Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Invitation to the book launch of Earth Republic

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

An invitation to the event connected to my non-fiction book...do invite your friends in Delhi to attend!

Join me at the Constitution Club of India for the book lunch 2018

Saturday, January 20, 2018

Roll out the Shutdown

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

Roll out the Shutdown

Now to merge
the priorities
of the anti-nuclear concerns
with the seemingly
extreme
feminist voices

This is where
the government shut-down
will be met
by law and order
and
emergency services
and
the like.

Night-sky dreamer,
blue-river gazer.
Cool wind seeker,
bird-whistle-caller
bone-cruncher
rainbow-puffer
dragon-breather
star-craving evangelist
of the 'chines

This is where we rev
the carousel.

Joyride, dizzy-side, merry-go-round
Realms to mists and vapour-sound

Been there, done that,
on a miniature scale
A whiff, a shift of the invisible veil

Micron, neutron, tandav rock
Ballets at a chalet in a pista-green frock
__ Spirit __

The lil book on Estonian Birds and Animals
fluffs its feathers
_trunk calling.

Ducks and geese march past the skies
zapping cyberspace's Natgeo face

No nuclear power-plant
No Russian dollars
Edu-zone, health-zone, rainbow collars.

Solar grid-spots, ancient ports.
Subterranean disturb-me-nots.
__ The bejewelled Earth __

Dress rehearsals- time was
Earth hour, power hour
Lights on
and a semi flip-flop to the emerging world agenda!

Saturday, December 09, 2017

Announcing Deep Wood Trance by V. Shruti Devi

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

A link to a facebook album
a sneak preview
of my work of fiction

non-commercial
artefact

many scenes, one act
-that's the pact

FYI, readers, pleaders, go surf
Here's a link to the Facebook turf!

Monday, September 25, 2017

The Crest

ad altiora
nitimur. close meaning to
allah hu akbar

(please note, I sometimes drift into dialects)

Sunday, September 24, 2017

Dassehra Diary Global Day 3


autumn equinox
happy birthday #brucespringsteen
this, too, is haiku

cakes and cloches, stands.
simultanelously: court
-same-sex mariage -yanks!

clarenceclemons gone
hand-woven jazz towel shored up
-UN concert's on

Saturday, September 23, 2017

'Haiku: It's Still Day 2 somewhere on Day 3


Deep-fried McCain bites
-a health-food coincidence
Not. Arizona preached, drew?!

Meanwhile, Hilary's
Shakespearean cosmonaut dress
creates waves on air


Thursday, September 21, 2017

Haiku from Trilochan Enclave (First day of Dasara 2017)

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

Bruce Springsteen: BS
Campbell, a country singer
rescues Bruce Brothers

My Amazon cart
holds a book by Bruce Campbell,
published by UC

On the death anniv
of Annie Besant, CP
(into Theosphical)

literature, i see
Isis Unveiled, duo-gy
reading list for we

Autumn Equinox
public-sector energy
spiritually








Saturday, August 19, 2017

A Clue to a Book Review

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

i don't mean to flog
a dead horse
but
those reading verse
might wish
to hop across
to my political blog
at shrutidevi.blogspot
to take a dekko
at
my reco
(and other commentaries)
- a series
on
#brucesprungsteen's
book
#borntorun

go on, then,
what-are-you-waiting-for!

Wednesday, April 05, 2017

trip around starlight

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


and so on and so forth.
 

Just to be clear:

It’s always the next day somewhere

Unless you’re talking realms.

And then it’s all irrelevant

anyway.



Almost.



That said,

in terms of

the experiential

and the variously interpreted

existential

across

space and time…….



Infinite avenues of conjecture

Could make for a freezer-full

of nintendogames

or whatever they’re called these days.

Blog it, flog it, or just slog it.



Alternatively,

talk straight

into my charms

if any



Which brings me

to an old billy joel number this time

and I’ll cherry-pick

for the line

that points out

that one

essentially

wakes up

with one’s self.



Clones and spirits,

memories and verse

Interesting clues

to one’s retrospectively viewed

universe



Shadow-boxing

at the grandest scale

-which the river

And whither the vale



Honesty

the virtue

that doth  prevail.












Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Network Earth and Beyond

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

from my facebook wall of today:

another pome
this time from home
from me in india
(and to the reading non-english-speaking enthusiasts:
please don't rely on my grammar and spelling...
in these abstractly-rendered
yellings - or typings - or whatever).


so the day will dawn earlier
on earth
than on the hearth
at number sixteen
the first time the white house's seen
a recce by the non-political class
-top brass
soon to step in
to slightly diminished flipflops
but hawaiis nevertheless
even on a cold day

no problem with the heating?
and one hears they'll be greeting
      at the front door all ready
and waiting....
(thanks, jackie, for the interior decoration tips
from continuity to continuity
and from your aristocratic trips
before the advent of
modern-day veganism
and other political correctnesses!)
(ye olde worlde order definitionally subverted by now!)

and now for the gems:
legal opinion handed over
in tech-bound poetry
no less
that's how it is
at this esteemed appointment-house
your highness

article two, section one, clause eight
wait, wait!
this be the american constitution
(hereby nonchalantly claim one's expertise
and string thou on with researched ease)

(bung in the quasi federalness of our fast-expanding empire
and you get the big picture)

so twixt the land of the star-spangled banner
and the dharti-asmaan-zameen-antarix and beyond
of hamara bharat mahan
overlaps
the spirit of our
constitutions

key differences:
the harmonious one first:

you are free to join us,
we pirouette and/or stand at ease
and go nowhere,
but do assimilate.
so that sorts out
the secession bit.
no conflict, cando.

then, the bit on secularism.
ahem.
we provide the option of solemnly swearing, or swearing in the name of god
(for heaven's sake!)
whereas
you folks
forsake the holy joey bit
and insist on rubber (god in punjabi, i gather from a daler mehdi song).
(though one of your chappies did throw in a bit about an almighty
no record of it, i'm afraid
and just as well
in terms of garnering all-round
common minimum consensus

fair enough
for governance
and so we co-operate
-in the name of bizness?!-

bring on the magic oath!

to preserve, protect and defend
the Spirit
of our Constitutions
on Earth
and beyond!

