Mass Delusion/s

By V. Shruti Devi (quill-o-the-wisp)

written and posted on facebook on 22nd Dec., 2016

switch to poetry! (or risk being called -and dealt with as- delusional)
peerless and priceless constitutional interpretaion
(even if i say so myself)-
WE the people: WE as in addressing our World Empire
(see what i mean by intangibles?!)
there's a hindi phrase that goes meri billi mujhee sey miaon
which, if you're invoking it approx twenty years down the line,
signals that you've totally empowered your student, and/or are in a bit of a thankless position
and what sort of mission would that entail, kundalini?
thus spake a muse

"However, NO to a nuclear power plant at Kuvvada" or "The Voices of the Rosy Flamingo"

The hunters moon,

it gathers sway

Bricks are made of mortar

but also of hay

Piggies’ tales and greenwich times

The Quill-o-the-Wisp’s

back to rhymes.

Woods and lakes in Anastasia’s wake

do find a page or million

via the vermillion

lore

of India’s gates.

Convergence

with the Mohawk

the Spock

and even the

digeridoo.

Draw a tarot card or two

And dowze the realms

In dreams.

Oh, Blineys?!

jest like that: (shanty-morning poetry)

By V. Shruti Devi (quill-o-the-wisp)

jest like that: (shanty-morning poetry) OR Day 13 Monsoon Session 2016 Non-comprehensive Observations

star bright, star light, this last draft, i read tonite.
i wish i may, i wish i might, with one fell stroke, revoke the blight.
a council's diktats shall prevail, the pallor of the upper house shall pale.

pull up your socks, get ready, vox
from now till november, there's limited time
pull the tide, or endlessly abide hyphens, siphons, elusive stipends

Beautiful Solitude (written in 1990)

By V. Shruti Devi (quill-o-the-wisp)

Hi, this is a poem i wrote on the 15th of February, 1990.
Am currently working on an annotated version of my entire collection of poems, for publication in a book, but i choose to upload this work here today:

Beautiful Solitude

                                                            15/2/1990

Much has Man created

__Much more than meets the

     Eye

And I speak not of fancy things

Nor of war and peace speak I.

Stop, my friend, and think

                                    awhile

Of human relationships and

                          human ties

We revere and accept these earth-time bonds

__Live we not in a fool’s paradise?

     Some time of ours is spent on

                                             Earth

Call it a gruelling test,

Call it a short respite

Where human beings align

                         themselves

With others of their race

As if forever

Here, in this dream-like place.

These bonds are but the

                 creation of Man

That offer him security

In this short span.

Hark! let the truth unfold

It is not as bitter as it seems

__Not as cold.

    For alone we come

    And alone we go

  And so alone we shall be

      Forever more.

Reportage

By V. Shruti Devi (quill-o-the-wisp)

i suppose only nonsense verse
would serve to converse
on matters such as dreamt thoughts
or heard news
such as 'holy communion' quite far away from the pews
(realms of dreams)
-applied then
to visuals in the morning's papers:
a striped one with the pope
being administered
holy pop!

then the word 'campaign'
quite universally applicable, no doubt
irrespective of which podium
or exit
you use.
you know what.
earth first.
RIP? the spirit stays.

then a racy, heart-stopping actionsequence
wherein
a ferocious canine
retrieves fair game.

signature: 'barack'?
how awesome is that
but i have to ask:
how does one ensure the republicans' defeat?
would a bernie think-alike, look-alike suffice as a last-minute entrant from another party?
yeahyeah
we could speak for the greens
if only to set the stage
first, for hilary
and in time to come
for a successful green party candidate
before the planetary system
is ready for an earth president
(for now, divinely ordained earth empress shall clumsily write)

and read.
i suppose.
and string together

#DreamtOfRamanaMaharishi

By V. Shruti Devi (quill-o-the-wisp)

I wish i could recall the trick

For how to write a limerick

A simple feat,

one could tap into the beat,

and google would solve the mystery quite soon

(i’ve done it before, a syntactic score

of minor import

in the larger picture, no doubt)

But a simple rhyme

ought to suffice this time

-twixt this era and another divine.

Woke up to a near-holler-heard:

“Do you know a Monk!”

(ah, that bottle of dark rum of the said nomenclature

that was a part of the previous day’s caricature resurrected as such) (and one returns here to clarify that one hadn't imbibed any, so that wasn't why!)

But what was a bit much

To comprehend

Was the visage of a monk-like

Or, rather, sage-like persona

That came into focus without any hocus-pocus

Followed by the visual of a yantra

You know, a diagram of the holy sort

All authentic, with a dot and what-not.

Just researched images of saints and monks

And believe it or not, the funk

-It was the face of Ramana Maharishi

(one barely recalls the names of individual saints and suchlike

So the coincidence was not entirely trite)

And the bio says born on 30/12 (just like me)

Though neither of us uses linkedin much as of yet

the right-hand felt the stirring of an electro-magnet

Aaj Ajmer Kee Soch (A Hindi/Urdu poem)

By V. Shruti Devi (quill-o-the-wisp)

This is one of the only two non-English poems i've written. (The other one is in Telugu: Nirnayalu (Decisions), which is on this blog...and there's an Oriya-to-English translation of one of my grandpa's Oriya lyrics which one will post here soon).

Ajmer Kee Soch was written on 30th July, 2013 in New Delhi, inspired by the daily media-tracking and analysis of the election campaign of the Pakistani politician, tribal leader and former cricketer, Imran Khan, and an earlier personal peace pilgrimage of mine to the dargah at Ajmer. (i'd posted this on my Facebook wall some time after writing it...a footnoted version is on the cards...and will tune in to watch the forthcoming India-Pak match at Eden Gardens).

AAJ AJMER KEE SOCH

Mukhtalifiyat sey

Aa pahunchey

Ek khazaaney par

Kya wakahi

Yeh

Ek khabar hai

Ya nazariyaat

Kee honee unhonee

Khwaab?

Badaltey idaarey

Adaalat kinaarey

Padee huey jamooriyat.

Junoon key zarooriyat

Ho toh aisee.

Jalsey mein phirey

Mashallah girey

Par qualm ney jashn manayee

Beshak.

Abh jashn aur bhee baaki hai

Jabh insaaniyat aur insaafiyat

Chaa jaayegee har monsoon kee gulley mein.

Tabh Jashn-e-Jannat kahengey hum.

Us mannat ko poora

Samjheyngey hum.