31 March 2021

Hellen Keller's The Story of My Life is a Storehouse of Inspiration and Power

 

The Story of My Life is the autobiography of Helen Keller, the woman who literally conquered darkness and silence, with sheer willpower, grit and the loving guidance of an incredible teacher. Helen Keller wrote this book as a student at the age of 22. The book is in two parts. In the first part she describes her transformation from a child with no language to an accomplished young woman about to graduate from one of her country’s most prestigious colleges. The second half is in the form of a compilation of letters from her early childhood to adulthood years, which she wrote to her family and friends. 

It has everything you want from a book, from inspiration, imagination, and heartbreak, to conflict, struggle and triumph. But what’s more heartening is the light-hearted, honest voice with which she narrates her story. She writes with flair about her struggles to educate herself and she does not mince her words.

‘People who think that all sensations reach us through the eye and the ear have expressed surprise that I should notice any difference, except possibly the absence of pavements, between walking the city streets and in the country road.’ she writes and goes on to enthrall the reader with the visuals and sounds of the city and country life, further expressing why she prefers the country life better.

This book is extraordinary in so many ways. It has everything you want in a book – from the inspiration, imagination, conflict and triumph of an underdog story to the evocative imagery, symbolism, wit, and candidness that only an accomplished writer can offer.

I am in awe of Helen Keller, and her story and her literary flair. And even as I write this, I realise how very futile it is, to try and capture the enormity of it all, in a few words. It is one of those rare books, which when you read them, you are filled with gratitude for life itself.

10 April 2020

Ten Hay(na)kus


The Glo/NaPoWriMo i.e. Global/National Poetry Writing Month is always an adventurous time. It offers poets the world over, inspiration to take on a challenge, explore their own style, and indulge themselves in a poetry writing spree for the entire month of April. I absolutely revel in the image of so many creative minds perceiving and painting the world, through and with their poet senses. For a poet is always diving deeper into an ever expanding universe. As Sigmund Freud once said, 'Everywhere I go, I find that a poet has been there before me.'


It Started With an Idea

 Any discussion about the NaPoWriMo cannot be complete without a special mention of Maureen Thorson who first started writing a poem a day back in April 2003, inspired by the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) that takes place in November. And even though she does not claim herself as an owner of the idea, she does maintain an official website dedicate solely to NaPoWriMo. Not only is it an incredible website for poets to find new poetry prompts everyday through the month of April, it also offers poets the world over, excellent poetry ideas and resources to work with. Suffice it to say, that it is nothing short of a treasure trove for poets.

The Hay(na)ku

Today is day 10 of NaPoWriMo. The day ten prompt introduced me to a whole new poetry form known as the hay(na)ku, a spin off of the well-known, traditional Japanese poetry form, the haiku.  The hay(na)ku is a modern poetry form invented and made popular in the very century we currently exist in. This 21st Century poetic form consists of six words in all - the first line has one word, the second line has two words, and the third line has three words. The poetry form was created by Eileen Tabios an award-winning Filipino-American poet, fiction writer, conceptual/visual artist, editor, anthologist, critic, and publisher. The term hay(na)ku was coined by Vince Gotera, an American poet and writer, best known as Editor of the North American Review.

As someone who already enjoys writing Haiku's and someone who loves a good poetry challenge, I promptly put pen to paper. And as I proceeded, I found myself in love with this poetry form. Much like the haiku, it has a fairly simple structure, yet it offers you the chance to throw in power-packed  poetry punches, unique only to your mind. Only it takes the challenge up a notch, because it allows for even lesser words.

Ten Hay(na)kus

I am presenting here, ten Hay(na)kus for Day ten of Glo/NaPoWriMo:


1
Because
Poetry is
An essential commodity


2

Your
Eyes are
Wine coloured paradise

3
Quarantine
Is time
Melting into itself

4
Beyond
Cloudy screens
Are stormy lies

5
Forever
Is conceptually
A flawed misnomer

6
Accuracy
In language
Began with emotion

7
Take
A shower
Under the sun

8
Why
Is not
A valid question
 
9
Come
With me
Freedom is real

10
There
A home
Without walls survived

15 April 2019

Higher Self



What is the source of pain
What causes
The soul to be troubled

What must i seek

To get to the bottom rung?
To climb up slowly, as if
Sunlight is far
Beyond reach

The thought
Of the vanquished
And the velocity of the drop
Is frightening

What if i dont
Make it home tonight?
What if they dont want me?
Certainly failure is better

Certainly the curtains shall fall
On someone 's door
Certainly i wont know
the meaning of this all

Love them, and they'll bite you
Turn from them,
And they'll chide you
Eitherway, there is a thin line

Of monotony
That one must cross
to see the differnce between
discipline and repetition

Is it even worth it?
All this hardwork?
Is it going to take me
anywhere?


Am i even going to
Stand on my own two feet
when the sun does rise?

Such sentimental
ponderings are unending
Letters to self

Uunposted

They take my mind 
And they don't stop
Roaming my mind,
Hanging, like space rubble.






13 April 2019

Thirteen


1
Did you know? Come winter,
A Million butterflies fly
For thousands of miles

2
How could you do this
Sit on the couch and watch
TV endlessly

3
What is the thought that
Bites you and you cry
It is a regret my friend

4
There is nothing more
Beautiful and pure, only
The soul feels its footsteps

5
Scars are only seen
But the wounds have not yet healed
I feel the gnawing

6
Carpe diem now
He who taught us with a smile
Fought the good fight too

7

You are the reason
For my heightened sense of hope
It is my sixth sense

8

Any discussion
Is a futile one, without
Food and wine, is all

9

I look around and  
There you are. I give you my
Hand and you don’t drown.

10

Who knows, maybe what
Lies beneath the seas is a
A giant shark-eating squid.

11

Honey I know you
Want me and my heart is now
An expanding verse

12

There are times when love
Is blind and blinding is not
A good idea!

13

I come from darkness
From necessary starkness
An oblivion




#NaPoWriMo           #Day13            #PoemADay         #Haiku

08 April 2019

Bottle Pops

The woods are beautiful
Dark, dense and scary
The maze is enthusing
Numbing

We refuse, use and reuse,
Filter and refilter, our senses
We are enchanted
Bottle pops

No matter where
On the face of this planet
We go, we are only
Walking

No matter the dialect
We ask our question in
There is only one
Answer

It is bare and unconvoluted
It is so, because we
Have arrived
Again!




#NaPowriMo                    #Day8                  #Poetry                   #PoemADay