Shreyas Joshi: Mid-Term Assignment
2. Read 'Learning the Poetic Line: How line breaks shape meaning' by Rebecca Hazelton - https://www.
Ans. I know it's you
Ans. I know it's you
Whenever we are far,
Far away from each other,
I think of you in scents.
Like a faint fragrance,
Passing away,
In a breeze,
Washing over you,
Waiting-
To slip away,
Like a wave,
Of,
Jasmine, in the air,
Blooming, flowing,
Caressing my hair.
Like a whiff of cool air,
In summery nights,
Curling my lips in a sweaty smile,
Like the rush of feelings under a starry sky,
As I watch a thousand fireflies fly.
You bathe me,
Leaving me wanting for more,
Like the first kiss, when lips let go.
Pulling me,
Out from my reverie,
Like the smell,
Of freshly grounded coffee beans.
Then as I walk amidst a crowd,
Gluedtoscreens,
fast,
and loud,
You pass by me,
A familiar scent,
On an unknown face,
Slipping past in a sickening haste,
Teasing me to a game of chase-
I turn,
I see,
I smile.
You fade away in a thousand screens,
A million screams,
Yet stay with me, untouched, unseen.
And every night on my bed,
My pillows under my head,
You sneak up behind me,
And cuddle in,
Smelling of seasons,
Of flowers, of rains,
Strong yet soothing,
Old and yet so new.
The smell of home,
And in that, I know it's you.Note: I have used line-break in two instances apart from the overall syntax of the poem which I have tried to show in the form of a wave through the way the length of the lines are arranged.
Far away from each other,
I think of you in scents.
Like a faint fragrance,
Passing away,
In a breeze,
Washing over you,
Waiting-
To slip away,
Like a wave,
Of,
Jasmine, in the air,
Blooming, flowing,
Caressing my hair.
Like a whiff of cool air,
In summery nights,
Curling my lips in a sweaty smile,
Like the rush of feelings under a starry sky,
As I watch a thousand fireflies fly.
You bathe me,
Leaving me wanting for more,
Like the first kiss, when lips let go.
Pulling me,
Out from my reverie,
Like the smell,
Of freshly grounded coffee beans.
Then as I walk amidst a crowd,
Gluedtoscreens,
fast,
and loud,
You pass by me,
A familiar scent,
On an unknown face,
Slipping past in a sickening haste,
Teasing me to a game of chase-
I turn,
I see,
I smile.
You fade away in a thousand screens,
A million screams,
Yet stay with me, untouched, unseen.
And every night on my bed,
My pillows under my head,
You sneak up behind me,
And cuddle in,
Smelling of seasons,
Of flowers, of rains,
Strong yet soothing,
Old and yet so new.
The smell of home,
And in that, I know it's you.Note: I have used line-break in two instances apart from the overall syntax of the poem which I have tried to show in the form of a wave through the way the length of the lines are arranged.
The first instance of a line break is in the last line of the first stanza "Waiting-" where I have tried to give a pause by changing the stanza and using a hyphen. The second instance is in the sixth stanza "gluedtoscreens" whereby removing space I have tried to show how people are actually glued to the screens of their smartphones.
Unbosoming
We're magnets,
With stronger like poles,
That can only come ever so close,
Like oil and water stirred hard,
Like cracks,
On a bro-
-Ken piece of glass,
Like a shadow in the wake of night,
Lost with the death of light,
Like dreaming of flying high,
To find how heavy I am for the sky,
When I am with you and you with me,
These black letters are,
A s-c l o s e-a s
We can be,
But one day you will realize,
The truth that hid in these eyes,
So what,
If our fingers seldom meet,
In us burns a fire,
Greater than passion's heat,
You're right in being scared.
In the way you feel,
Cause there are years to go,
Before I kneel.
Note: Here in the first instance of line break I have used the right indent in the first stanza to try and illustrate the effect of magnets when like poles are brought together. The other one is in the third stanza "A s-c l o s e-a s" to show that the spaces between these letters are just as close as the two lovers can be.
