Ankush Agarwal's Blog: Always ख़ुश - Posts Tagged "poem-challenge"

...A wandering thought !
Visiting places unseen
or relived in a forgotten dream.
I disappear; ere I exhaust.


...A tender embrace !
Friendly, reassuring touch
not too fast, not too much.
I'm a memory, time can't erase.

...A wish unfulfilled !
Desires, hopes, ambitions scattered
flawless mirror with reflections shattered
I'm confined in walls, yet to be built.

...A simple smile !
Choked heart with unfettered laugh
happy face in a decaying photograph
I'm Always Khush - not once in a while.

That terrace,
from my house, was visible.

It was only a stone's throw away;
witnesses are those miserable pebbles,

whom I had launched with full strength and vigor

those were not stones, but jewels
vaguely remembered, like first crush in schools

Some of those gems are still in flight,
above that terrace, where we played day and night.


That terrace which has a rusty door
is now a portal to times before
Will there be Holi colors still on that wood?
Or that chalk dust from childhood?


Our Antakshari songs still echoing
in those walls, now decaying

Is someone still waiting
in that narrow staircase?
with ink scribbled on paper,
but message written on her face


That discarded ring, would yet be hidden
in that out-of-bound corner, still forbidden


I can't reach that terrace now,
some strangers now go and lock it.
But it doesn't appear far to me, when
I find some pebbles in my pocket.

© Ankush Agarwal
02-Apr-2020

For Jim always is
a happy brown clown,
Living in a tilting building
in downtown

He loves to put, bright
makeup on his face
always dresses in polka dots
and an orange colored lace

He goes by the name
of A Delirious Idiot,
The crowd finds it funny
and his acts are hilarious

Tales of his deeds, are
always sought after
My friends always tell me,
with roaring laughter

My kids also love him
more than fairies
As he carries not books,
but berries in libraries

One day, when I met him
I asked him a question,
"Can I please give you
a genuine suggestion?"

He told me, "I'm willing to,
give you my attention
As long as you promise to
not give me any tension."

I told Jim, that, I'm not so sure
With so many problems around, with no known cure
a silly laugh, in these times, is not an allure
and that he needs to act, like a man matured.

He told me:

"Watson, this is elementary,
So, don't be pedantic.
Treat life as a poetry
and die a romantic"


"Look at me dear,
I've got a hole in my heart
and before my breaths are over
I want to play my part."

"I am left with, only a year or two
To solve world's problems, I got no clue."

I noticed, he wanted to do something,
before his chances blew
So, that's why he's in a rush,
he knew time flew.

He couldn't laugh himself,
so he made the country smile,
Hiding his sorrows behind the mask
The eye-shadow was his guile.

The bright makeup on his face
hid his pain very well
The lace covered his sufferings,
so no one could tell.

The polka dots he used to
camouflage something more
He wanted his audience to laugh
and not cringe on sight so gore.

His makeup wasn't funny, but hideous
He really was a delirious idiot.

But I made him a secret promise
and I will never let him down...
for Jim always was
a happy brown clown.

© Ankush Agarwal
04 Apr 2020

How do I write about the dream?

I'm sure, I had many.
'coz that's the world I see,
when I close the eyes,
my unknown fantasy.

Do I see another reality,
or a realm mundane?
it's a world with anything possible,
and void of any pain.

I've been to places
with unparalleled scenery
Those glorious white peaks
dancing with greenery

I've laughed many laughs
killing time with utmost glee
so close to my loved ones
whom I don't meet in reality

I've won many a battles
and achieved the impossible
Done those things with ease
which in life are impractical

The world there, is a happy place
such dreams have been many
then why is it so, that
I don't remember any?

Then there were dreams
Too embarrassing to share
these are the ones recurring
but I'd keep them a private affair

All the nightmares since childhood
I somehow distinctly remember
and they still manage to scare me
and I can't help, but surrender

The happy ones make my body glow
even the weird ones are fair
I just wish the nightmares
never do re-occur.

