Two poems

Here are two poems I recently came across that I’d like to share with you.

The first evokes memories of childhood play – but has a strange overlay of “drawn-out doom”.  It also touches on the recent phenomenon of the cell phone as a killer…

LONDON

Trembling, he would turn his back

to face the tree when he was den,

too tense to toe the touch-me-nots

he nudged to sleep in homework time

(a touch and lines of leaves would close,

like pages in some private book).

Ellowendeeowenlondon

then the whirl, the shout of Out!

when statued stalkers teetered

out of stillness. The game would thin

to him, the last one standing,

paroled from panic, sudden death.

Other times he died: ellowen…

Slap! voice muted mid-gabble,

back livid with the sting of dying.

He hated London’s drawn-out doom

but the boys played each afternoon,

and so he died a thousand deaths.

Years later, safe in middle-age,

driving friends to meet the Taj,

he took a call; the grinning truck

swerved head-on as he said hullo.

Too late to ellowen, he shouted

London! on the Agra road.

           © Mukul Kesavan

The second is a  more than slightly flippant ode to the humble carrot that incidentally puns on Mrs. Barrett Browning’s  name!

CARROTS

Fine words don’t butter parsnips – but
Know your onions, spill the beans
Sing Hallelujah! Let’s flatter the carrot
So much more versatile than greens
Deep purple from Afghanistan
Day-glo orange Dutch
Loved by those who wait for Easter
Living in a hutch
Oh how shall I cook thee?
Let me count the ways
Like Elizabeth Carrot Browning
I come to praise ‘n braise
Slice ‘n dice ‘n sautee
Bake in cakes ‘n dunk in dips
Sweeter than a mars bar
Deep-fried chantenay with chips
Knobbly, gnarled snowman’s nose
Carroty guarantee of health
Crunch and munch a bunch for lunch
See in the dark with radar stealth
Make corkscrews, jam and bubble-gum
Drink carrot Beaujolais
Form a flute ‘n veg orchestra
With added Vitamin A
It’s a wonky donkey pick-me-up
When from a stick it dangles
Dehydrate and create jewellery
Carrot baubles, carrot bangles
Carrot pizza, carrot clocks
Carrots, carrots everywhere
Jasper Carrot, The Camberwell Carrot
EastEnders’ Bradley’s carrot hair
All hail the golden king of crops
And I’ll repeat that like a parrot
All hail the golden king of crops
The 24 carat carrot.

     © Elvis McGonagall

Why do I blog? Let me account and weigh…

With profuse  apologies to the talented Mrs. Barrett Browning.  In truth, the forum topic on IndiBlogger was: What made you start blogging?

Oh, mah deah!  I suffered such a stroke of sheer insipidration that  it was - ahem –  see-through! I blame Speech Recognition and the Spell Checker  - but, pray tell me, what magic spell doth  the Spell Checker check?  In the final twist do I, with stylish flourish, offer the doggerel  reproduced below, as my answer to the question above.  It is my dearest hope it does not replicate itself and multiply as dogs and blogs are often wont to! 

BLOGGEREL WORSE

Neither to convince,

Nor interest from others evince;

Not to impress,

But I digress:

I write not to please others – nay!

Dost thine eyes widen in stupefaction? 

The truth be I love to write –  for mine own satisfaction -

Therefore I blog, aye!

© Sosha Srinivasan

Video: P!nk – yeah, way to go!

Among women music artistes I like P!nk for her feisty personality and great attitude. She is also active in charity work and with PETA.  Her music runs the gamut from sad reflections like Dear Diary to lyrics that make you sit up and take notice  and think, like that of  Stupid Girls, and Dear Mr. President; she also has foot-tapping,  fun numbers like Get the Party Started which never fails to elicit a smile from me – and  is featured below. Enjoy!!  

© Sosha Srinivasan

Speech recognition + WP template = Bloated font!

