Smitha Vishwanath's Blog, page 8

Rishikesh & Haridwar Diaries Part 2

This is a continuation of our trip to Rishikesh and Haridwar. There was a delay in posting it because I was participating in the national poetry writing month (April). Anyway, we left Rishikesh after taking a dip in the Ganges. The water was freezing cold but the sun overhead was pleasantly warm allowing us to […]

Published : An Epiphany by Spillwords Press

My poem, ‘An Epiphany’ has been published by Spillwords Press. The poem is written in anapeat style (five stanzas, one line repeats in each stanza, it’s the first line in the first stanza, second in the second stanza and so on). When I received the below message yesterday from Spillwords, I was thrilled. ‘Dear Smitha, […]

NaPoWriMo 2025, Day 30 : Country Roads

Yayy! It’s finally the end of the poetry month. I wasn’t sure how I was going to do it with all the travelling and family engagements I had, but miraculously, I managed to reach the Finish Line. I want to thank Maureen for the prompts which pushed me beyond my limit. I totally admire those […]

NaPoWriMo 2025, Day 29 : The night the music stopped

Today’s daily resource is the online galleries of the Whitney Museum, where you’ll find artwork as varied as this fun portrait of Billie Jean King, a Frank Stella sculpture that looks like what would happen if a space station fell in love with a bridge, and this contemporary take on the classic embroidered sampler. And now for today’s prompt – optional […]

NaPoWriMo 2025, Day 28 : My Home is the River

Today’s daily resource is El Museo del Barrio, a New York City museum focused on the experience of Puerto Ricans and Latin Americans in the United States. The museum’s website provides highlights from its permanent collection, as well videos exploring the art and artists featured. Last but not least, here is today’s prompt (optional, as always). […]

NaPoWriMo 2025, Day 25 : My Daughter Plays the Lead

Our daily resource is the online galleries of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, one of India’s foremost museums. It’s a pleasure to browse through the images here. I particularly liked these anklets that aren’t just jewelry but a sort of personal piggy bank, this portrait of the fabulously mustachioed J.M. Cursetjee, and this highly decorative flask, originally meant to hold […]

NaPoWriMo 2025, Day 27 : The Message by Edward Lamson Henry

Gosh! Four more days to go (five for me as I still need to write a poem for Day 25) and this year’s NaPoWriMo will come to an end. Today’s daily resource is the online collection of the Harvard Art Museums, where you can find this bright and pretty drawing of a tulip poplar, a rather forbidding poster comparing […]

NaPoWriMo 2025 Day 26 : Escaping the conflict

I skipped day 25 because I was down with fever and a terrible headache, but I will get to it once I’m better. Since today’s prompt is to write a sonnet, which has a structure and is just 14 lines long, thought I might as well write one and be up-to-date. This sonnet is based […]

NaPoWriMo 2025, Day 24: Holidays, Poetry, Cake and Music

Today’s daily resource is the Art Institute of Chicago, where just searching the collection for the word “stars,” I found this amazing quilt, a very fancy-looking Soviet plate, and an illustration of the constellation Leo from a medieval Arabic astronomical guide. And now for today’s (optional) prompt. One fundamental aspect of music is its communal nature. While music can be […]

NaPoWriMo 2025, Day 23 : The Koel’s Call- a cry for mercy or for love?

Our resource for the day is the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The museum’s online image collection is practically endless, and to call it varied would be an understatement. There’s over 2,000 images just of baseball cards! To say nothing of candelabra featuring what appears to be a scandalized swan, a processional sword belonging to the guardsman of a sixteenth-century German duke, and a […]