Tag: emotions

Tyranny of Time

Published on by balroop singh59 Comments

Today, I am trying a new form of poetry.

#Shardoma is a new form for me, as I have never tried to write it. Here are three of them (my first experiment) but all credit goes to Colleen’s Tuesday Poetry Challenge #Poet’s choice, which inspires “to experiment with freestyle poetry, as long as you also add a syllabic form to your poem.” 

Image from: Pixaby

In a crowd 
searching for someone 
Didn’t know who! 
Mute faces  
wondering: why are we here? 
Trapped by conditions

Narrow paths
Resounding chaos
Strange echoes
No outlet
to escape the tyranny 
of time that stood still

Glow of light
A sliver of hope
for millions
Fragmented
by self-centered autocrats
to prove their power
© Balroop Singh

Thank you for the inspiration Colleen. 

For more poetry: click here to hear Magical Whispers

Have you checked my latest release? – Slivers: Chiseled Poetry

 

Flashes of Life @pamelawight #BookReview

Published on by balroop singh74 Comments

“Life is a mirror and will reflect back to the thinker what he thinks into it,” says Ernest Holmes but life is a tide for my writer & blogger buddy Pamela S. Wight and she derives utmost joy from the tiny moments of the past and present, surfing the waves with perfect coordination. She shares her reflections in the form of short stories (each one better than the other) in her latest book: ‘Flashes of Life – True Tales of the Extraordinary Ordinary.’

Book Blurb:

Click to look inside

Wow! Life goes by in a flash.

Philosophers and mystics ponder the mystery of these flashes. Pamela Wight writes about life flashes in her short stories that include family and friends, love and life’s challenges. Wight’s “Flash Memoir” promotes the belief that we all share sparks of the extraordinary that occur in our everyday life. Each short story is true and brings a smile of recognition to her readers: that life transports and enthralls us in all its confusing, amusing, challenging, and astonishing ways. Each story is light-hearted and short – like a flash – but be prepared for a page-turner that keeps you in your seat, smiling.

Here is my My Review:

Flashes of Life by Pamela S. Wight brings to life those little moments of joy, which we often miss, those emotions that remain unexpressed, those relationships that we cherish and wish we could hold on to them as they slip out of our hands, however hard we may close our fists. Wight possesses the knack of converting an ordinary scenario into a humorous one, with her witty style of writing. I’ve never read a more marvelous account of the endeavor of a fourteen-year-old girl, to straighten her hair to look like ‘Jane Asher!’

I know Pamela writes with élan, as I follow her at her blog but this memoir, in the form of little stories and anecdotes from her life is amazing! She can look at the mirror and wonder, “where’s the cute twenty-year-old? Who the hell is this freaky lady?” I must have thought that a million times when I look at myself but only Pamela could express it so well to compress it into ‘Dancing Our Age.’ Her crisp style and ingenious choice of words adds a dash of delight that touches your heart immediately. Her stories flow like a gurgling stream, cascading at times and shimmering like the first rays of winter sun.

I thought ‘Straight Hair’ would be my favorite but then I read ‘How to Embarrass Your Kids’ (loaded with fun) and ‘A Renewal’ – dripping with subtle emotions and ‘Grilled Cheese,’ which is wonderfully narrative: “kitchen as tiny as an elf’s, and it has already taken me four minutes, thirty-eight seconds to find a knife to cut the cheese.” Wight is most creative but it hits the sky with ‘It’s All Golden!’ Just look at this: “my thirty year old son, once my hard child”, as hard as sleet on soft grass. I was the grass.” I loved ‘Nap Time,’ I laughed out loud while reading ‘Burnt Toast’ and would never forget her winter coat that she wore when it was 70 degrees outside! You have to read it to find why!

I have no words to describe the superb beauty of ‘The Weight of the Soul’ and ‘Benji.’ Need I say this is a MUST READ book? I would like to give it double 5 stars and keep it at my bedside to read it again and again.

– Balroop Singh.

Seeking…

Published on by balroop singh64 Comments
Photo credit: SHAH MARAI/AFP/Getty Images) 

Despair and suffering has been the fate of women for centuries. I am dismayed that it still is in many parts of the globe. The long, endless battle against conservative forces that take pleasure in subjugation continues! The following poem is inspired from this thought.

