Napowrimo day 20 April 20 TSL Prompt "My mother, my best reader" ( A tribute to the writer Sara)

TSL PROMPT 20 (a lovely prompt by Udita Garg - thanks for this Udita, grateful!)

My Mother, my Best Reader (a tribute to the writer Sara)

I do not remember why but one day I set pen to paper

and wrote something, when six or seven

that included this line

"the moon is like a yellow plate,"

and my mom and dad took it

sent it to an international competition

Shanker's

for literature and the arts

and I won the prize

A silver cup arrived

with a book of illustrated Bible stories (so strange!)

and their annual book with my poem in it

along with art and writing from others around the world

plus a huge cheque

that was spent on going to Pai & Co

the best bookstore in Thurvananthapuram then, opposite Ayurveda college in those days, now no longer there

small but packed with the best books

with my brothers, sister, mom, and dad

buying me books that lasted a lifetime

Black Beauty, Enid Blyton, Tintin, fairy tales, folk tales from around the world and so many other books

that became my window to the world

and they put my picture in the Malayala Manorama newspaper

saying "Malayali balan sammaanaarhanayi"

I looked sweet and innocent with a smile

with my huge ears sticking out like Kafka's or Beckett's

Yes. My mom was my first and best reader

being herself a writer and poet, though she could only study till she became a matriculate which is another story

that led to me and my sister getting our Ph.Ds

She had made my two elder brothers and my sister

get the same prize too, earlier, to encourage us

start us off

in days when merit was still a term

that held meaning

for us lower-middle-class folk

and her encouragement

still holds me up

and led to us

having the writing streak even in our families

even now

so her grandchildren also write.

A reader who loves you

and wants to bring out the best in you

is that rarest gift

and makes a writer great

and we children had it in her

Such a gift happens only once

in a lifetime, perhaps

but once is enough.

It is made more poignant

by the fact that

she had no such person

in her life, to bring out the best in her

so she became that Light

to/for us.

20th April

So, for the prompt today, I hope you write an Ode to your most dedicated readers (who may be your admirers or critics, preferably from TSL family, though no limits) and also to get to know what do they exactly admire about your poetry and quote those lines from them in your poem. No, it's no mutual admiration clubs or coterie, you can also write why they hate your work and write one hateful Ode. 😁 This is no reader replacing the author as God either, just my attempt at making the reading experience here more meaningful. I hope you enjoy the conversation, thinking about your poetry and appreciating the people who read you. Gratitude! Prompt given by Udita Garg