Linking to: https://suellewellyn2011.wordpress.com/2015/03/04/a-word-a-week-photograph-challenge-intricate/
Man is an intricate creature
Made up of helices intertwined
In patterns unique as ordained by nature
Each individual is one of his kind.
Intricate mask, Atlantis Resort, Nassau, The Bahamas
Intricately painted ceiling, Vatican City
Intricately embroidered wall hanging, at the Museum of Art and Design, New York City, New York
Intricate carving on the door, Amber Fort, Jaipur, India
Capture my imagination
Be an object of fascination
Get my attention undivided
Leave me perplexed, undecided
In which category to place you
An oddball you are, that much is true!
A leisurely lizard languishing on a laidback island
Wheels on a pole outside a bicycle rental
Rhinestone-encrusted car, where else but in Las Vegas?
Stealthily creeping
Imperceptibly seeping
Into the crevices of my mind
Unwelcome feelings making me blind
Thoughts amorous
Still quite amorphous
Suddenly emerged out of the blue
Leaving me breathless, without a clue
A chance encounter
Full of idle banter
How it could inspire feelings like this
Euphoric passion promising me bliss..
Fantasies forbidden
Desires hidden
Tormented by this stormy passion
I stand at the edge of a cliff of depression
Lament my fate
Myself I berate
For falling in love and my descent
In danger’s lap, though inadvertent
Need to remind
My lovesick mind
The commitment I made is a contract
From which I must not retract
My heart restrained
My feelings chained
All forbidden thoughts I did banish
Gradually the tempestuous thoughts did vanish.
***
With sadness, I remember that episode
As a test of myself on life’s road
Never again have I fallen prey
To the temptations that life throws my way.
Here are my entries for this challenge-
All photographs are from an island in the Bahamas
Along the banks of the frozen Schuylkill River, Philadelphia
Outside a Swiss-style chalet in Adirondacks region, New York
Fall colors, Washington DC
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.
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.
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.
“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.
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!
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.
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
Passion...unbridled 