The Golden Parade of the Pharaohs

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

The Golden Parade of the Pharaohs

Enthralled, wonderstruck

Surreal

Across eras, across time, space

As riverborne dried fish

variously paraded

Glittering nocturnal

swished back

and henceforth

On the cliff of a new era

Beasts of benevolence

Humans must

Or the Passionate will.

A poem by V. Shruti Devi

20th April, 2021

Another Poem, Another Rhyme

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

Another Poem, Another Rhyme

(By V. Shruti Devi, 19th April, 2021, keyed into Facebook earlier the same day)

some sort of

dining table

will be got

once the stinking initial matter

of the changing of the false ceiling

is sorted.

just like

one part of addressing another issue

is

to at least

Fire

an accused

within your area of influence

rule of law doesn't mean running to the cops or courts all the time

and that does not imply extra-judicial acts either.

On Notice, however,

as far as the consideration of Supreme Legal steps go

as well as 'underdog'-centric labour reform

in the realm of unorganized labour

and rights of employer-inmates

aaah! Rooo! SHE (the people)

Composed on Facebook

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

Composed on Facebook

(A poem by V. Shruti Devi, 18th April, 2021)

weird-angle solutions

translations

of khaas (cough ; special)

and we haven't yet got to

mispronounced

all this

from my fleeting thoughts

on fragments from the philosophy

of mathematics

then there's gaaro-khaasi-jayantia

the hills and surrounding circuses

look-alikes, talk-alikes, proxies, would've beens,

                                                    could've beens

defenders of the faith

of the goodness of humans, that's known

and beyond, it's probably about

defending the hypnosis

that concretizes

a reality

vaccines

hex-in

psychosomatic

antidote

a phantom cigarette's

a good-enough smoke!

V. Shruti Devi

18th April, 2021

Earth

WELL-REHEARSED: A HAIKU BY SHRU

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

Cougheth you, Corfu?

Blaze of glory, that's my story

Khaas log, Indralok

Purple Reign (an illustrated poem by V. Shruti Devi)

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

Purple Reign

Hitched knots

Macrame curtains

Mah crummy

reign

Purple

Dips

and reefs

Plumes

of the unpublished

Make it

to ink.

V. Shruti Devi

15th April, 2021, Gurugram, NCR India

Published on Facebook, and soon after, on this blog.

Watch this space for references and footnotes uploaded as and when ideas come to mind!

A Leaf Out Of The Rashtra Panchang

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

"A Leaf Out Of The Rashtra Panchang"

a stelluim reigns in aquarius

Pallas meteor

Enter Social Media

gather forces, electric

Solar toons

Cartoons

Ascendant, resplendent, zirconian knight

human-made, synthetic, we will fight!

A poem by V. Shruti Devi, 8th Feb., 2021, first keyed into Facebook

Rambo

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

Only a bemused curl

In response

To barrages

Of turn-of-phrase

Correctors

and other total malpaprops.

A Read, a read, a reed, even

Calling Upon.

(excuse me, the clarion-thought didn't even occur, so we take it upon ourselves to tweak excelsior)

Really, this ought to be an annotated end-note,

guv'nor

Explainer

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

contextual use

or

just a slip

or perhaps 

hacking, phishing

-the drift-

rewind, unwind

banal, anal

who renounces

who denounces

say what, say whee

say aye

such the context

so the clip

(18th January, 2021...keyed into this site for this blog right now, IST).

V Shruti Devi #unitedbybooks @ShrutiDevi on Twitter

Van, Meaning Forest (a poem) OR Pro Bono, On The Whole

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

van halen's gone

some don

van heusen's mask

a wolfgang's forlorn

a hay mushroom basks

busking in subways

we travesrse the stars

plexi shield towers

held

to nano-parts

as they're dancin and shakin

we're playing with our hearts

and other organs

the present continuous

all set

to tune

into the runes

our devices!

By V. Shruti Devi

7th October, 2020, The Fort, Kurupam, India

(First written and posted on my Facebook wall a few minutes ago)

Like

Comment

Share

Balcony Book Event

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

Hi!

This is to share with you, Youtube links to a ten-part reading of my novel, Deep Wood Trance.

I read out the book, interspersed with bits of conversation, to a Live Facebook Audience during India's ongoing 21-day Corona Virus lockdown, and through the Easter Weekend.

These are free to access, do share the readings with others, and it would be great if you could help get this across as an entertainment-resource to those who are visually impaired as well, thanks!

(p.s. note added on 29th April, 2020: the final video has temporarily been removed, in order to edit out ambient sights and sounds).

