#NaPoWrimo Day 3; #AtoZChallenge Day 3. I almost missed this one. It was a difficult prompt for me and I’ll say it’s been a feeble attempt. So, how were we nudged!
The poem today is a Spanish form called a “glosa” – literally a poem that glosses, or explains, or in some way responds to another poem. The idea is to take a quatrain from a poem that you like, and then write a four-stanza poem that explains or responds to each line of the quatrain, with each of the quatrain’s four lines in turn forming the last line of each stanza. Traditionally, each stanza has ten lines, but don’t feel obligated to hold yourself to that!
Of course, I have quite a few favourites and picking one was tough. Once I’d made my choice, the ghost of the original poem refused to leave, making it tougher to for me to respond. At a point I decided to use an old poem of mine for the day, but then, the spirit of the challenge grabbed me. And here is my response to a lovely poem by Indian poet Arundhati Subramaniam, whose poetry workshop has been on my list for a while now (it’s a little steep, and in a retreat I can’t afford to go to for a year at least). So, someday.
The poem that inspires me to try the Glosa is ‘Prayer’. I choose to call mine CHILD for now.
May nothing be disturbed
in the simplest place you know
for it is here in the foetal rush
that blueprints dissolve
***********************
You are three again
A tiny floret tethered to the earth
Your matted mane the only
bane of my existence
I fasten your braids with butterfly clips.
May nothing be disturbed.
***********************
Today I remember
the games we played
A cavalry ready to charge
Your quiet slipping
behind squeaky doors, hiding
in the simplest place you know.
**********************
When saplings aren’t young trees
And bobhead dolls
the only family heirloom
they care about
Life is spent daydreaming
for it is in the foetal hush
******************
You aren’t three anymore
Memories walk barefoot
on quicksand
Squeaky doors hide no more
Silences are mythical beings
that blueprints dissolve
Well, I missed ten lines and it still needs a lot of work. But for now I’ll wait for the next prompt. Meanwhile, here is the original poem for you.
This post is part of #BlogchatterA2Z and the #AtoZChallenge
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This is a completely new format for me . Thank you for introducing me to this.
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Glad about that!
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How beautiful these lines, “Silences are mythical beings
that blueprints dissolve”
I did not find this a feeble attempt at all. You have done justice to the form and I must thank you for introducing it to me 🙂
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Thank you for stopping by💐💐
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Thanks for introducing a new form of poetry, Sonia. Your lines were.. To me, each line seemed like a single poem. Your words stay with me for long.
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Thanks for sharing a new form of poetry with us. You have done full justice to it and written it beautifully.
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The poem by Arundhathi is beautiful and your response, equally beautiful. This was a treat. I have goosebumps. Thank you 🙂
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I didn’t understand the format, to be honest, but it’s a lovely poem.
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It is certainly a very difficult form of protection.but I do think you have done complete justice to it
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This is such a beautiful poem! If this is feeble and I’ll be in in awe of your strong attempt 🙂
Loved these two lines specifically,
“Memories walk barefoot
on quicksand”
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I think you’re being too hard on yourself Sonia. This poem read as it’s written–the beatings of a mother’s heart.
Loved this:
Memories walk barefoot
on quicksand
The ever-changing landscape of children growing up couldn’t have been captured better.
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This is such a unique way of writing a poem. I can write a poem but lack such creativity.
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Memories walking barefoot on quick sand… this thought is so original, so you Sonia.
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The poem is lovely and evocative of a small child’s world view. I was happy to learn something new, since I didn’t know what a glosa is.
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