bittersweet
the mogras
By
Gautam Nadkarni, Dr. Brijesh Raj, Raamesh Gowri Raghavan, Lt. Cdr. Paresh
Tiwari and Rohini Gupta
coffee
shop —
the flavour of her voice
in every sip
the flavour of her voice
in every sip
bittersweet
the mogras
sold by the schoolgirl
sold by the schoolgirl
lingering
over
the evening rush hour —
the evening rush hour —
summer
sun
bleeding
from the barbed wire
the coat you wore last winter
the coat you wore last winter
nothing
left behind
except that last
except that last
goodbye
I
step into the morrow
of my dreams
of my dreams
from
the tulip garden
stolen petals
and kisses
stolen petals
and kisses
bridal
veil the colour
of magic on her lips
of magic on her lips
with
cross stitches
we add a full moon
to the night sky
we add a full moon
to the night sky
sketched
in pen and ink
the group all smiles
the group all smiles
This
25-line poem is arranged in two cycles. Verses 1 & 6 are by Gautam
Nadkarni, verses 2 & 7 by Dr. Brijesh Raj, verses 3 & 8 by Raamesh
Gowri Raghavan verses 4 & 9 by Lt. Cdr. Paresh Tiwari and verses 5 & 10
by Rohini Gupta. Though we didn't intend it at the start, the sequence evolved
into a ballad-like narrative of young love won and lost in the tumult of war,
and then moving on to the rediscovery of a more mature, revitalising love.
Directives got out in all directions, only to steadfastly come full circle, meeting... no, surpassing the narrative.
ReplyDeleteExcellent compilation!
A beautiful collaborative poem, I loved it! Thank you so much for sharing!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to Rohini Gupta , Gautam Nadkarni, Dr. Brijesh Raj, Raamesh Gowri Raghavan,and Paresh Tiwari on a fine collaborative poem.With best wishes,to you all and many thanks to Karen for sharing such fresh work angelee
ReplyDeleteEveryone,
ReplyDeleteYou all did a fabulous job! Welcome to Gautam and Brijesh to Whispers!
Your new friend,
David Fox
This poem is so tight it seems that one of you wrote it! Love, "with cross stiches/we add a full moon/to the night sky." Wonderful addition to the collaboration narrative.
ReplyDeleteA collaboration like this is a pleasure to read. Thank you for sharing. Nalini
ReplyDeleteThank you all at Whispers, Karen and to you David for the warm welcome. Collaborating for this one was a spur of the moment writing itch. We decided to just let it evolve and see...and enjoyed it thoroughly.
ReplyDeletewarm regards
Brijesh
Dear Brijesh and all your writing partners,
DeleteThank you for sharing this wonderful collaborative poem that our readers are sure enjoying. Welcome to you and Gautam! I hope you, both, will consider sending an individual poem submission some time soon. Another collaborative poem for next month would be a joy to receive too. Best wishes and happy writing!
Karen
Thank you both for sharing your well written poem!
ReplyDeleteThis is a master class! Wow....shame you had to stop! Poetry power house. Well done. Will look out for your individual work. Ralph
ReplyDeletethis is so wonderful
ReplyDeleteWhat a fantastic bit of writing here. Your images are so vivid, and one feels as if they are right there.
ReplyDeleteSo glad you are here.
haiku poets have played with their imagination to their best. The reader has to play with them on his own to complete. A play in progress-
ReplyDelete