Abhijit Naskar's Blog, page 28
June 29, 2024
What is Poetry (My Sonnet, My Rules) | Abhijit Naskar | World War Human: 100 New Earthling Sonnets
Any gargoyle can google
the definition of a sonnet,
Any robot can write and
rhyme 14 lines of a sonnet.
Number of lines don’t make sonnet,
Impeccable rhyme don’t make poetry.
Critics, police and gatekeepers are
usually least capable of originality.
It’s okay if it’s few lines extra,
It’s okay if it’s couple lines less.
It’s okay if it doesn’t rhyme at all,
It’s the soul that matters, not vessels.
You’re welcome to your dead laws of poetry,
while I bring poetry to life, shaping society.
the definition of a sonnet,
Any robot can write and
rhyme 14 lines of a sonnet.
Number of lines don’t make sonnet,
Impeccable rhyme don’t make poetry.
Critics, police and gatekeepers are
usually least capable of originality.
It’s okay if it’s few lines extra,
It’s okay if it’s couple lines less.
It’s okay if it doesn’t rhyme at all,
It’s the soul that matters, not vessels.
You’re welcome to your dead laws of poetry,
while I bring poetry to life, shaping society.
Abigitano (Soneto del Divino Refugiado) | Abhijit Naskar (2nd Book of Hispanic Poetry)
En sánscrito soy Abhijit,
En español soy Vencedor.
En árabe soy Ghalib,
En Historia soy Reformador.
Tantos idiomas, tantos nombres –
Algunos llaman agua, otros llaman water.
Más allá de los idiomas, la luz es la misma –
Algunos lo llaman divino, yo lo llamo humanidad.
Mis raíces están arraigadas en la humanidad,
no en una cultura, religión o nación.
El cosmos corre por mis corpúsculos,
Mi vida es el llamado a la expansión.
Quien ama a otro es santo,
Quien ayuda a otro es rey.
Los animales anhelan lujos locos,
Para mí sacrificarse es vivir.
No me sirven el silicio ni el oro –
Cuando el mundo arde, yo soy ungüento.
Llámame migrante, o llámame un refugiado –
Más allá de hechos y la fe, ¡yo soy Abigitano!
En español soy Vencedor.
En árabe soy Ghalib,
En Historia soy Reformador.
Tantos idiomas, tantos nombres –
Algunos llaman agua, otros llaman water.
Más allá de los idiomas, la luz es la misma –
Algunos lo llaman divino, yo lo llamo humanidad.
Mis raíces están arraigadas en la humanidad,
no en una cultura, religión o nación.
El cosmos corre por mis corpúsculos,
Mi vida es el llamado a la expansión.
Quien ama a otro es santo,
Quien ayuda a otro es rey.
Los animales anhelan lujos locos,
Para mí sacrificarse es vivir.
No me sirven el silicio ni el oro –
Cuando el mundo arde, yo soy ungüento.
Llámame migrante, o llámame un refugiado –
Más allá de hechos y la fe, ¡yo soy Abigitano!
June 24, 2024
Tierratitan, Sonnet | Abhijit Naskar | World War Human: 100 New Earthling Sonnets
I only have one advice for you,
own your life, from head to toe –
unapologetically alive and original,
not a carbon copy, with second hand woe.
Civilization is not a conjuring trick,
Civilization is a long labor of life.
You don’t figure out everything overnight,
You figure out things over time.
Sweet dreams are made of sweat-n-dare.
Sweat makes it sweet, dare brings it true.
Sweet society is made of reason-n-care,
When I’m your shelter, my shelter is you.
I be your vision, you be my mission.
Divided we drown, together, Tierratitan.
own your life, from head to toe –
unapologetically alive and original,
not a carbon copy, with second hand woe.
Civilization is not a conjuring trick,
Civilization is a long labor of life.
You don’t figure out everything overnight,
You figure out things over time.
Sweet dreams are made of sweat-n-dare.
Sweat makes it sweet, dare brings it true.
Sweet society is made of reason-n-care,
When I’m your shelter, my shelter is you.
I be your vision, you be my mission.
Divided we drown, together, Tierratitan.
June 23, 2024
Life and Abundance (The Sonnet) | Abhijit Naskar | World War Human: 100 New Earthling Sonnets
A person to take refuge in,
a purpose to be driven by,
that’s all you need
to lead a good life.
