creative writing – Page 3 – Emotional Shadows

#Poetry Challenge: #WDYS #TankaTuesday

Published on August 11, 2025 by balroop singh47 Comments

***Image Credit; Tia Heftiba@ Unsplash***

moments cling to me
walls swallow echoes of past
yet whispers linger
this kitchen keeps me lively
my only sanctuary.
© Balroop Singh

***

Our Sanctuary

The kheer is simmering
Dance and music makes it sweeter
Each time I stir it with love,
My feet tap the tiled floor.
This kitchen welcomes food lovers.

Friends meet here
More for weekly chat and laugh
This is our sanctuary
That absorbs our pains.
This kitchen is for dancing.

Dancing to ward off negativity
Dancing to add charm to weary hours
Dancing to convert chores into love
The facade that many women wear
And spend half their life in kitchens.
© Balroop Singh

Thanks to Sadje for choosing an inspiring image for her #whatdoyousee – 301 challenge.

Thanks to Colleen for the inspiration to write syllabic poetry. The challenge this week is create an experimental tanka form of your choice, remembering to write your tanka in the first person on the theme of your choice.

Thank you for reading my poetry.
Here is the Amazon link for my new poetry book.
For more poetry, hang out with Hues Of Hope
All the posts on my blog are created by me and are protected by copyright. It is strictly prohibited to use them to train AI technologies.

#Poetry Challenge: #WDYS #TankaTuesday

Published on August 5, 2025August 5, 2025 by balroop singh51 Comments

***Image Credit; Eveling Salazar*** @ ***Unsplash***

always elusive –
is freedom an open book?
ask a butterfly
an embodiment of ease
it encases empowerment.
© Balroop Singh

***

Freedom?

If your muse craves for inspiration
Tell her to tarry, to abandon her flight
And look at this book with a strange title: ‘Free Forever’
And ponder: is freedom an open book?
Is it a flowing river?

Within the raging battles
Of greed, of power, of control
Freedom comes with a price – it’s a ransom.
It demands every moment of our life,
Of our heart, our love, our soul.

It is so basic yet so elusive!
Can you trap the butterflies?
Can you capture the human spirit?
Only Mother Nature knows freedom
Only she knows how to survive.

Or wait for spiritual awakening,
A journey into the unknown
How do we know it grants freedom?
They say the soul transcends boundaries
Doesn’t it come back to the same world?
© Balroop Singh

Thanks to Sadje for choosing an inspiring image for her #Whatdoyousee -300 challenge.

Thanks to Willow & Colleen for the inspiration to write syllabic poetry. The challenge this week is to write a “Taiga.” A Taiga is similar to a Haiga, but with a tanka instead of a haiku.

Thank you for reading my poetry.
Here is the Amazon link for my new poetry book.

For more poetry, hang out with Hues Of Hope

All the posts on my blog are created by me and are protected by copyright. It is strictly prohibited to use them to train AI technologies.

#TankaTuesday #Dodoitsu

Published on July 29, 2025 by balroop singh36 Comments

A glacier in my heart,
icy blood, numb arteries
long shadows overwhelm me –
a dreary desert.

***

Trudging through the sands of time,
my feet hold the coarse remnants
a ray of sunshine might help
frozen emotions.

***

Life was a lullaby once
when your gentle hands held me,
when you were my warm blanket –
my beacon of glow.
© Balroop Singh

Thanks to Robbie and Colleen for the inspiration to write syllabic poetry. The challenge this week is to choose any form of syllabic poem and use at least one metaphor in the poem. I chose to write a string of Dodoitsu.

A Dodoitsu is a Japanese form of poetry that is sometimes performed as a folk song. It has 26 syllables: 7 in the first, second and third lines, and 5 in the last line.(7/7/7/5). No rhyming. No title.

Thank you for reading my poetry.
Here is the Amazon link for my new poetry book.

For more poetry, hang out with Hues Of Hope

All the posts on my blog are created by me and are protected by copyright. It is strictly prohibited to use them to train AI technologies.

#PhotoPrompt #Senryu #WDYS

Published on July 22, 2025 by balroop singh26 Comments

Crossroads

A magical glow
what a surreal sunrise!
Joshua trees gleam.

Morning rays beckon
an unknown chill confines me
icy fingers clench.

Unseen clouds cloak me
a rocky terrain restricts
memories warm up.

Thanks to Sadje for the inspiration — Whatdoyousee #298

Thank you for reading my poetry.
Here is the Amazon link for my new poetry book.

For more poetry, hang out with Hues Of Hope

All the posts on my blog are created by me and are protected by copyright. It is strictly prohibited to use them to train AI technologies.

#TankaTuesday – Shadorma

Published on July 15, 2025 by balroop singh36 Comments

Alma Thomas, *Wind and Crepe Myrtle Concerto*, 1973, acrylic on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum

Entwined

Open arms,
inhale the fragrance
of petals,
soft shower
of romance that soaks our souls
in the bliss of thrill.

Holding hands,
feel the ecstasy,
the passion,
the moment
of wrapping the pink softness
of unexplored path.

Thanks to Melissa and Colleen for the inspiration to write syllabic poetry. This week’s challenge is to write a Shadorma series (two or three, I’ll let you pick) using the paintings in this post. You may use one painting to inspire all your syllabic poetry, or perhaps you’d like to use several. Look at the paintings, their colors, and titles, and see where they take you.

A Shadorma consists of a six-line stanza (or sestet). Each stanza is written as 3-5-3-3-7-5 for a total of 26 syllables with no set rhyme scheme. When writing a Shadorma, concentrate on a specific subject. Add a title.

Thank you for reading my poetry.
Here is the Amazon link for my new poetry book.

For more poetry, hang out with Hues Of Hope

All the posts on my blog are created by me and are protected by copyright. It is strictly prohibited to use them to train AI technologies.