One Love: i, me, myself!

(now you know what to amend)
or slip in at the end
:)

Addendum a few hours later:
Socialism is inherently implied, you seeeeeee

Sunday, January 15, 2017

punjab elections and other matters (poem)

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

the latest from my facebook wall!

(written after having surfed my twitter feed, and on having read a snippet or two of india-news connected to my party and punjab elections; an elocution competition, and other news from punjab, as far as the beginning of the poem goes)

punjab elections and other matters (poem)

be it elocution, be it politishun, i have the script, jee.
it shall be read, and we might win instead
and if not, we'll try for a less beastly scene...
esp since shru recited
a fairy went a-marketing
but that was in class teen!
no bourgeois responses to this, please
i would
rather prefer
an appeal to the atmosphere
to retrieve me lost poetry book, cloth-bound
(from giggles, those days, not archies)
and perhaps even the unlocatable book that grates
the one with poetry
that was written
after the one about the golden gates!
(sourced from gal-go-tia's those days)
-a part of a prize
which reminds me of wright
and so
coincidences
of things lost; literature (read and created)
and the deity
and fest
in
AP
where the belief is that you go there if you've lost something.
so a magnifying glass, and a microscope and a telescope
and a few ayes
would
do
to regain
paradise! (chronicles of empire)

Thursday, January 12, 2017

Allegation/s (and another poem)

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

Two bits of verse that i just wrote on facebook:

Allegation/s (a poem)
another poem
close on the heels of the one i just wrote
(it was a facebook update that turned into imitated synctactic verse)....
automatedly.

now:
just to state a few seemingly obvious stances:
if people in one's immediate surroundings
deliberately attempt to indulge in devious methods of communication
(like i said, immediate surroundings being: while in one's presence)
and do so with no explanations
(and one isn't talking about artistic communication among friends, or small children who might unconsciously imitate adult behaviour), or about when linguistic forensics skills are called into play while reading or writing works of any kind (such literature is analysed as and when relevant, if at all).
but about those either deliberately mirroring (and/or stonewalling) one,
or deliberately, and, without explanation or preface, exhibiting random behaviour, (most often, to one's detriment), then there is definitely cause to doubt aspects of integrity at some level or the other.
usually with petty origins.
(more specifically, check my facebook note on Day 1, Dasara 2016).
they do so at their own peril.


................................................................................


dear those sending me linkedin invites!
a politician can't really have work contacts, that's conflict of interest.
even when one doesn't actually hold a post.
that's been my policy so far.
everyone's a social contact....
and nothing 'matlabi' or selfish about it
if/when we're on the same page
ie
supporting the goal of achieving world peace
via good governance.
my loss, your gain
as always
(at a personal level).
inter-galactically, no doubt,
we rule!
(no points for guessing who hogs the credit,
not me, so far).

...the attainment of which is not an ego-need,
but its a logistical nightmare
when appropriate credit isn't accorded
and causes and effects are misinterpreted
or not factored in, to use parlance

Saturday, December 24, 2016

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

Sunday, October 16, 2016

"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?!


Thursday, August 04, 2016

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

Sunday, June 19, 2016

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.



Friday, June 17, 2016

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

Sunday, June 12, 2016

#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




Wednesday, March 16, 2016

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.

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

HAPPY DEEPAVALLI

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

happy divali! wrote this today, and posted it with images on my facebook wall. :).

HAPPY DEEPAVALLI (A POEM)
This year, i thought i'd order
a solar lamp
here at the border
'tween orissa and andhra.
liberty lamp seemed an apt moniker
of all the products
i'd viewed
online
(e-commerce, i tell you!)
-holds solutions for consumers
once our rights
are put in line.
the lamp arrived and stood in the sun
soaked in celestial light for fun
and perhaps for a little spark.
the candle-mode, 
it works ok
the brighter look
is more of a solar flare.
i'm all for solar grids, you see
mainstream-plus
but in the meantime
this liberty lantern
works
for drink and dine.
has a hand-crank as 
the literature says.
USB ports and other ways
to charge your phones, computers, all.
in-bound, out-bound
the wherewithal
to work on starlight
and dispel
the darkest hour.
Oh, well.
here are two images
but there'll still be
a finer power:
radio-waves
might charge our shells
hi-fi, sci-fi, not quite what you think:
don't have to mine 
don't have to quarry
-that's primitive tech
for this scientific age.
we have advanced
it's not restricted
to the world
of postage
or daily wage
here's the irony:
science has the answers
technology's lagging behind
and i suspect it's to do with the sponsors
ie 
the possible
cluelessness 
of those who plan the economy
-makes for a deadly combination
with 
the corrupts (sic) of the nations
and beyond.
Anyway,
happy diwali, all!
-let there be light.
(infact, there shall).
My travels begin on the morrow
and i'll see you soon!