#TankaTuesday #Poetry Challenge

Pixaby image

Vintage Vibes

Drenched in the delight of love that grows with time, taking an inspiration from lingering shadows of the gnarled branches, they walk despite the slippery road of life. They find solace in togetherness and new promises.

snowy path threatens,
scares, yet we walk forward
enticed by the glow 
that dances with promises, 
old stories infuse new life

© Balroop Singh

Thanks to Colleen Chesebro for Weekly Poetry Challenge. This week’s form is tanka prose. There are two basic forms in classic tanka prose: Preface (explanation) and the Poem Tale (episodic narration.)

If you like poetry: click here to hear Magical Whispers

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

#TankaTuesday #Poetry Challenge

Image Credit: Butterfly on Asters by Lisa Smith Nelson

Intoxicated 
by nature’s nectar I thrive
Let me drink till dusk
kisses the sky and reminds you:
we are hypnotized by life

***

You took the sunshine;
alone I carve a new path
through the dark caverns
to gather tattered  remnants
of dreams and grim emotions

© Balroop Singh

Thanks to Colleen Chesebro for Weekly Poetry Challenge. This week’s double tanka is inspired from Lisa Smith’s image.

If you like poetry: click here to hear Magical Whispers

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

#TankaTuesday #Poetry Challenge

Tilini – The Himalaya, 2021 photo credit – sangeetha

breeze blends into love 
whispering rhythmic tunes
colors have faded
but our relationship knows
how we defeated darkness

***

bound by promises
and the gnarled branches of life,
constant companions
waiting for the final kiss
life’s winter is beckoning

***

inspired from your love
I watch you, waiting for spring
to dance once again
and dispel loneliness that
lingers in my pining heart

© Balroop Singh

Thanks to Colleen M. Chesebro for weekly poetry challenge at Word Craft: Prose & Poetry for the inspiration.

If you like poetry: click here to hear Magical Whispers

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

 

Flashes of Life @pamelawight #BookReview

“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:

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…

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.