Day Twenty-seven at NaPoWriMo and it gets no better! First the optional prompt that I decided to go with. The challenge is to write a “duplex.” A “duplex” is a variation on the sonnet, developed by the poet Jericho Brown. Here’s one of his first “Duplex” poems, and here is a duplex written by the poet I.S. Jones. Like a typical sonnet, a duplex has fourteen lines. It’s organized into seven, two-line stanzas. The second line of the first stanza is echoed by (but not identical to) the first line of the second stanza, the second line of the second stanza is echoed by (but not identical to) the first line of the third stanza, and so on. The last line of the poem is the same as the first.
I’ve been listening to a beautiful poem for the past few days. It’s titled ‘Keep Yourself at the Beginning of the Beginning’ by poet Hannah Emerson. This poem inspired me to talk about myself/ourselves. Microcosms in a huge universe and at the same time we are our own universe. A beautiful amalgamation of small i and capital I. Hence the title. I borrowed this i vs I from a little sentence I heard in a podcast about the self. Made me think of the small and the capital. I don’t know if I’ve been successful in conveying my thoughts. Well, we will find out. Here we go!
We’re centres of our own worlds
Tiny i-s of a hypothetical universe
Inflated I-s of an imagined cosmos
We’re all wilful shape-shifters
Shifting between everything & nothing
The amorphous brilliance of our living
Our glittering small lives lit up
By the stolen kisses of our big I-s
There’s delight in kissing the self
A deep joy in knowing we’re naught
A deeper joy in being alive
Knowing we’re also the entirety
A coherent whole of welded i-s
We’re centres of our own worlds
***
What do you think? Do let me know in the comments below.
This post is part of BlogchatterA2Z
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A Hundred Quills 
What a way to encompass our big self and our smaller self and place it inside and outside the cosmos. This one made me sigh in relief and joy.
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So glad Suchita💐
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“Our glittering small lives lit up
By the stolen kisses of our big I-s”
Such gorgeous lines, Sonia!
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Thank you Punam💐
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You are welcome.
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Shifting between everything & nothing
The amorphous brilliance of our living
Such beautiful lines
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Thank you. So appreciate your being here.
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“A coherent whole of welded i-s
We’re centres of our own worlds” isn’t that the whole philiosophy of Hinduism??
wonderful take on the prompt Sonia!
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Yes! Thank you Harshita💐
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“Shifting between everything & nothing
The amorphous brilliance of our living
Our glittering small lives lit up
By the stolen kisses of our big I-s”
Such beautiful lines and reminders. I’m mesmerized by the feeling these lines instill in me.
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Amorphous living …oscillating between nothing and everything. Bfully done. I re read all lines again
Dropping by from a to z “The Pensive”
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Thank you 💐
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Well I think this is phenomenal!! So good, Sonia. What loveliness. I mean it wholeheartedly. And I’ll try to read that book you mention. Wow. Thanks so much. 🙏 💗 adored this. XoXo
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Thank you Selma. This means so much. I’ve been unsure of this poem, feeling a little slip between the cup and the lip. So your comment means a lot. Thank you.
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Trust yourself. You don’t need to conform to a form. Be you. The lovely soul you are. Xoxo but in this duplex you rocked it ma’am hats off to you! Love your voice. Xoxo
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I was particularly struck by these lines:
Our glittering small lives lit up
By the stolen kisses of our big I-s
There’s delight in kissing the self
A deep joy in knowing we’re naught
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Liz I loved the stolen kisses part too. Gave myself a pat on the back for it😅😅
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😀
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Sonia, this is absolutely fantastic! Love it 💕🙂
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Thank you Harmony. I appreciate 💐
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