Dear Reader,
Are you currently at a point in your life where you find yourself parenting your own parent? You know, telling them what they should eat, how they should live, or even renounce. Keeping track of their ill-fitting beliefs, rolling out medical and nutritional advice, convinced that you have a better understanding of the world, and feeling the strong urge to protect them.
The irony of human life is this role-reversal. This subconscious becoming into someone you’ve wanted to keep on the fringes. And yet, when life offers you the part, you realise it’s tailor-made for you.
With this thought in mind, I’ve taken the plunge to join my friend and an inspiring poet, Namratha Varadharajan, for a ten-week poetry writing adventure. You may check details on her Substack page (link here). Two things that drew me to join Namrata- it’s relaxed, you have a week to write a poem; it’s guided- she holds your hand by leading you to a poet (learn from the masters) and also decodes their style for you to follow. Finally, you may be led or trail off like me. But it’s fun. I enjoyed it this week.
The poet Namrata has chosen is Ada Limón . I enjoyed reading and listening to her poems shared on Poetic Adventures with Namy. I am always eager to read and write poetry, and here’s my own feeble attempt at Limon’s Raincoat.
(This poem has been removed from the website).
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What a wonderful poetic adventure! I love your poem, so many wonderful sounds, smells and colours. I checked out Namratha’s page and this poetry adventure looks wonderful, though it might be a bit late for me to start. Thank you for introducing me to it, I may join in with a future prompt 👌🏼
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Yay! It will be wonderful to have you with us. You can join at any time. She drops a prompt every Friday. I think one must have come up yesterday.
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Thank you! 🌸
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While I am not a poet, and always find myself hunting for words to appreciate poetry, I did like how you have brought alive what I experience with my mother. Often I am so tempted to dole out advice on health and healthy living, but her positive attitude and her courage in the face of challenges makes me stop and simply wonder if I will ever be like her when I hit my seventies. 🙂
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“I awoke and saw that life was duty, I acted and behold: duty was joy.” Rabindranath Tagore
I’ve enjoyed two beautiful thoughts about life today. Thank you for one of them.
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Thank you, Lee. To know that my ordinary experience has brought something worthy and beautiful to you means so much. Thank you for talking about this post in the same frame as Tagore.
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hey Sonia,
I loved how you wrote this, the rawness of it, the content and how you put it all together. I am sure it was difficult to write but I am glad you wrote it.
I liked many lines in you poem, here is one of them
“…lie scattered
on a cobalt mat—a hundred pricking needles don’t knock
on his toes no more.”
lovely writing and thanks for joining me on this poetic adventure
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You inspire me so much with your poetry and your approach to writing. I am glad to join poetic adventures.
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Dealing with an aging parent so so hard. They need parenting, but they also need to maintain their dignity.
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You’re so right, Liz. It’s a tough walk.
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I love what you have done here, Sonia! It is wonderful when a starting point is provided, where we take it is always up to it. It also resonated because we all have elderly parents who need to be looked after like children.
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Thank you, Punam. This series is also comfortable because Namratha provides us with ample examples and breaks the writing style for us. Thanks for reading:)
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I can imagine. Wishing you strength as you manage all of it.
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Thank you.
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Real and raw and very well constructed, Sonia. “Edginess hid behind clouds all night / It’s a patch of ground beneath my feet now. ” – I liked how those lines brought pause.
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Thank you, Rajani. It’s one of the more difficult poems to own and write.
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