It was only after I published my last post that I realized there was something very different about the font – which is supposed to be fixed in this WP template.  So how did it get so humungous?  No, WP isn’t to blame –  it was the Windows Speech Recognition program on my new Lenovo  G550 BAQ laptop.  I had been breaking it in, training the computer (that makes it sound like some kind of wild beast, don’t it?) by dictating to it -  and I had what I thought was a bright idea… I’d dictate the post!! I had a niggling doubt whether it would work on the WP platform – perhaps it was configured only to MS Word?  It worked alright – but with a bloated font as you can see!!

Raw unedited speech recognition looks like garbled gibberish – no kidding!  The Help section assures me that the software program gets better with practice.  Until then, Speech Recognition  can be considered the twin of the perverse Spell Checker – you need a firm hand and agile brain to rein both in.  Here is a short verse (that could have well been produced by Speech Recognition  I reckon).

OWED TO A SPELLING CHECKER 

I have a spelling checker

It came with my pea sea

It plain lee marks four my revue

Mix steaks eye kin not sea.

Eye have run this poem threw it

I’m shore your pleased to no

Its letter perfect awl the weigh

My checker told me sew.

           – Sauce Unknown

After  a bit of research on the Net, I found the original version of  the poem: Candidate for a Pullet Surprise by Jerry Zar.

© Sosha Srinivasan

The Novel: The Creative & Publishing Processes Demystified

I am just finishing one of the most  intriguing pieces of  writing I have had the good fortune to read – The Novel by James A. Michener. 

It is  somewhat disconcerting to realize  this is the first book by Michener that I’m reading.  It  certainly wasn’t that I lacked the chances – I’d come across his books before, both at libraries and my bookshop haunt – but always deferred the choice.  Why? Because most of   his other books are massive in size!  This one is a modest 435 pages long, so I thought I’d give it a shot – I wasn’t disappointed, though it did keep me up until 2:00 a.m.!  

 Essentially about the publishing world, the book is divided into four – from the  viewpoints of  a  writer, an editor, a  critic, and a reader.

I liked the part by the editor best – is it perhaps because I am one?  Here is an excerpt with which I was especially taken: 

“The editor  had several points on which she was adamant: ’Sentences must have grammatical structure.  They must preserve parallelism.  Once the  tense is established, it must be maintained to the bitter end.  Pronouns must have antecedents that can be instantly recognized, even by the careless reader.’  She  taught me that a well-constructed paragraph, with sentences in place and each word within the sentence properly used, was  a  creation of beauty: ‘It’s the basic unit of human thought, a format unto which can be poured your  most exalted conclusions, and also your  most impassioned depictions of  human relationships.’”

And here is another excerpt from the book – what a minor  character, Evan Cater,  says  specifically about the French film, Les Enfants du Paradis – and  about widening one’s horizons in general:

‘Remember that I said I thought it perhaps the best ever made.  It blew my mind. You may not agree. But your job as would-be writers is to see the movies and plays and operas that blow your minds.  Try to associate with people who are more intelligent than yourself and seek out work that explodes your  sensitivities.’

© Sosha Srinivasan

Video: Rita Rudner – and quotes galore – coming up…!

I’d decided that I should post at least twice a week -  like most  good intentions, mine was found lacking in implementation.  Now I’ve found a way (I think) to ensure I do post regularly – like I mentioned earlier, I have a huge collection of  quotes, and I have now decided that if I cannot find anything to write about, I’ll cull some of my favorites and post those.

Here are a couple  from a  woman with awesome attitude – and a fantastic sense of  humor: American writer, actress and comedienne Rita Rudner.

“When I eventually met Mr. Right I had no idea that his first name was Always.”

“I love being married.  It’s so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.”

And here is a live performance of hers you can enjoy!

© Sosha Srinivasan

Video: Web 3.0?!

I don’t need to say anything except –  watch this mind-blowing video!  Fantastic, futuristic -it’s  like  something out of The Matrix!

The strange part is that I’ve been discussing essentially the same thing with my son the past couple of years – only I thought the concept would be translated into reality about ten to twenty years hence.  The video below just shows how much I’m off in my estimation of technological progress…

© Sosha Srinivasan

PS: Actually this should come as no surprise – because as Bill Gates put it: ‘People always overestimate what will happen in the next two years and underestimate what will happen in ten.’

On second thoughts – in this case atleast, shouldn’t that be the other way around???!!