Shruti

Video #1 of Deep Wood Trance by V. Shruti Devi

Video #2 of Deep Wood Trance by V. Shruti Devi

Video #3 of Deep Wood Trance by V. Shruti Devi

Video #4 of Deep Wood Trance by V. Shruti Devi

Video #5 of Deep Wood Trance by V. Shruti Devi

Video #6 of Deep Wood Trance by V. Shruti Devi

Video #7 of Deep Wood Trance by V. Shruti Devi

Video #8 of Deep Wood Trance by V. Shruti Devi

Video #9 of Deep Wood Trance by V. Shruti Devi

Video #10 of Deep Wood Trance by V. Shruti Devi

A video recording of me reading the first chapter from my novel, Deep Wood Trance

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

A video recording of me reading the first chapter from my novel, Deep Wood Trance

This was live on Facebook about an hour ago, and has also been uploaded onto my Youtube channel, enjoy!

Deep Wood Trance, 1st Chapter being read out by my, the author, V. Shruti Devi

Echoes, Patterns

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

demonic laughter

from a LAF corridor

essential services

public purposes

well met

I think not

spaceweather

gammarays

corona

expressways

a comet

a nebula

a web of connectivity

interstate consciousness

Dimensions

Ascensions

recede, secede, rollback

an upward spiral

a rail-way track

Video clips of me reading out poems from my book, Ad Altiora Nitimur

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

Sharing, here, brief video clips of me reading out some of my poems at various locations

Act Something, Scene Somethingortheother

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

US-Talib deal
signed in Doha
a doha, a couplet

neeli jheel,
big deal

the big picture

(music rises)

a lake, a reservoir

what a fall

easter weekend
in progress

this leap year

(happy b'day, late great grandma)

Goodbye, Sam, Hello NY! 

(too vain, too too vain!)

Links to Ad Altiora Nitimur by V Shruti Devi

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

Hi!

Thrilled to let you all know that Ad Altiora Nitimur will be exhibited at the Public Library Association's annual event in Nashville, TN, USA, from the 26th to the 28th of February, 2020, in the Combined Book Exhibit stall.

It will also be at the London book Fair from the 10th -12th of March, 2020*
[* The LBF 2020 stands cancelled because of the Corona Virus. Update inserted on 6th March, 2020]

The following is a link to buy the book internationally via Amazon.com:

Ad Altiora Nitimur on Amazon.com

The link for buyers in India is as follows:

Ad Altiora Nitimur for buyers in India

To view free video clips of me (the poet) reading out some of the poems from the book from various locations, visit my youtube channel, "Shruti Devi"

Shruti Devi on youtube

Book of Poetry- a quick announcement

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

Dear Readers,

It is now thirteen years since I launched this blog!

I'm in the process of having a hard bound book published, entitled Ad Altiora Nitimur.

The book contains new end-notes and a Preface that I've written over the past few months. I've also edited some of the poems for the book. This is the First Edition of the book.

Will announce the listings for Ad Altiora Nitimur as soon as the Hard Cover version is ready.

I look forward to responses from readers,

With best wishes,

V. Shruti Devi

(This blog will continue) :)

updated on 15th Jan. 2020 to say there is a paperback as well as hard-bound...will make a formal announcement and add links soon!

U2

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


the fifteenth of December
Pro Bono Mecca
Rootie, Mogave!


(an attempt at haiku)

Sartorial

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

the latest, most updated
papers
don't really get around
till almost the end
wrt
parliamentary proceedings

perhaps a reason
why
one's got arbitrarily selective
with what one reads
via the websites

can't claim to have read
the historic
J&K Bill

but was it possible
for hearts to have skipped beats
and lawyered up
at prospects
(whatever those might be)

And RIP, Sushma Swaraj
of the BJP
a politician
with many good qualities
...didn't know her personally
but she lived
on our lane once
and I believe my sartorial
creations (and sportings)
had ripple effects
(in this case: sleeveless jackets with sarees and elan)

quite a role model!

Notes from the Trail- 3

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

when you're fighting
for the last person

or persons

and that could well be
yourself,

then it counts.

every tradeoff
takes on Meaning

The all-pervasisve 'security'
(read: surveillance and manipulation
even)

sometimes justified
I guess

such as various branches of cops
routinely calling
to check
The Candidate's nighthalt

so you hop onto an Open Vehicle of an Assembly hopeful in a town
(that creature of the Andhra polls at least- a Prachara Ratham
all decked up, flag-permissions, mike-permission, vehicle-permissions et al)
(never mind that the local doer found the worst, probably by-mistake photoshopped snap of you
to affix on the said chariot)

Unlike almost onescore years ago
when one ducked wires, campaigning....

Almost (here, I exaggerate re times past), twoscore years ago,
one ducked branches, commuting

On this town's bylane, a momentarily crouching candidate,
Sweeping foliage above
And in no time, a routine call from
The Special Branch!

Just a coincidence
for sure