© Ankush Agarwal
05 Apr 2020

Day5: Twenty little poetry projects
Okay, so Day 5 challenge looks to be most difficult and most fun. While you can read the details on the NaPoWriMo blogs, here is quick summary of what I need to do:


Begin the poem with a metaphor.
Say something specific but utterly preposterous.
Use at least one image for each of the five senses, either in succession or scattered randomly throughout the poem.
Use one example of synesthesia (mixing the senses).
Use the proper name of a person and the proper name of a place.
Contradict something you said earlier in the poem.
Change direction or digress from the last thing you said.
Use a word (slang?) you’ve never seen in a poem.
Use an example of false cause-effect logic.
Use a piece of talk you’ve actually heard (preferably in dialect and/or which you don’t understand).
Create a metaphor using the following construction: “The (adjective) (concrete noun) of (abstract noun) . . .”
Use an image in such a way as to reverse its usual associative qualities.
Make the persona or character in the poem do something he or she could not do in “real life.”
Refer to yourself by nickname and in the third person.
Write in the future tense, such that part of the poem seems to be a prediction.
Modify a noun with an unlikely adjective.
Make a declarative assertion that sounds convincing but that finally makes no sense.
Use a phrase from a language other than English.
Make a non-human object say or do something human (personification).
Close the poem with a vivid image that makes no statement, but that “echoes” an image from earlier in the poem.

So, let me see, if I can meet the challenge:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: For ease of reading and avoid clutter of quotation marks:
Blue text is spoken by the humming bird
Green text is spoken by Lily, the lily flower
and Black is by Yours Truly.
A Humming Bird and a Lily


1. Silence is golden, but talk is cheap
2. The humming bird was telling this to lily
3.a. Your fragrance is in a beauty sleep
3.b. See, your skin is now glowing really






3.c. Shivering with pleasure, for her lover's first touch
3.d. Sweetness of that maiden kiss
3.e. Your leaves will jingle just so much
4. Music will be, a touch of bliss




5. Am I, asked Lily, "in the Garden of Eden?
6. I am not your newly bride
7. & 8. you gotta gimme, a good reason
I would like this clarified:



9. My petals blush, whenever you dance
10. How you doin' ?, tell me your moves
11. The melodic strings of romance
12. strumming the ripened tunes of youth




Knowing now, that the moment was right
13. Humming bird just got down on a knee
14. Anks and all were so happy at this sight
The heavens proclaimed this decree:



15. "The Earth shall shower blessings,
16. 'n' there shall be an awesome blossom
17. Bridesmaids to wear fancy dressings
18. crooning in the breeze: "Ye raatein, ye mausam..."



19. The bird kissed lily on her petal
20. and rhythm of jingles were heard around
I saw the flower shiver so gentle
when she saw, the sun go down.


© Ankush Agarwal
05-Apr-2020

Day 8 - Challenge was to start the poem with your favorite lines from another poem. Here's what it came out to be:

Day 8: Line from another poem
Stopping by woods...

The woods were lovely, dark and deep
like series of dreams in a deep sleep

Memories have grown on these woods
His only friends since childhood

Birds played peek-a-boo, when he'd cry
his mother working somewhere nearby

There're marks still, where he roped his swings
flying high in sky on feathers of strings

He often hid behind that reticent oak
for a secret kiss or a rebellious smoke

Those trees whispered only to him
Whenever he listened happily or grim



But after ages now, he's here alone
doesn't believe in whispers, he's a man grown

Doesn't swing on trees, 'coz he's a man grown
Metal clinks sound sweeter, than a beetle's drone

Doesn't remember his friends, he once so admired
Leaves still rustle for him, but its paper he desired

The woods were lovely, dark and deep
but he's got his own, promises to keep

He was sure, the trees will understand
they'll pretend not noticing, the axe in his hand.

© Ankush Agarwal
10-Apr-2020

Carnation flowers

Sitting in the park
On that winter's evening
sounds of kids were mixed with the birds';
A book of my favorite stories,
dozing off on the grass near me.
My eyes were fixed on that snoring page
when your fingers had first touched mine.

I remember, that day, you'd given me a blue carnation.



You visited me in the hostel room
The warden frowned but let you in
You didn't care for my friends' pretence
my room mate had also found an excuse
Tinkle in your smile was all I heard
were there also giggles outside?

I later found a mauve carnation on the bed.
It smelled the same as
the scent on the bottom of your neck






You held my hand through that lecture
The professor decided to not notice
Sitting in the back row, you wrote me a note
to meet you in our special corner
we went separately to those stairs
where we talked about so many things

You told me about the crimson flower.








Those classes bunked, lies to parents
secret routes for afternoon with you
Giving naughty names to hidden moles
no profanity of name or promise
life felt pure, as it should be.

Time blossomed with pink carnations






Leaving your city, it was my final day
You woke me up before the cuckoo's call
We didn't waste a second that day
but the dreaded night did fall.


Standing near your door, to see you off
Couldn't muster courage to say good bye
Just touched your face, and turned away
The world was hazy, to my eye
.
.
.

Between yellowed pages, I found a carnation today
Gone years have taken away its colors
But those must be signs of drew drops
'coz you once told me, "Flowers don't cry"


© Ankush Agarwal
12-Apr-2020