General

At the end
my journey begins
At sunset
the soul’s path
Hope’s music shelters terror
Bandstand beginnings

The person I see in the mirror is not me.

It hurts that I’ve lived with this stranger for so long

In my bandstand of dreams, the shadows grow long
Who am I, and who must I be?
What do I want, and what wants me most?
The darkness hungers! It pines for my soul! For all hope to fail; and to fill it with despair

Why not now?!
Take me or leave me!
I am tired!
This haunting-
It devours and rots within
Savours my demise

I trudge a world of billions
And yet my journey is lonely
Round each bend there is no end
The road goes on
And evil stalks my every step
A scrape on gravel
A snap of twig
Coarse
Brazen
Nightmares closer than dreams

The…

Stray me darling
dye me purple, dare
to swerve me
slowly from the grooves
of being common.

I vow to giggle
madly with the moon
to talk to trees at dusk
to follow you
away, away — astray
from the rooted furrows of
our norms.

Today De hosts the Quadrille at dVerse, the word is groove (or groovy). The quadrille has 44 words exactly and has to contain the given word as part of the poem itself.

September 6, 2021

I believed I knew myself
every line mapped, every vein marked
the bumps and the dips, all accounted for
burnished and buffed for the world to see
then you came into my life
the “I” you showed me
is so different
I look into the mirror again
and trace the contours of my face
trying to find what you see in me
your fingertips, as they trail over my soul,
reveal facets unknown
your lingering gaze
unravelling all my resolves
your words peep into my future
showing me a different vista
the person I see in the mirror now is not me,
it hurts that I’ve lived with this stranger for so long
as I stare at mylikeness dispassionately
I see dark corners deftly disguised
the luminosity is also just reflected glory
I now notice a shoddily tied bundle of fake positivity
the inklings of chaos cleverly concealed
everything…

A baby is struggling to get on the sofa. A well-meaning parent picks her up and places her on a seat, but not necessarily on the sofa.

You ask the top boss for directions several times, and soon you find yourself reporting to someone in the mid-layer.

Any kind of dilemma, fumbling, indecisiveness puts you in a subordinate position. You have lost the lead.

I wake up with a clear cut action plan for the day, and start executing it. If someone intervenes with a demand, I give them a time slot saying it can be done after I complete this task. If their need is immediate, they manage themselves.

If you don’t do this, you’ll find time and life slipping away in catering to whims and fancies of others. Working from home is difficult, because there is a strong likelihood of your presence being taken for granted.

SYMPTOMS OF…