Not too close and yet not too far

Got to let you know how I feel

Hold my hands and walk with me

Not too close that we step on each other

Not too far to look like we are moving away from one another

Not too fast to drag me with you

Not too slow to make me drag you

With enough space to let us breathe

And enjoy the ‘us’ with considerable ease

I don’t know what the heck that is. Is it poetry? or is it prose? I don’t care. It is just an expression.

Yesterday was a pretty interesting day and the above text (let us make it generic) was the outcome of some serious discussions that happened during the lunch with my close friends, where I was telling them how I feel a relationship should be (a marital relationship I mean). What do you think?

 

 

 

Poetry & Prose

Today’s theme from Grace at Kimmie.GG is

Poetry and Prose – Who are some of your favorite artists? Which poems are your favorite?

Poetry:

Well, I am not a big fan of it. But I do love some of them. Which are short and sweet. I particularly love one by Kamal Das. I have already written about this earlier (feeling lazy to find the post link 😉 ) But here it is again. It is a little dark and sad. And I don’t know what I was going through when I first read this poem, but it is stuck in my head and doesn’t seem to go away.

When I die
Do not throw the meat and bones away
But pile them up
And let them tell
By their smell
What life was worth
On this earth
What love was worth
In the end.

 

The other poem that I like and that has stayed with me is ‘The Poison Tree’ by William Blake

I was angry with my friend;
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe:
I told it not, my wrath did grow.

And I watered it in fears,
Night & morning with my tears:
And I sunned it with smiles,
And with soft deceitful wiles.

And it grew both day and night.
Till it bore an apple bright.
And my foe beheld it shine,
And he knew that it was mine.

And into my garden stole,
When the night had veiled the pole;
In the morning glad I see;
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.

Of all the things that I have read, these two remained with me. If you have a clue as to what that means let me know 😉

Prose:

When I read the word prose, the first thing that came to my mind was ‘The Mayor Of Casterbridge’. For some reason I was in love with that story during my school days. I hardly remember the details now. May be it is time to read it again. That and the other one I loved was ‘Around the world in 80 days’. I loved the adventure in 80 days. And the characterization in Casterbridge. I wont be able to repeat the stories now, but I distinctly remember enjoying them very much.

There you go. Two choices from me for poetry and prose. Wanna share yours?

Anything that makes me feel.

Today’s theme from Grace at Kimmie.gg is “Art”

What are some of your favorite pieces and genres? Which artist do you adore?

I am a person who is not restricted in my interests to a specific kind of art or even to a particular artist. I might like an artist a little bit more than another one time and vice versa the other. That is why I am not a big fan of any particular band/singer/painter/photographer/author. I know what I don’t understand though. I don’t understand classical music. I don’t understand modern art. I don’t understand complex poetry. I don’t understand non-fiction or essays.

I enjoy any kind of art, be it calligraphy, sketches, watercolor, hand crafts, music, anything that pleases me as soon as I see/hear it. I follow a blogger called LunchSketch, who stopped blogging a long while ago and whose domain is currently expired , and I loved his sketches. It was so real and so full of emotions. I would say I miss his sketches, if I have to pick one artist among the huge set I follow. I like some of Kamal Das’s poems and know them by heart. I like my friend Anita’s works (her yarn based and her bead works) and Ashwini’s cards (and I wish she would start selling some of those 😉 )  I adore LD’s photographs and his stories. I love my friend S’s work and he does my tattoo designs (inside information: I have got my second tattoo design ready…just waiting for the right time) I love street art (and I did a whole series on it with the photographs I took in London). I love my first niece’s drawing attempts and she is getting better and better (my brother is planning to enroll her in a drawing class, which she is quite excited about). I guess if I start thinking a bit more, I will have lot of other people in the list. So let me end with this:

“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.”
― Thomas Merton

A-Z Book List: P for Prophet

Again a non-fiction. Again something related to Philosophy. Again a very small book. But it packs a punch. Without much further ado, let me introduce you to the book for today’s alphabet.

Name: The Prophet by Khalil Gibran

Genre: Poetry, Philosophy, Classics, Spirituality

I guess most you must have heard of this Author and this Book. Because this is used mostly for the beautiful quotes. This is a photograph of the love quotes that I had written down much before I bought the book and read it fully. (There was an entry for Marriage and Children too… Wonder why I just chose those three… well, it must be the hormones. I was in my late teens you see 😉 ) I remember seeing them somewhere (I don’t recollect where) and that was the time when I used to write the lines I liked in my diary, so wrote them down and saved those words.

I was so awed by those quotes and they did have a big impact on me. I am one of those who uses other’s quotes whenever and wherever possible. And this book is full of them. I am glad that I have a copy of this book with me and I will have it wherever I go.

I could have picked up any other book for P, but this is one book I am very fond of and wanted to share it with you. This book even overrode the ‘Pride and Prejudice’ , enough said about this book already or the ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’, which is another wonderful book.

PS: Check out the rest of the A-Z Book list here

In the end…

I am currently reading the book ‘Career of Evil’ (Coromoran Strike 3 ) and there was this scene where Strike is contemplating about death. It is actually a scene where in some folks celebrate the death of a fellow friend in a way they deem fit for him. They drink, they sing a song which talks about their school days etc. Here in my place, when someone dies, they take a procession with song, dance etc…to the crematorium. I used to wonder why this big fan fare? But now, I think its not about the death, its more about celebrating a life that was well lived.

It did not make me melancholic or anything, but reminded me of a poem I love and have mentioned the same quite a few times in this blog. It’s written by Kamala Das. Here it is again, for all the new readers.

When I die
Do not throw the meat and bones away
But pile them up
And let them tell
By their smell
What life was worth
On this earth
What love was worth

It might seem very dark, but for some reason this has been my favorite poem since college. Something about the way the death wish is conveyed in a very crude , cruel and yet very honest way made me remember these lines for all these years. I got to read another one of hers recently, which is totally on the other side of the previous one. I like this one too. I guess based on my mood, I might select one or the other to recite 🙂

I cannot fold
my wayward limbs to crawl into
coffins of religions.
I shall die, I know,
but only when I tire of love;
tire of life and laughter.
Then fling me into a pit
six feet by two,
do not bother to leave
any epitaph for me.

Right now, my mood is leaning towards the second one.

This got me thinking. In our religion, we cremate the bodies. I wish mine to be done in a electric crematorium and done within a few seconds. I don’t care where my ashes go. Can human ashes be good fertilizers ? Apart from how my body transforms, as a soul, how do I want to be known when I leave this world in search of a better place? Do I want to be known at all? I wouldn’t be honest if I said ‘No’. I do want to be known. I do want to be remembered. But not because I did something good, not because I did something effective…simply put, not because of something I did, but because of who I was. All I wish for is a single smile when my soul flies, acknowledging a soul who loved and was loved and wishing me good luck on my next journey.