrace

A solemn mind
that once was a monastery
Now invaded
Slowly pervaded
by a flood of toxic nihility

---

**Posted for the second week of OpenLinkNight at d’VersePoets Pub! Check it out, link in your poem, and have fun!! **