4. Read Mark Doty's 'The Tremendous Fish' about the art of description in poetry - http://poems.com/special_
Ans. My Grandma
She's over seventy,
But you wouldn't guess,
Despite the hunchback,
And the slight grey in hair,
Her eyes have though,
Grown dull and pale,
And sunk a little,
Under the wrinkles of her face,
Her skin's a little coarse,
Like sand against your hand,
And shines under the sun,
Like a broken salt desert
She's got a baggy tummy,
Her gait's a little slow,
But if you ask her her age,
She'll say she's twenty two.
But you wouldn't guess,
Despite the hunchback,
And the slight grey in hair,
Her eyes have though,
Grown dull and pale,
And sunk a little,
Under the wrinkles of her face,
Her skin's a little coarse,
Like sand against your hand,
And shines under the sun,
Like a broken salt desert
She's got a baggy tummy,
Her gait's a little slow,
But if you ask her her age,
She'll say she's twenty two.
Zorro
I sit there stroking,
His golden fur,
From the top of his head,
To down to his butt,
Cupping his face,
In my hands,
I pull back his lips,
To a sharp smile,
His canines greet me,
With a rotten smell,
As sticks out his tongue,
Looking so goofy and innocent,
His eyes are a dark,
And deep brown,
That look into mine,
As his tail wags around,
He'd look at me,
And lick his nose,
And whimper,
When him I'd no longer stroke,
Throw him a ball,
And you would see,
His eyes lighten up,
And his bright teeth,
His ears, so big,
Would ride the wind,
Like wings on birds,
As he'd run barking.
5. Write two poems that are triggered by news events within the last six months.
Ans. Urban Naxals
We're living in,
Strange times,
Where speaking up,
Amounts to crime,
Unless you love,
To disturb the 'calm',
By voicing opinions,
That raise alarms,
Because there is no,
Problem within this land,
Haven't you heard,
Those with power in their hands,
Dissent? Are you mad?
Do you want to be rounded up,
In jail, like those 5 lads,
They've read too much,
And seen too much,
They think too much,
And speak too much,
You cannot shouldn't,
Strange times,
Where speaking up,
Amounts to crime,
Unless you love,
To disturb the 'calm',
By voicing opinions,
That raise alarms,
Because there is no,
Problem within this land,
Haven't you heard,
Those with power in their hands,
Dissent? Are you mad?
Do you want to be rounded up,
In jail, like those 5 lads,
They've read too much,
And seen too much,
They think too much,
And speak too much,
You cannot shouldn't,
Siding with the,
Margins is a sin,
'Anti-National’, 'Urban Naxal’,
Is all you’ll be if you don't sit still.
Syrian Spears
I fear everything
Falling
On the ground
Even the rain that
Thunders down
When darkness spreads
Across the sky,
And air gets
Heavy as time,
Scared I run and-
Crouch beneath the
Wobbly table trying
To hide from
The falling spears, that
Rip off-
Flesh from hands and feet,
And booms
That bury piercing cries,
As homes turn,
Into debris.
Abbu tells me,
I need not fear,
It's been a month since
Any spears fell.
He asks me,
To crawl out,
Giving me his hand,
Until a boom,
Echoed,
The land, leaving me with,
Just Abbu's hand.
I fear everything
Falling
On the ground
Even the rain that
Thunders down
When darkness spreads
Across the sky,
And air gets
Heavy as time,
Scared I run and-
Crouch beneath the
Wobbly table trying
To hide from
The falling spears, that
Rip off-
Flesh from hands and feet,
And booms
That bury piercing cries,
As homes turn,
Into debris.
Abbu tells me,
I need not fear,
It's been a month since
Any spears fell.
He asks me,
To crawl out,
Giving me his hand,
Until a boom,
Echoed,
The land, leaving me with,
Just Abbu's hand.
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