A roof to take shelter under,
couple meals to feed our hunger,
that’s all you need
to lead a good life.
Brain at the base of the mind,
Heart at the base of existence,
Character at the base of the shoulder,
that’s all you need to lead a good life.
Materialism normalized as abundance
chains freedom, and renders life a cripple.
True abundance instills content not clutter,
Actual needs of life are rather little.
a purpose to be driven by,
that’s all you need
to lead a good life.
A roof to take shelter under,
couple meals to feed our hunger,
that’s all you need
to lead a good life.
Brain at the base of the mind,
Heart at the base of existence,
Character at the base of the shoulder,
that’s all you need to lead a good life.
Materialism normalized as abundance
chains freedom, and renders life a cripple.
True abundance instills content not clutter,
Actual needs of life are rather little.
June 21, 2024
Better Kind than Right | Abhijit Naskar | World War Human: 100 New Earthling Sonnets
Better kind than correct,
Better idiot than arrogant.
Better ignorant than bigoted,
Better exploited than indifferent.
Better broke than bent,
Better naive than narcissist.
Better mistaken than mindless,
Better broken than a cheat.
Better wrong than cruel,
Better ridiculed than rigid.
Better shattered than shallow,
Better ignited than idjit.
Better idiot than arrogant.
Better ignorant than bigoted,
Better exploited than indifferent.
Better broke than bent,
Better naive than narcissist.
Better mistaken than mindless,
Better broken than a cheat.
Better wrong than cruel,
Better ridiculed than rigid.
Better shattered than shallow,
Better ignited than idjit.
June 18, 2024
Visvavitamin (The Sonnet) | Abhijit Naskar | World War Human: 100 New Earthling Sonnets
It’s a sad state of affairs when
you get used to the sight of blood,
glorifying aggression as bravehearted.
It’s a sad state of affairs when
you feel good dressing up for gala,
while children are being bombed to death.
Sometimes aggression may be our last resort,
but never normalize it as civilized way of life.
The beast in me knows well to crush bones,
but the reformer I am, works to preserve life.
It’s a sad state of affairs when
prejudice is glorified as piety,
and curiosity is branded blasphemy,
when lies are honored as liberty,
and empathy is declared unholy.
Bandaid to the broken, backbone to the fallen.
Vital to world-light, we are Visvavitamin.
you get used to the sight of blood,
glorifying aggression as bravehearted.
It’s a sad state of affairs when
you feel good dressing up for gala,
while children are being bombed to death.
Sometimes aggression may be our last resort,
but never normalize it as civilized way of life.
The beast in me knows well to crush bones,
but the reformer I am, works to preserve life.
It’s a sad state of affairs when
prejudice is glorified as piety,
and curiosity is branded blasphemy,
when lies are honored as liberty,
and empathy is declared unholy.
Bandaid to the broken, backbone to the fallen.
Vital to world-light, we are Visvavitamin.
June 16, 2024
Miracle Mejnu (The Sonnet) | Abhijit Naskar | World War Human: 100 New Earthling Sonnets
I reveal policy to politicians,
I write the law for lawyers,
I unfold order to the coppers,
I light the psyche to shrinkers.
I am justice to the activists,
Common sense to the scientists,
I’m illumination to philosophers,
I am existence to existentialists.
I am poetry to the poets,
Bridge of culture to linguists.
I am good news in seminaries,
I am the human part of humanists.
Who am I – or better yet, what am I?
I am the heartquake to all halftruth.
What am I, or just the same, who am I?
Refugee of love, I am Miracle Mejnu.
I write the law for lawyers,
I unfold order to the coppers,
I light the psyche to shrinkers.
I am justice to the activists,
Common sense to the scientists,
I’m illumination to philosophers,
I am existence to existentialists.
I am poetry to the poets,
Bridge of culture to linguists.
I am good news in seminaries,
I am the human part of humanists.
Who am I – or better yet, what am I?
I am the heartquake to all halftruth.
What am I, or just the same, who am I?
Refugee of love, I am Miracle Mejnu.
June 15, 2024
Naskar’s Folly (The Sonnet – for July 4th) | Abhijit Naskar | World War Human: 100 New Earthling Sonnets
If your perception doesn’t evolve with time,
It’s not a sign of conviction but cowardice.
