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Saturday, November 16, 2019

FIVE POEMS BY AMITA PAUL WITH IMAGES

Amita Sarjit Ahluwalia is the Pen Name of Amita Paul , a retired senior bureaucrat from India , who is also a multilingual poet and writer . She writes poetry in English , Hindi , Urdu and her native Punjabi , and comments on a wide variety of issues including current affairs in English . The Significant League aka Rejected Stuff , a Facebook Group on the Internet , awarded her the NISSIM International Prize for English Poetry ( First Prize ) for the year 2019 , for her contribution to English Poetry in India through her Tapestry Poems . She is widely travelled and widely read in World Literature , including English , American , Hindi , Punjabi , Urdu and Persian Literature and this  extensive and intensive multicultural exposure percolates continuously into her writing . Though Amita Paul is by and large a writer of serious literature , she also surprises the reader from time to time with her sense of humour which is best reflected in her limericks and a few satires as well.
In these five poems the photographs are also supplied by her. None of these poems can be republished without written permission from her as this blog is under legal copyright or without legal repercussions if used without her permission. All rights belong to her.



I

3/11/19

THE SHALL - BE 

The Silver the Purple the Green
How long will they keep their sharp sheen ?
Let them go and move on Mystic Soul
Look , it is already past Halloween

Look , the snow slowly covers the ground
Even as Autumn leaves whirl around 
As it sets into ice by Great Nature ‘s device 
Earth will once more turn White and Pristine

Clear your mind of the conflicts of past
Let your heart heal and find peace at last
Take the future as gift and let your spirits lift
Take the shall- be leave the might -have -been


II

20/10/19

WAYS OF ESCAPE

( Survival Strategies )

A silken sari
Was for the imagination
Freedom and beauty in its folds
Were nurtured
And song soared
Why wear it to routine classes
Where donkeys brayed
And dull bureaucrats droned ?
No , not even a Salwar Kameez
If you force me by rule
I’m not a woman given to the wearing
Of trousers
My rebellion was skirts
Occasionally a bit short
Mostly decorous
But still
On the dangerous edge of the rulebook
They knew not what to do with me
I revelled in that Knowledge
And rubbed it in
None could stop me
I was immune to cold stares
On wooden stairs

The food
So horrible on cold and wet portioned steel plates 
The sharpest flavours of the Indian South
Corrupted by a money -grubbing Mess inCharge  
Somehow I filled my stomach
Not my heart
Watery coffee at 4pm
Made life worse
At 5pm 
I ran for my life
To the homecooking of the foodhouse
At the gate

Where the talk was cheerful and so real
And the creamy tea warmed my heart
And the ceramic mug warmed my frozen fingers
Where the owner spoke a dialect like my own
And his rosy cheeked wife 
Smiled a real hospitable smile
Fried parathas in pure ghee 
Aloo , gobhi, mooli, methi
Besan, cheese, paneer and plain
With generous melting yellow blobs of Amul butter on top
Gaajar Shalgum Gobhi pickle
To tickle the tongue with vinegar and jaggery and garam Masala pickle juice
Or homemade mango pickle with the unmistakable flavours 
Of hing and aniseed
More tea in glass tumblers or chunky mugs
And cheerful non -threatening chatter
On the weather and the prices
Of vegetables
Sanity restored
Feet on the ground
Heart in the right place again

III

6/9/19

FALL

Fall
from clouds
pearls diamonds stars
raindrops snowflakes

Fall 
from trees
ripe fruits acorns dead leaves
riches for earthlings

Fall
from Grace
raw pain longing mistakes
God’s love , again

IV

26/9/19

WHEN AUTUMN COMES

When Autumn comes, remind me

To drink my tea
From maple leaves
With maple honey

When Autumn comes , remind me

To pick pine cones
For fragrance 
In woody tones

When Autumn comes , remind me

To fetch walnuts
And cinnamon 
Winter abuts

When Autumn comes , remind me

To stop that wheeze 
With honey warm
And star anise

When Autumn comes , remind me

We’ll share warm hugs
And ginger tea 
In yellow mugs

Remind me , when Autumn comes



V

TROLLIMERICK

So she writes out this poem stone cold 
As if used to doing what she’s told
Hey but just wait a sec 
Who got fooled what the heck
Is it she or I that just got trolled


( Amita Sarjit Ahluwalia )

13 Nov 2019



PLEASE NOTE THAT THE COMING DAYS POEMS WILL COME FROM LOPA BANERJEE (IN USA), KASHIANA SINGH (IN USA), SANTOSH BAKAYA (INDIA) AND MANY OTHERS. KEEP READING.

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