Along the banks of the frozen Schuylkill River, Philadelphia
Outside a Swiss-style chalet in Adirondacks region, New York
Fall colors, Washington DC
Beginning of a revolution
Every generation needs a new revolution.
-Thomas Jefferson
Explosive anger
Endless frustration
Thinly veiled rancor
Against domination
Bubbling resentment
Rising to the surface
Anguished predicament
Visible on the face
Cries of protest
Going up in the air
All that they detest
Amalgamated with despair
They are ready to struggle
They are willing to die
In this unequal tussle
Between classes low and high
Fanning a destructive fire
Of a bloody revolution
Fueled by a thirsty desire
To achieve a resolution
Of the conflicts of the land
With inequality everywhere
Justice lies buried in sand
The common man cries for his share.
The loner
Endless stretch of grassy land
Bisected by the road stretched like a band
Not a single soul for miles in sight
Landscape bathed in brilliant sunlight
In my dreams I cruise on this highway
I’m all alone, and this is my way
Far from the city’s cacophony of noise
Silently I travel, this is my choice
Thinking, dreaming uninterrupted
In a smooth flow that’s never disrupted
Far from the realm of modern civilization
Detached from the sphere of human expectation
This is the way my dreams unfold
Being all alone gives me pleasure untold.
Stuck? Just take a step!
The only difference between a rut and a grave are the dimensions.
I often face a mental block
As if faced by a mammoth rock
My mind a simple blank draws
Inertia grips me in its claws
I lie, listless, in a state of torpor
Waiting to be shaken out of stupor
Sucked dry of creative juice
I feel the onslaught of the blues
I then recede in recesses deep
Hoping inspiration would break my sleep.
**
How come I never did realize
Waiting and watching was unwise
I needed to get up and begin
Fight the lethargy seeping in
Change the pattern of my thought
Rekindle the spark that I forgot
New ideas would germinate
Draw me out of my inertial state
Step forward with a light spring
As I experience my spirits swing
Back on the upward incline
Enthusiastic, I rise and shine
**
If in a rut you ever feel stuck
Just take a step to change your luck
Begin, and the path you shall find
As the stars themselves align
The world can be your oyster
As you move ahead without fear.
Transience of life
“Like vanishing dew,
a passing apparition
or the sudden flash
of lightning — already gone —
thus should one regard one’s self.”
― Ikkyu
Cherry blossoms also symbolize the transience of life because of their beauty and quick death.
When I was young I thought
I was immortal, invincible,
My life with thrills was fraught
I was pretty indestructible..
As the sands of time shifted
The notion of transience raised its head
The veil of my ignorance slowly lifted
My prior convictions I had to shed
When the course of my life was altered
By fate, through manmade or natural disaster
Taken aback, I stumbled and faltered
Of my life, I no longer felt like the master
Learnt how fickle life could be
Snatched away in the blink of an eye
I realized my predestined mortality
And became aware, albeit with a sigh
Happiness was a transitory phase
Meant to enjoy while it did last
The years would pass in a blurry haze
Death might approach a little too fast.
I learnt to live in the moment present
Feel and savor everything it had
Since nothing in life is permanent
Living in the moment makes me glad.
Cee’s Odd Ball Photo Challenge: 2015 Week #8
Whimsical, atypical, bizarre
All these things they are
Curiosity they pique
You take a second peek
Always ranking high
In a photographer’s eye
Oddballs are great
Diversity they celebrate.
The Giant spider outside National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, ON, CA (sorry the spider’s legs are cropped!)
Nature’s Oddball- Needles’ Eye Formation- Custer State Park, SD
On the sets of “War of the Worlds”, Hollywood, LA- a real 747 was crashed for the filming of this movie!
Dark thoughts
Thoughts are the shadows of our feelings- always darker, simpler and emptier.
