Express In Eight

January 2022

January 2022 -8 lines

1-1-2022
My Tomorrows

Bright-eyed hope
lit my lonely sky,
making my heart
sing like a soprano.

It brought smiles
to my sad face,
spring to my slow feet,
a large dose of delight to my future.

Prompt: A New Hope by Paula T. Cahoun

1-2-2022
Align

Align my thought and vision
no longer am I left confused.

It’s easy to recognize shapes
in the dark, deconstruct dilemmas.

No more basis for fear at night,
strangers pose no threat.

Things fall in place, the puzzle is done.
The night is calm, light’s on my world.

Prompt: “Relativity” by Sarah Howe

1-3-22
The speech

The mike was off
all of a sudden.
Stole the steam
off the speaker
that shook the
auditorium with
fire and brimstone.
Relief! an audible sigh.

Prompt: Microphone

1-4-2022
Out of the shadow

Darker the shadow
brighter the sun.
Sunlight clean sweeps
the lurking darkness.
The more I turn to light
the more I get away
from the sinister shadow
of fear, complex and self doubt.
Prompt: Shadow

1-5-2022
Via con Dios

The dark mountain
of the night before
changes to bright green
with the shiny white sky.

The last farewell is
but a joyful adieu
to a better destination
where dwells heavenly peace.

Prompt: Mountain/ Mourning

1-6-2022
Endangered

Nine o’clock traffic flowed
thick and three-fold.
Lights blinked red
traffic jammed.

Ambulance
hits speed breaker
Heart patient within
hung between breaths.

Prompt: Heavy Traffic

1-7-2022
Dainty delight

Dainty pink spaghetti straps
sat casual, cozy and soft
paired with blue denims
enhancing her prettiness.

Like a whiff of fragrant wind,
like a ray of sudden sunshine
she swept into the grey room
her joie de vivre shattered the gloom.

Prompt: Spaghetti

1-8-2022
A precise art

Typing and short hand
went hand in hand
50 words pm he needs
an art with control and speed

Soon a steno in the office
Boss’s favourite always
with precision in his finger tips
Mr. Varma rose in ranks.

Prompt: World Typing Day.

1-9-2022
Art in motion

Different bodies
moving in a single motion
arabesque, attitude, assemble
glide, pirouette, stay suspended
to the mixing of poetry and music,
showing, love lost or love found.
Choreographer, the backbone
of ballet, the supreme creator.

Prompt: International Choreographers Day - celebrates choreographers past and present

1-10-2022
In the open

When the lights went out
and a hush fell on the world,
the night opened its arms
to shelter the needy, the lonely.

Wrapped in newspapers, wherein
the rich professed equality to all,
they, on the pavements pulled their legs
up into empty bellies, slipped into a stupor,

just as a tortoise draws its limbs in,
detaching from action or emotion.

Prompt: Write an open poem.

1-11-2022
The cute little thing

My telephone is a cute red cell,
fills my day and my life I can tell.

A bridge for my connections,
of events in endless transition.

A new weapon in my arsenal
takes care of everything personal.

A feathery touch lets out music galore,
languages, nature and things I adore.

Prompt: Telephone

1-12-2022
Hilarious

Her uncommon sense of humour
had us laughing all the way
to the exam hall, tension gone,
we actually enjoyed answering.

Off the cuff she finds things to
joke about in the middle of something
serious, such as the way her high strung
neighbor shouting at a bird perching on the willow.

Prompt: Uncommon

1-13-22
Together

There is no ebb to his love
unimpeded it flows.

Never does he make it obvious
his feelings ever tender.

Freedom and faith, the vitals
help us to stay bonded.

If heaven opens its gates
we'd walk in together.
Prompt: Ebb And Flow

1-14-2022
The holy seven

Little dots, the sparkling stars
connect them in groups
with dashes short and long.
we see the constellations.

Seven stars or the Big Dipper
a unique group represents
sapta rishis, I see on starry nights,
permanent in celestial space.

Prompt: Dot....Dash---

Note-

Sapta = seven
Rishi or rushi= sage Both words are from Sanskrit.

