Long Garlanded Poems

Translation of Oothukkadu Venkata Subba Iyer (circa 1700-1765)’s « THAYE YASHODA » by T. Wignesan


This devotional song and poem in Tamil (the principal Dravidian language which has spawned over twenty languages in the southern Indian...

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CORINNA

I come to sing of heroes' and heroines' courageous deeds.—Corinna translation by Michael R. Burch

Mount Helicon, father of fair offspring, friend of the wayfarer, beloved of the Muses!—Corinna translation by Michael R. Burch

Terpsichora calls me...

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Peeling Back the Bubble Wrap

Peeling back the bubble wrap on the ancient of days, 
Back to when Nixon was still presiding,
He, leading with paranoid deliberations, 
Sold his yeses to the Goldbricks, and the Mustard Men;
And...

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I'm an orange monkey
in China I was made,
stitched with much affection
and garlanded with braid.

Purchased then on eBay
and wrapped to make a gift,
I was posted to a friend
who felt a little miffed.

I felt I wasn't wanted
when...

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Antithesis

In May, the lion’s ear blooms immaculately,
As if the night sky is on fire.
It excretes a ravishing untarnished beauty,
A mesmerizing compelling beauty
Only the mad mystics and poets can discern.
Here, put on these rubber sandals;
The pair...

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~
                                  ...

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Inspired by :
"I carry your heart with me (I carry it in my heart). I am never without it."
E.E. Cummings

Placed second in :
A-Types of Forms Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Constance La France

    ...

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The fab four...not Scouse superstar serenaders..

Stellar constellations of cricketing fascinations...

Connoisseur christened, humdinger harbingers..
 
Listen…whispers of willow wizardry whistle…glisten..

Skipper sorcery glow…celestial cerebral Martin Crowe..

Appetites whet..forget the quartet..for the fab four is no more..

Game's pantomime dame, Kohli...encores...

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It stood alone Christmas Morn on the bleak and windswept mountainside.
Towering spruce that once surrounded it now graced many a fireplace side.
Rejected again, the Littlest Christmas Tree was left so lonely and forlorn.
Dejected, it would...

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Landscape lost in the past
Landscape of my memory
Memory reflects time ingrained in
Memory of twilight gleam
Gleam that swathed the horizon
Gleam that wrapped the blue hills
Hills rolled down to the plains
Hills carved a valley for stream
Stream cascaded...

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It’s due to a facet
of  your hectic
nature
That you repose for
such a short time
Totally remiss in
your ignorant bliss
Unaware of your
beauty sublime

A deep sip of
Milkweed nectar
With proboscis quick
unfurled
Diaphanous wings
idle gently, lazily
Then long probe is
once again curled

Magnetic...

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Once upon a time... a child celebrated
Colorful lights of Crackers...
Fluorescence of Fireworks.
The black powder bonfires in sky 
Illuminated  his darkness ..
Sprinkling showers of acoustic pops.

And then...
Demons ignited black powder to enslave his mind.

His cranium...

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As school children scurry to school
like the multi-colored leaves that will soon
be hurried along the roads by October winds,
we feel and we know 
that a new season is upon us.
Stifling summer’s ardor, autumn almost seems
to...

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I was a runner
fleeing from homespun horrors that
wrapped around my delicacy like a tourniquet

Only a child attempting to bestir
the warrior dormant within;
having no idea the enthrallment 
she reveled in,
I learned to accost my demons

Nigh, even...

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Our picture frame window
Is garlanded with evergreen limbs
Twined in white twinkling lights pinecones and fairy bells
And outside
From the dinner time dark that is a week before Christmas
Santa waves

Lit up like a little lantern

The hope for...

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On the golden quilt of alasi*
Long stretched and
Kissing the horizon
I nap
Cushioned on malleable azure clouds
A stainless heaven kissing the earth I dream
On the savage land 
Atop the hill and hillocks
From the bushes come 
The clings...

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the  joys of marriage become memorable with unforseen breakdowns


Late night frolicking and teasing continued
Dancing and music lasted till early hours
With a beating heart and ignited nerves 
I lay nervously on bed wondering what lay...

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children growing up in a bewildering moral landscape
what is right, what is wrong, what is politically correct
with mindless amusements or habits they seek escape
the media, education, religion they all opposing direct

the parents fared no better,...

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Hunger for perfectly placed punga path 

Snakes surely slowly..garlanded scarf 

Turns & rakes fern festooned forest floor

Sun dappled glade, bathed and swathed 

Glorious green sheens in every shade

Follow the hidden hollow - through a secret...

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Floral expanse




Roses in vivid colours that smiled in glamour,
Red blood to be garlanded at valour,

White lilies bunching hearty and serene,
Catching lovers' fancy to the extreme,

Lavenders at the crest of mountains,
Challenging beauties of the terrains,

Merrigolds shining...

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Welcome Love, you do not need to tiptoe:
The wall surrounding my heart is not lofty.
A nightingale breaks in, not as a fearful foe
After dusk when the moonlight veil is softy.
The bricks are crafted with cotton...

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Heaven is the place, 
where everyone, 
knows your face 

Gentle and kind........ 
Are the ways 
The ways you must find 

If kindness were a flower....... 
then the heart is a meadow 
Purple and blue 
Soft...

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Heaven is the place, 
where everyone, 
knows your face 

Gentle and kind........ 
Are the ways 
The ways you must find 

If kindness were a flower....... 
then the heart is a meadow 
Purple and blue 
Soft...

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Heaven is the place, 
where everyone, 
knows your face 

Gentle and kind........ 
Are the ways 
The ways you must find 

If kindness were a flower....... 
then the heart is a meadow 
Purple and blue 
Soft...

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CHRISTMAS MEMORIES
(We all have them!)

He use to sit in front of the nativity;
Lay under the tree at night,
Looking up through the lit branches,
Wondered, by both of these sights!

He played with the elves which were scattered,
Amongst...

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