–Friedrich Nietzsche
In wishful thinking I indulge
Dreaming of what I can’t divulge
Thoughts that boundaries explore
Of societal norms, pushing for more
Skirting scandalous domain
With power to inflict pain
Thoughts that when transformed
Into words can drop some bombs
Thoughts that are best confined
To remote corners of my mind
How would things be, I wonder
If all our thoughts buried deep under
Could find tangible expression
How it would cause a sensation
The power of the mind unleashed
Could threaten our lives’ fabric indeed
The filters that are set by us
Are meant as protection from chaos
Chaos that the world would fall in
If each of us decided to listen
To the clamor of thoughts that reside
In the recesses where our demons hide
We battle our minds, we agonize
Voicing unfiltered thoughts is unwise
Dreams pitch in with their solutions
When conscious thought has no resolution
When we wake up, rationality returns
Banishing dark thoughts to hidden demons.
Travel theme: Energy
When I saw the title of this challenge, the first image my mind conjured up was of a solo dancer performing the classical Indian dance “Kathak”. It is somewhat similar to flamenco in the energetic foot movements. Unfortunately I have no photographs of any kind of dancer, so I ended up writing this poem. Of course, there are several images later. Enjoy!
Energy seeping from every pore
Penetrating to the core
Infused in each movement precise
Oblivious to the enthralled eyes
Enchanted, in a bewitching trance
Does the passionate dancer dance
Fluid energy flowing through her
Encaptivating the audience in her rapture
As she gains speed to a climactic end
All imperfection she seems to transcend
Every soul in the audience has been affected
By the dance form she has perfected.
Heat energy- Steaming pool at Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Water energy and light energy (rainbow), Niagara Falls
Light energy (rainbow) again- at Lower Falls, Yellowstone National Park
Electric energy, Holiday Lights, Philadelphia
Energy of human motion, Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum, San Francisco
Living in the past
When you finally let go of the past, something better comes along. 
I try my best not to cling
To ghosts buried in the past
Memories of bygone days often bring
Resentment that spirals down quite fast
Spinning out of control all at once
Settling in my mind, on the tip of my tongue
Accusations, insults in abundance
All of a sudden, at you are flung.
Then starts the digging by you and me
Together, we unearth misgivings in piles
Blind to what each other can see
We fight endlessly, words stretching for miles.
***
Why do we flog the horse that is dead
History is what happened yesterday
Details forgotten, we should move ahead
With our old errors to guide future ways.
Living in the future is no better solution
So let us live in the present instead
Let go of the past of our volition
Honor the essence, but bury the dead.
One Word Photo Challenge: Saffron
The word “saffron” is strongly evocative for me- read on.
Starting out with generic pictures:
Decorated ceiling of a Las Vegas Hotel
Painted ceiling of a Vatican City Museum
Painting of a Rajah from Lucknow, India in his saffron outfit, LA County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Fall saffron, Philadelphia, PA
And now, I’ll include the color “Deep saffron” or “Rajah saffron”- a shade of orange, which makes up the top third of the Indian flag. The photograph below is from a flower show in Philadelphia, though.
Peacocks
I love peacocks.
Peacock is the national bird of India.
Peacocks are beautiful, graceful birds. In India, the male peacock usually spreads out his wings to dance at the approach of monsoon.
Enjoy the pictures of this beautiful bird. (Unfortunately, none of them was taken in India).
From a museum in Montreal, Canada showing a stained glass window
Life-like peacock at the Philadelphia Flower Show
The following photographs of actual peacocks are from the Di Rosa Preserve, Napa Valley, CA
Anger
Raging fires within
Incinerating, burning a hole
Rising above the din
Of the wailing of my soul
Carnage widespread
Of the depths of my mind
Unfettered, unchecked
Fueled by a rage blind..
Such was my anger
Fed on envy, greed, pride
A thunderous monster
Swallowing me with jaws wide.
***
The fire died
By itself consumed
As my soul cried
Charred, but exhumed
A faint, positive voice
Rose from within
Giving me a choice
Of resurrecting
Whatever remained
Of my destroyed being
Fate had ordained
Massive rebuilding.
Anger spent, pride gone,
Greed, envy disappeared
As I sat alone, forlorn
Hope in its glory appeared.
Under its calming influence
My soul filled with love to the brim
Contentment and faith in confluence
Transformed my condition grim.
Evils of past now purged
With a steely resolve maintained
Into the future I lurched
Keeping my anger contained.
Passion...unbridled 