1-15-22
Cultivation

Three cheers to my mom
for showing a way to
neighborhood women
to find financial freedom.

Her mushroom cultivation
took off, changing their state
from mere domestication
to dynamic occupation.

Prompt: Cultivation

1-16-22
From within

The resolutions I make
are all for my sake.

Let me reform from within
before attempting to win.

To switch off din and debris
I stick to a method of incredible ease

in a daily ten-minute silent
steady sitting, enjoying the calm inherent.

Prompt: Resolution

1-17-2022
To divinity

Her delineation of raga
had an enduring impact.
She shaped it like a tree
rising from the ground
growing and spreading
its branches to encompass
a whole world to rest and relax
under its cool divine shade.

Prompt: Enduring

1-19-2022
The Rodeo

The toughest of them all
the cowboy I fell in love with
survived the odds and challenges
singing his way on the road to the rodeo.

With heavens protecting him,
the stars keeping him company,
his heart and mind on the adventure
that would make him shine like a "Rhinestone Cowboy."

Prompt: The toughest Cowboy

1-21-22
Old wine...

It is fun to reinvent words
that fell out of favour
yet far from being weird,
might leave many tosticated.

now, If call a deserving person
a picaroon or a wittol
he wouldn't know what's hidden,
while I'd laugh in my sleeve.

1-22-2022
The bridge (or life)

Giant hands may
Protect or annihilate
the various creatures
aboard the bridge.

Sinners crushed,
good souls saved.
Each to his own,
destined as willed.

Prompt: Golden Bridge (Image)

1-23-22
A flash of cheer

Sudden surprise!
smiling Sunflower!
on the silent sidewalk
like a friend long lost
to gyres of time.

A touch of beauty
for a heart of bygone
brightness, a flash of cheer.

Prompt: Sunflower on the sidewalk ( photo image)

1-24-2022
Coffee

The cafe near the bus stop,
a favourite haunt for a cross
section of the town folks.

From ten in the morning it buzzes
with a thousand conversations.
Young and old with refreshing
coffee and exchange of views
make life a lot more beautiful.

Prompt: CAFÉ

1-25-2022
A sight of wonder

The farmer looked on in wonder
at his camel- tilled lands of former
desert of rolling sand and stone.

The dunes under a green coverlet
of trees, herbs and meadow grass
lent cheer and hope as he beamed
at the fields of cereals filling his eyes
with dreams of a bumper harvest.

Prompt: Wonderland

To cherish

Days and nights
spent swimming
the sea of pain and
pleasure together
saving, succoring
splitting and meeting.

Time to remember, to rejoice,
mine own years of spousal bliss.

Prompt: Spouse’s Day.1-26-2022

1-27-2022
Constant companions

We bring happiness.
We smile and say ‘hello’
dancing in the dawn breeze.

I am December born
My colours, white or violet
appeal to my dear mistress.

My sisters rose, lily, and jasmine
talk to the loving lady, everyday.

Prompt: Flowers

1-28-2022
Mellifluent

Her acumen to sing,
crossed the boundaries
of material misgivings.

Walking a path dense with
thorns, thickets and tribulations,
Lata Mangeshkar stood

atop the glorious pinnacles
of soul moving music.

Prompt: acumen

Note: Lata Mangeshkar is a living legend of Indian music.

1-29-2022
The inverted tree

Roots up, branches down
the tree of life, of spirit.
Like leaves, thoughts thicken
in endless attachments,

imprisoning the spirit.
Let me get out
of the enmeshing branches
find freedom at the top.

Prompt: Tree upside down

1-30-2022
Scintillant

There is no denying
Sunday surreality
with an otherworldly calm
sitting in the streets.

The scenic Sunday
scintillant as ever
with the sun in the east
piercing the gloom of mist.

Prompt: Scenic Sunday

1-31-2021
Just me.

I can't say good riddance
just because I lack tolerance.

I, of need move with many
I do enjoy their company.

Yet, in my heart of hearts
a longing to get away starts

to let my mind wander free,
to walk by the beautiful sea.

Prompts: good riddance/ in my heart of hearts