the prompt is giving voice to the inanimate or writing a persona poem. the prompt is given by writer’s digest. visit writers digest for more exciting prompts and daily prompts for April month.
here is my attempt-
I was your best mate back then now you have i think forgotten me not a day went by without thee now I’m waiting for you to hold me
the keyboard, touch screen, are your new buddies why, is it me or you, that has changed you still come back, on days unwarned I’m happy to welcome you with open arms
when you are unable to form words when your heart aches even in brightly lit room when you need an escape yet a familiar touch you come back to me for I help you express
I do not ask you, to only look at me but do come back often Chris for I miss thee;
-your half filled blue pen
It is so fun people, do give it a try and leave the link to your poems in the comments. i would love to read them. Happy Writing!!
Touch me not for i shall sore away with the winds of north venture not to hold me for i intend to flow all the way from mountains to seas discover every inch of earth’s mystery
watch from a distance for i shall dissipate soon when our eyes cross and your breathing does somersault a mysterious force pulls you across all in the name of nincompoop heart
I saw the moon through the fire, and it shimmered, wavered, as a delicate painting, remembering the poem i first read this marvel in. While my father explained how this is due to different refractive index of air, cold and hot above the blazing fire. From which our attention was diverted to my sister’s constant foot tapping, for she wanted to go home and wash her funny coloured face( just holi things). Hence we moved towards home, before reaching encountered another story by my brother, that it is barred to go the basement of apartment building after 8’o clock. And a natural ‘why ‘ left my mouth, to which he revealed that there lives a ghost there- called momo. I wondered what was more funny, the ghost called momo or his belief on it.
Happy Holika Dahan or Choti Holi everyone.
To those who don’t know, Holika Dahan is an indian festival, marking the victory of belief in god, that one’s faith in the higher power prevails above all worldly powers. And evil burns itself in the pursuit of harming others. Happy Holika Dahan again!
ज़िन्दगी के सफ़र में गुज़र जाते हैं जो मकाम वो फिर नहीं आते वो फिर नहीं आते
फूल खिलते हैं लोग मिलते हैं फूल खिलते हैं लोग मिलते हैं
मगर पतझड़ में जो फूल मुरझा जाते हैं वो बहारों के आने से खिलते नहीं कुछ लोग एक रोज़ जो बिछड़ जाते हैं वो हजारों के आने से मिलते नहीं उम्र भर चाहे कोई पुकारा करे उनका नाम वो फिर नहीं आते…
The moments that you pass in the journey of life don’t return never return
flowers bloom people meet they bloom they meet
the flowers which die in the fall don’t bloom again with spring people who one day we part from they don’t return with arrival of thousands even when for a lifetime one calls their name
my attempt at translation
listen to the song once while reading.
Zindagi k Safar me, music by RD Burman, singer- Kishore Kumar, lyrics- Anand bakshi
I don’t usually share songs, but this song, ‘Zindagi k Safar me’ got me hooked. Maybe it’s the simple, pleasant music of RD Burman, the melodious voice of Kishore da or the beautiful lamenting lyrics by Anand Bakshi. My better guess is the harmony of all, enchants you. What is surprising is, there is no other fantasy world they are talking about, where you fly and have superpowers or a perfect escape for our anxious generation. Rather it presents life in the bare face of it, that things that pass do not return, like the flowers which fell in autumn. It doesn’t advice to cherish people because of uncertainties or tries to console you continuously. It merely states the fact, some people shall leave you, you may try to make them stay, you may succeed and sometimes you don’t. This is what it is, it is past you now.
garden flowers staring in the sky, dancing with the wind to a beautiful song
I think my journey with this song is, initially listening with a sorrowful heart and singing the lyrics as a lament to, acceptance and enjoying the melody with a calm and light one, and saving the song as the best slice-of-life i came across.
Any more good songs you would like to suggest, I am all ears!
And it all seemed better if not beautiful Once i changed the lens;
Before was all a hazy blur of despair, confusion and sense of loss. Which gave to a hope of solution, change and new.
If you are stuck in a spot, unable to change anything. Try changing your lens to the world. It would not vanish problems but definitely provide ways and a better understanding.
“Azaleas”are often used as symbolic gestures in art and literature to interpret important thoughts to the readers, poets, viewers, people of art, to gain their affection. A way to express our love and devotion towards someone.
The flower azalea is the best expression to express emotions whether being love, sad, remorse, the metaphorical meaning of the flower is deep and complete in itself, that one can adore it for a lifetime, -“symbols of fragile love that can still fail to blossom and turn into something long-lasting”; “symbol of abundance and plenty”; “flower from the past.” “passion and feelings of attraction towards someone you like.”
“If you would go, Tiring of me, Nothing will I say… Tread gently On my azaleas Where the path is decked…” – Azaleas, Kim Sowol
We get this term while exploring the work of Kim Sowol, a modern-Korean poet, who beautifully emphasised love, emotions, kindness through his poetry and collecting it under the title “azaleas”- it is considered a poem with the spirit of self-giving and selfless endurance of a beautiful but desperate love based on the oriental notion of being resigned to fate at the same time.