So in this sonnet I take it upon myself,
to correct my own early follies.
In one of my early works I called America,
“a great country, built by great people,”
while the harsh humanitarian fact of earth is,
America is a terrorist nation, built by criminals.
I once naively asked to ‘appreciate the soldiers’,
while unintentionally undermining peace-activism.
That one line has been eating me alive, until
in 2023 I declared, “military is legal terrorism.”
Own up your follies, use them to sharpen your conviction.
Mistakes acknowledged are the beginning of illumination.
It’s not a sign of conviction but cowardice.
So in this sonnet I take it upon myself,
to correct my own early follies.
In one of my early works I called America,
“a great country, built by great people,”
while the harsh humanitarian fact of earth is,
America is a terrorist nation, built by criminals.
I once naively asked to ‘appreciate the soldiers’,
while unintentionally undermining peace-activism.
That one line has been eating me alive, until
in 2023 I declared, “military is legal terrorism.”
Own up your follies, use them to sharpen your conviction.
Mistakes acknowledged are the beginning of illumination.
June 12, 2024
Civil Sanity (Sonnet 1631) | Abhijit Naskar | Yüz Şiirlerin Yüzüğü (Ring of 100 Poems, Bilingual Edition)
You know what the problem is!
We question love
more than we question hate.
We question humility
more than we question arrogance.
We question benevolence
more than we question biases.
We question integrity
more than we question deceit.
We question curiosity
more than we question prejudice.
We question character
more than we question cowardice.
Problem is, we question humanity
more than we question inhumanity.
Grow out of such prehistoric normalcy,
and the world will encounter civil sanity.”
We question love
more than we question hate.
We question humility
more than we question arrogance.
We question benevolence
more than we question biases.
We question integrity
more than we question deceit.
We question curiosity
more than we question prejudice.
We question character
more than we question cowardice.
Problem is, we question humanity
more than we question inhumanity.
Grow out of such prehistoric normalcy,
and the world will encounter civil sanity.”
June 9, 2024
Joy of Conscience (The Sonnet) / Radość Sumienia (Sonet – Polish) | Abhijit Naskar | Abigitano: El Divino Refugiado (First Drop, 2nd Book of Hispanic Poetry)
“Joy of Conscience (The Sonnet)
Consciousness brings joy,
Consciousness brings relief.
It's a different kind of joy,
sanctified by bouts of grievance.
Consciousness causes content,
unsurpassed by material excitement.
Only through conscientious moderation,
shall we overcome shallow disturbance.
Materials are needed for sustenance,
beyond that point it becomes poison.
Cluttering the mind with toxic waste,
it separates the human from human.
Consciousness brings joy,
untainted by shallow glee.
Surrounded by compromised ritual,
consciousness alone can set us free.”
“Radość Sumienia (Sonet)
I'm happy,
I'm happy.
Moje życie nie jest moje,
Służba jest zbawiieniem.
Służba is zbawieniem,
Radość tkwi w byciu razem.
Pomaganie to ludzkość,
Egoizm is przekleństwem.
Moją walkedą jedność,
Moje Światło jest niepodzielne.
Most of the time it is integrated, it is
important to know that it is not possible.
When the problem arises,
it may be degraded.”
Consciousness brings joy,
Consciousness brings relief.
It's a different kind of joy,
sanctified by bouts of grievance.
Consciousness causes content,
unsurpassed by material excitement.
Only through conscientious moderation,
shall we overcome shallow disturbance.
Materials are needed for sustenance,
beyond that point it becomes poison.
Cluttering the mind with toxic waste,
it separates the human from human.
Consciousness brings joy,
untainted by shallow glee.
Surrounded by compromised ritual,
consciousness alone can set us free.”
“Radość Sumienia (Sonet)
I'm happy,
I'm happy.
Moje życie nie jest moje,
Służba jest zbawiieniem.
Służba is zbawieniem,
Radość tkwi w byciu razem.
Pomaganie to ludzkość,
Egoizm is przekleństwem.
Moją walkedą jedność,
Moje Światło jest niepodzielne.
Most of the time it is integrated, it is
important to know that it is not possible.
When the problem arises,
it may be degraded.”