We don’t want to mother a son
In this land of Taliban
We don’t want a daughter either
It’s better to end this race
If they can’t keep pace with the world.

Let the seeds dry even if they are forced into us
Let’s pledge not to nurture them
Let our wombs wither – our only weapon
To gain control over servitude of centuries
Our hope is still alive.

Is there any need to look elsewhere?
Is it fair to wait for outside help?
When our own spirit is enough.
Muted faces convey profound message:
Silent storms sway the earth.

Our shrieks search a new world
Equitable and enlightened.
Our dreams are no longer monochromatic
Warped by societal norms
Red ink is all over them, seeking justice.
© Balroop Singh, September 2021.

It’s poet’s choice at Colleen’s weekly poetry challenge this week. You too can join with the image and form of your own choice. Thanks.

The Song Of Peace

Published on by balroop singh55 Comments

My inkpot is empty
My words hang in the air
Yearning to communicate.

I stir my words in the teacup
Their warmth is wafting
Eager to touch you.

I try to carve them on your heart
They melt and mix in your blood
Losing their charm.

How will posterity read them?
I need new inkpots
My journal is wistful and forlorn.

Embedded within its pages
My words wish to soar
Words that whisper and warble…

The song of peace.

© Balroop Singh

Thank you. 

For more poetry: click here to hear Magical Whispers

Have you checked my latest release? – Slivers: Chiseled Poetry

Dreams: Beliefs & Superstitions

Published on by balroop singh51 Comments

Today I am emerging from my comfort zone, into which I have slipped lately. When I started blogging, my topics were connected with human emotions and reactions of people. Non-fiction was my favorite genre of writing. 

Then I discovered my niche and got pushed by my muse most of the time. Poetry provided me a soft spot into which I immersed myself completely. I’ve almost abandoned writing about topics of human interest that still draw a lot of traffic to my blog.

This post is inspired from a recent discussion on dreams.

Dreams have remained a mystery yet they are unique experiences that are said to be significant, as they are a manifestation of our desires, feelings and emotions. They could be unexpressed thoughts or ideas that struggle to see the light of the day. My grand daughter says she often dreams that I am staying in her home forever, and asks me if it is possible.

Dreams could be as innocent as that one! 

Or as superstitious as this one: It is believed that morning dreams could be messages or warnings like the dream of a young lady who had an intuition that her husband was stepping into a risky business. She dreamt that he returns from his business trip with gray hair.

A dream that places you in some celebrations is considered to be a bad portent and is associated with potential bereavement in the family. Losing jewelry in such dreams is inauspicious. However, I have many times dreamt that I can’t find my jewelry box or my favorite necklace is missing but I have never faced any adverse effects! Probably some beliefs are so illogical.  

If you meet a dead relative or friend in a dream and you happen to give them something, that is said to be too bad. On the other hand, if they give you a gift, it is good. My aunt told me that her dead father-in law gave her two white pigeons in her dream and later she was blessed with twins.

Never respond to somebody’s call in a dream, that could be a call from heaven or hell!

My grandma refused to discuss a dead relative (a lady she didn’t like) for fear of her visits in her dreams. Whenever we would ask, “Ma, why didn’t you like her?” She always responded,” We’ll discuss that in the morning.”

If you keep returning to the same house in your dreams, it signifies your attachment to it. Probably that is your childhood home or you yearn to be there more often.

Being surrounded by water from all directions in your dreams or whatever route you take, if you are unable to escape, signifies anxiety. Since dreams are made of bits and pieces of our memory that blends past and present, they seem absurd like most of the times when I get surrounded by gushing water, I am riding a bike, which I used only as a teenager. Often I wake up from this recurrent dream, reaching nowhere.

A nightmare that I could never forget is that my car flies off a cliff and lands in a valley but I woke up with the impact.

Lucid dreams are most pleasant and everybody agrees that we can go back to sleep to continue enjoying them.

Some dreams can be as real as this one – whenever I can’t find a clean restroom to pee, I wake up with the realization that I actually need to pee!

In the dreams of my friend, who is an empty nester, her children are still small, running around in her home.

I’ve never noticed color in my dreams. What about you? I hope you have some dreams to share.
© Balroop Singh

Thank you.