진달래꽃
나 보기가 역겨워,
가실 때에는,
말없이 고이 보내드리오리다.
영변에 약산)
진달래꽃
아름 따다 가실 길에 뿌리오리다.
가시는 걸음 걸음
놓인 그 꽃을
사뿐히 즈려 밟고 가시
옵소서 나 보기가 역겨워
, 가실 때에는
죽어도 아니 눈물 흘리오리다.
Azaleas
Even if you leave,
being tired of me,
Meekly, I would let you go without a murmur.
On Mt. Yaksan, Yeongbyeon,
Picking an armful of azaleas,
I would scatter them on your path.
With every step you take,
please tread on the flowers
to your heart's content.
Even if you leave,
being tired of me,
I would never ever shed tears.
Reading kim sowol
Kim Sowol, a Beloved Poet of Korea. He is commonly called by his pen name “Sowol,” which he used for his published works. Despite his rather short-lived life of 33 years, he is considered a national poet who expressed the sentiments of Koreans through a most Korean-style voice, and conveyed the sorrow of Koreans and the agony of intellectuals during a dark period in Korean history under Japanese rule. With about 150 poems he left, Sowol and his poems have constantly been beloved by Koreans across generations.
It captures a plethora of emotions-feelings that could be spark of new love, anguish and despair for losing one’s beloved or about one’s nation and capture of peaceful nature-expressed in the rhythm tune of a children’s verse. It arouses the fundamental cycle of inherent solitude and sorrow, and the life and death of all creation through the flowers and birds in the mountains.
Most of So-wol Kim’s poems focus on the topics of life, parting and death of loved ones, and of loss of country. The poet especially dwells on the profound and willing resistance of Korea and its people who had not been able to stand up to the horrible tragedy that emanated from and was forced upon them by Japan. His poems are characterized by their emphasis on the negative and sad emotions of human strife that are revealed through various life situations. However, the poet instills in his works a sense of hope, elaborating on the willingness to transcend and overcome these trying and obsessively morose sentiments and situations.
sowol’s azalea inspired portrait made by google
It gives dramatic configurations and gestures, thus allowing the reader to feel a more genuine sense of emotional expression. He also uses a conversational approach in his writings which, when combined with a cultural backdrop gives his poetry more realism.
There is evidently a lot to explore in his poems and a second read is always engaging it provokes to contemplate emotions underlying those phrases. Very aesthetically and creatively he frames the feelings of love and loss at same time, and the subject matter of his poems stands relatively unchallenging at surface, this rich essence is appreciative and frustrating togetherly and is also the source of his poetry which stands widely acclaimed.
On the surface they appear very simple and outspoken but when it comes to describing them, it is a hard task as one confronts the dilemma, how to enunciate the aesthetic qualities of a poem, making it akin to its original feelings, the articulation of both traditional and modern ideas.
Legacy of Kim Sowol Work
There stands a wide legacy of his work being adapted and reformed in various ways and retold in numerous manner the most recent stands in the Korean sitcom “The King: Eternal Monarch” his verses are being captured. Many of the Korean Classical songs are written from his poems, even pop-version of the same have been created. His work is widely read around the globe and has been translated in various languages making it around more than 600 edition.The sense of rich knowledge of love and emotions are never so strong in poems as his works embody.
During the late 80’s and onwards many of his poems were used as songs and it made huge success records at global level.
kim sowol’s collections
Just sowol
Kim sowol, or dearly known as sowol, is one of the rare poets, without whom modern korean poetry can not be wholly understood. sowol poured his life, reality and desperation, unmasked, a feat that many poets aren’t able to. as his greatest work azaleas, depicts the confluence of oneness and separation, love and longing, all at once, the extremes meeting at some point in the words of sowol. He himself dwindled on extremes in his life, fame and destruction. his early life started with record breaking works and awards, whereas the late years of his 33 year old went in despair. the desperation, confusion and overwhelmed state all are depicted beautifully in his one and only collection- azaleas.
He has not been a favourite of critics, as david mccahan says, “literature as symptom,cause or cure”, sowol expressed the cause, the grief, the pain at best but he never looked for a cure. his most renowned poetry “melancholy laments, with beautifully constructed lyrics”. while his contemporary Kim Ok, the only literary figure who knew sowol more than his words, praises him for his determination to experiment korean in its purest form. While during the 20th century, most were experimenting foreign literature and style, Sowol continued with korean.
One thing sowol never became was forgotten, with various journals publishing his stories after he left seoul, awards after his death, books on modern poetry not starting without sowol and still azalea winning hearts. He lives beyond his time.
References
McCann, David R. “The Meanings and Significance of So Wŏl’s “Azaleas”.” The Journal of Korean Studies 6 (1988): 211-28. Accessed March 11, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41490202.
This post has been in written in collaboration with Harshul Singh, a hopeless romantic, searching the forgotten, rare gems of literature. Visit his blog for more.
life stories by christin 