Bhaswati GhoshYAMAN
It comes with autumn’s
surreptitious footfall. Each
Alaap a waft of incense
Smoke, rarely a thunderstorm.
The oxygen of light
Slowly dissolves. With It,
the room. Yaman, like its
teevra Madhyam, persists,
cementing itself in wall
corners, sustaining
the breath.
Hours deepen. The
sun’s diurnal imperiousness
becomes a laughable hoax.
Vision loses its clues. The
world is lost, an illusion
one had given in to. Bypassing
The eye’s stubborn pathways,
Yaman rows the ears and flows
Right into the heretic heart.
No one claims darkness
better than Yaman.
*
LA CASA AZUL
For Frida Kahlo
A sea rises from your iris,
its cobalt waves mapping
your skin, tunneling into your
Bones a freak accident left
Paralyzed — life’s black
humour at 18. But what use
Would you have for walking
When you had wings to take
Off to the azure horizon and
Set it ablaze with the crimson
Desires of your heart.
The earth smells in
you a confidant who knows
Its ripe secrets — the dust
and sweat of toilers. So do
the flowers that sprout from
Your hair. And the birds in
Your seeded tropical oasis.
The urn still breathes in your
Warm scent that wanders
Alongside the cats in the blue house.
*
SHINRIN-YOKU*
The forest is the ultimate godman.
To be in a forest is an act of
irrational faith. You enter
one with a pact to get lost. It’s your
temporary exile. Permanency is a prison
that precludes liberty. The woods
have hours but no time so take your
time to give in to the tantra of green.
On the quilted forest bed,
conspiracies between the earth
and trees will return you
your animal ancestry — webbed and sharp-clawed.
Evolutionary hypnosis in slow motion. Feel
the soil’s dark, prehistoric kiss.
Enter the belly of the forest as it
swallows your instincts.
Crouch yourself
snug in its womb so you can explode off it
and be born.
*
*Shinrin-yoku or Forest Therapy means the medicine of simply being in the forest. Shinrin-yoku is a term that means “taking in the forest atmosphere” or “forest bathing.” It was developed in Japan during the 1980s and has become a cornerstone of preventive health care and healing in Japanese medicine.
Question :What do you think is a good poem? How do you differentiate a good poem from a bad one?
I don’t feel qualified enough to answer this question, being a learning poet myself. The poems that speak to me are the ones that make me see the world with a new perspective, delight in the music that words and images can evoke and have somewhat of an universal breadth, no matter its setting or theme.
పెద్దన్న
కృష్ణుడు
శ్రీనివాస్ గౌడ్
కృపాకర్ పోతుల
తిలక్ బొమ్మరాజు
కవనమాలి
స్వాతి కుమారి
Beautiful imagery and feelings in all three poems – of harmony in time and space in Yaman, Courage and power in Casa Azul, and submission to the universe in Shinrin-Yoku.
Sudden change of pace from everything else on the internet. Disconcerting but breathgiving.
Yaman is very good.Touched my heart.Especially the theevra nadhyam…Write more
Yaman is very good.Touched my heart.Especially the theevra madhyam…Write more