It's Raining Poems: Meena Alexander and QLC's Budding Poets

In this post, QLC introduces the work of young poets of R.B.V.R.R Women's College.
But before we begin to delve into their world of words, ideas and rhythms 
we bring in a few poems from popular poet, Meena Alexander's latest collection, Atmospheric Embroidery (2015)

 

Atmospheric Embroidery
Wads of ice-cream glisten on Route 6.
We stroll into summer, thoughts thrust into a bramble
Oriental bitter-sweet pocking the hedges,
Fists in pockets, lemonade dripping from a child’s hem.
In Boetti’s embroidery, in his mapping of the world
Everything is cut and coupled,
Occult ordering – silk and painted steel
Sun and electric moon, butterfly and naked man
In The Thousand Longest Rivers
The Nile is the hardest water
Then comes the Mississippi – Missouri. Once we lived by brilliant waters
Suffered the trees soft babble, Fissures in magma.
Already its August –
Season of snipers in the heartland,
Season of coastlines slit by lightning
And smashed bouquets of the salt spray rose.
Now I think it’s a miracle we were able, ever
To put one foot in front of the other and keep on walking.

A meticulous review of the collection, by Prof. Sachidananda Mohanty, Vice-Chancellor, Central University of Orissa: 

 http://www.thehindu.com/books/literary-review/sachidananda-mohanty-reviews-atmospheric-embroidery/article8008323.ece

Now, Our Poets...

Joyous

Juveria Tabassum

She finds magic in things unsaid

Meaning profound in the music

The melodies that ring through her head

Damaged hands, shaken feet, twisted bellies,

True those things and yet seem nothing

When she looks at stars and the air she feels

Joyous, like the yellow flowers dangling

From the low green branches

Joyous, she smiles; bruises don’t matter

The grass seems greenest in patches

Wide patches among the dry, yellow field

Her eyes stay in the bright green

Her heart soars, she smiles- Joyous.

Flapping wings, chatting beings-noises?

She listens, though the meaning seems dim.

The light shines, the darkness slims.

Her will finds a meaning, where no meaning stills

Her wounds grow thin, she fights, she wins

You caught her in a smile; you thought it a whim

No. She bought her happiness from pure music

The music she finds in everything..

REBUILD YOURSELF
Sai Priya

I built myself with all the  joy...
like a castle getting  built ...

stone on stone...with all the strength
So that it can stand forever upright.

Then came the gentle breeze but brought the hovering wind along.
It collapsed.

My cheers with a flung

Everything went in vain
when it broke down with pain...

I was all pale like I never existed
I was all dim until I ever rebuild.

The merry ingredient was not used up
Instead all the regrets and lessons added up:

Thought it would perish again but it proved me wrong
And this time it appeared much  strong

Though I feel like there is a missing element .... the  construction was too strong to break again!!!

                                                

REFLECTIONS

Sai Priya

We are like the sun and moon...
When you shine bright I get dull sight
When I reflect light you go for a fight
Day and night we make it bright,but never together
Though we are might.

Distance can't divide us
Time can't stop us
Perhaps the world hates it to see us both closer
And the time doesn't wants us to appear at a time
But no one can stop your rays which fall on me
And no one can stop me when I feel that love !!!

Five Voices
Juveria Tabassum

The voices in my head have started screaming.

Funny, how it happened:

There was, but one voice

To begin with-

Soft, sane, sober.

And then the world came in.

It pushed the door down and

Thrust itself inside.
My voice cowered in a corner

The world, it started speaking in loud bangs,

 screeching tongues and unfamiliar noises

It was all, just pointless.

Forceful and senile, it tugged at the voice.

Dragged it into the centre

Watched it crash, saw it splinter

Into five different voices.

 

Bewildered, they scuttled around,

Trying to find a place, their place,

In the wilderness around them…

Then they learned how to speak again

So many new words:

Varied views and such opulent opinions

Each better than the rest.

They spoke; no one listened.

So they screamed;

And have been screaming ever since,

And still, no one listens.

  

Being a Girl

Suvidha Laharika

It was dark and silent.

Felt like my hands were tied.

I had no idea whether

I was still alive or dead.

Sometimes I become healthy

Sometime I am sick and weak...

Everyone cared for me as I was

Still a tissue of an old week

When I became a few months old,

My father decided and told

That I needed to be checked

Do I deserve to be born or dispatched?

My mother had to go through that test.

And everyone expected for the best.

She had tears in eyes and desires in heart

But she left to the almighty about the rest.

After my family got to know my identity

They showed their face of strong hostility.

Did the lord decide this in my fate?

Dealing with all these problems and hate?

But a true divinity I saw

After opening my I eyes

It’s my mother’s lap where

The house of prayer lies.

 It was her courage and

 Brave decision’s aftermath

That my first had not

Been the last breath.

Today, I stay in resentment

Yet still challenge the world.

I will, I am and always

Have been proud being a girl.

Going the Distance

N.Sai Priya

I went on walking along the way where I found no light.
How was I supposed to know the destination before I could see it?
That was just a trial not a prevailed plan.

Thirst was unseen but my trust on the way was high
Amidst all, I felt impotent lacking a pillar.

Who could be by my side when they hardly know where it leads.
No straight roads were seen as small streets ended up with a new one.
It was rather a puzzle more than a pavement.

Dampen was my soul which fell with a thud
I crawled and crept until I could see the last hope
Go on, pushed my insides...

Finally it paid me one day,

for my zealous of being unique.
Somewhere in far off distance I see a similar maze
With a long breath I started all the pain again!!!

 

An Unheard Soul

Chani 

What's right? What's wrong?
God is right? Or God is wrong?

If he loves everyone equally, then why did he make everyone different?
If everyone is born the same, why are their destinies different?

We have complicated our lives so much.
Made it really busy…
We don't have time to think!
Our soul has become lonely.
Some times it screams back at us,

In the midst of all the noise, we don't hear it...
We are too busy with our lives; we don't hear it  at all,

And then, when it is time to say good bye,
We hear that scream clear in our ears.
Then the soul shows us a flashback of our busy lives.
And then we wonder
What was right? What was wrong?
Was God right or was he wrong?