On rewriting inspiration

 When you ask me to revise a poem you ask me to meet again the Muse who seldom responds to invitation. She comes in suddenly through the door left open, announcing Her presence with words that have never sat together before. She says what She has to say and goes quiet; goes away or gets broken down into elements...

What is an “I” in poetry?

Situated usually at the start to grab notice, Undulating with the tone, a poem's voice Breaks in first, second or third but Just so you know it is a mere toy, a ploy Enacted to lull you into feeling. It Can, based on timing, be real in Telling what the poet's being is dealing with....

Sestina: The surprise of a lifetime

In an attempt to regain balance I almost Lost all control. The evening before I sat in my study Thinking of what I could do different and love More than my present occupation. My feet Twitched below the desk in fervent prayer or doubt, Either way I was beginning to kindle a soul-scorching fire. On...

Becoming a Mother these days

She believed she didn't want to be one. Her life focussed on work, on the run. At an earlier point she might have done The needful (if it had worked) but fate it seemed had none Such intentions. So she shunned The idea of a daughter or a son. Her heart forced to be hard...

Writing an Anagram poem: Hirsute

H I R S U T E You would need a shirt to cover up at the beach. A true layer of warmth sadly does not suit any season. The daily rite of razing what is sire- d not of your own volition is sure to rub anyone the wrong way. Tire- some products, apparatuses...

Irrational

Not just a mathematical uncertainty An exclamation of human emotion that Makes one feel insensible, irrational. I wonder how much it matters - this Need to logically think, to unravel Quandaries with a stick of a defined length And set out the shapes in perfect geometry. Where does it come from? We are governed by...

The Do that I Do that I Do so, well?

My café au lait which is too foamy for its own good sits hissing by the side while I silently waste my time on Twitter to find out what's more important than Djokovic winning the Australian Open. People are sharing their blogs, inspirational quotes and there are other bits and bobs on there which on...

ROL: Reading Out Loud

Type transformed into tenable tones Simulates sounds of intentions unknown A co-ordinated sensory effort to catapult The mind out of the orbit of reason Out of season out of reach Out every experience just to Land securely but shaken Demurely but unmistaken-ly Inside the land of poetry That dreams and talks and rhymes Unashamedly; that walks...

Solar by Philip Larkin teaches

Solar Suspended lion faceSpilling at the centreOf an unfurnished skyHow still you stand,And how unaidedSingle stalkless flowerYou pour unrecompensed The eye sees youSimplified by distanceInto an origin,Your petalled head of flamesContinuously exploding.Heat is the echo of yourGold. Coined there amongLonely horizontalsYou exist openly.Our needs hourlyClimb and return like angels.Unclosing like a hand,You give for ever....

Reading to write again

From a very young age, I suspected there was more to my world than I could see: somewhere in the streets of Istanbul, in a house resembling ours, there lived another Orhan so much like me that he could pass for my twin, even my double. I suspect that there is another Sam too. I...