2 deaths , 1 baby born
I hear today
Life is so crazy and asinine
Death , a certain ascertain
Birth , a gift abundant
I have been thinking two much today
Maybe I need rest, don’t you say
Shhh! Life and its ways.
–S
She is the impetus
For Me to write
Such an accomplice
One would never find in sight
She is carefree , independent
Free of societal norms
She is My only defendant
Through all the storms
She changed to suit the needs
Changing Her own persona
But life taught Her through its deeds
It was the agenda
She usurped the typhoons
Of personality , of mind , of life
These were banes or a boons
Through the cut of a knife
Time would tell
Time would see
What She could dispel
Time would agree
She would hear voices
Directing Her Life and Character
But She emerged from others’ choices
She proved She was a Victor
People called Her names
Changing the exposure to fame
Falsing all Her claims
Making Her do more – Aim
It was a tremendous task for Her
To understand reel from real
Making all lines blur
Experience was surreal
She picked up the pieces
Stringing together all of them
Bringing the evidences
From roots to stem
She always learns
Taking her away from gossip and drama
Away from mind Concerns
Making time important , no melodrama
She is my guardian angel
She is someone who inspires
She makes me able
She rescues Me from abhorrent fires
She looks in the mirror
She is never with lethargy
She is the one , She is Me – the Actor
She is resplendent with energy
–S
Eating Chocolate Ice Cream: Reading Mayakovsky
BY BARBARA GUEST
Since I’ve decided to revolutionize my life
since
”
decided
”
revolutionize
”
life
”
How early it is! It is eight o’clock in the morning.
Well, the pigeons were up earlier
Did you eat all your egg?
Now we shall go for a long walk.
Now? There is too much winter.
I am going to admire the snow on your coat.
Time for hot soup, already?
You have worked for three solid hours.
I have written forty-eight, no forty-nine,
no fifty-one poems.
How many states are there?
I cannot remember what is uniting America.
It is then time for your nap.
What a lovely, pleasant dream I just had.
But I like waking up better.
I do admire reality like snow on my coat.
Would you take cream or lemon in your tea?
No sugar?
And no cigarettes.
Daytime is good, but evening is better.
I do like our evening discussions.
Yesterday we talked about Kant.
Today let’s think about Hegel.
In another week we shall have reached Marx.
Goody.
Life is a joy if one has industrious hands.
Supper? Stew and well-cooked. Delicious.
Well, perhaps just one more glass of milk.
Nine o’clock! Bath time!
Soap and a clean rough towel.
Bedtime!
The Red Army is marching tonight.
They shall march through my dreams
in their new shiny leather boots,
their freshly laundered shirts.
All those ugly stains of caviar and champagne
and kisses
have been rubbed away.
They are going to the barracks.
They are answering hundreds of pink
and yellow and blue and white telephones.
How happy and contented and well-fed they look
lounging on their fur divans,
chanting, “Russia how kind you are to us.
How kind you are to everybody.
We want to live forever.”
Before I wake up they will throw away
their pistols, and magically
factories will spring up where once
there was rifle fire, a roulette factory,
where once a body fell from an open window.
Hurry dear dream
I am waiting for you
under the eiderdown.
And tomorrow will be more real, perhaps,
than yesterday.
Source : https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/53131/eating-chocolate-ice-cream-reading-mayakovsky
***
Close reading :Barbara Guest has created alternative realities in the title itself. While one suggests leading a normal life while the other tells about revolution in a sense. So she gives us a hint through the title itself. I had to read up on Mayakovsky to even comment on this title.
Next , she gives another hint at the understanding of the poem by voicing about revolutionising someone’s life. She writes it normally in the starting sentence. In the next sentence she breaks it with apostrophes for missing content indicating Mayakovsky had to write about revolution while Russia was in revolution or something of that sort.
The form of the poem is “I do that, I do this ” format of the New York School poets. It is a free verse. She randomly writes about the happenings of the day in America contrasting parallelly with day in Russia in Mayakovsky time.
She talks to someone about her normal day. She enquires whether someone has finished the breakfast. Most probably her husband or her child. She tells that she got up early as pigeons were up early. She tells she will go for a walk with someone , maybe her child. It is winter. It is snow time. So somewhere up north in America.
She continues it with afternoon times I guess , telling it’s time for hot soup. Her husband has worked for 3 hours. She has written 51 poems. She tries to make a connection with the number of states in America. She doesn’t seem to remember what is holding America as one. She has a nap. She has a wonderful dream. She thinks that waking up is better than sleeping as it connects to reality. Evenings , there are intellectual discussions about Kant , Hegel and Marx. Life is happy when one is hard working she says.
She contrasts it with Russia (in Mayakovsky world ) where the Red Army is in control of Russia. The lines portray a seriousness in the demeanor of the army. They are going to the barracks. They are operating different colours of telephones. I don’t understand the different telephones here. But the whole scenario portrays the Russians will soon forget the revolution and start working in factories. Where bodies were thrown. She is dreaming this sequence and comfortably placed under soft sheets rather than the bloodshed of the revolution. She lives in a comfortable place. She hopes her life or her dream is better than yesterday.
In the whole poem , she contrasts between two realities. She is happy and comfortable living in hers. Maybe that’s what she intends at last.
by H.D.
I
You crash over the trees,
you crack the live branch:
the branch is white,
the green crushed,
each leaf is rent like split wood
II
You burden the trees
with black drops,
you swirl and crash:
you have broken off a weighted leaf
in the wind—
it is hurled out,
whirls up and sinks,
a green stone.
Close reading :
H.D. uses Imagism to portray the devastation caused by a storm. The poem has a personification of storm.
It shows the innocence and beauty of nature that the storm destroys.
The storm crashes over the trees , uprooting them. Maybe it’s a person who has devastated the person’s life. Uprooting it.
Cracking the live branch is something which is full of life and is cut open. Maybe it’s a relationship with another person. That is cut.
The poem is by an imagist. So there will be no indirect references to other things than the one portrayed but the relationship perspective fits too. The language is concise. The poem is freeverse one. The emphasis on cr in crash , crack , crushed shows the devastation of nature by storm so nature itself.
It also shows that the leaf is aimless, effortlessly driven to where the storm takes it. The
leaf does not have a hold on itself and its destiny.
Relationship between the storm and the leaf is shown here. The storm is powerful and the leaf is powerless. The leaf is destined to take the course of the storm. The storm is the other half in the relationship and the relationship is destroyed by the storm. The leaf is the innocent one crushed in the pangs of the relationship.
Black drops are burdened on the tree. Black drops are drops of water in the storm most probably. I think the drops are heavy and fall on the tree. The actions of swirl and crash are shown here showing the intensity of the storm. The leaf is weighted now. There are two perspectives of the storm and the leaf. The leaf can be destined on the course of the storm or the leaf can be weighted in the wind thus making it craft its own destiny. The leaf is weighted as the burdens of the ill relationship with the storm. It is hurled out so it is thrown out. But it still crafts its own course. It whirls and sinks(sinks is an important point here), a green stone. A green stone is the leaf which is weighted. The storm is powerful yet powerless. The leaf is also powerless yet powerful. It all depends on the perspective. The relationship has an ill effect on the leaf but it comes out stronger at the end.
So in life too, the perspectives can change according to the situation. We can weather the storm by changing the perspective. Maybe this is not a right portrayal of her poem. Because it is imagist. It portrays the image of a storm. The effects of its devastation. It also shows what happens after the storm. We as individuals pick ourselves up after a storm in our life whether it is life itself or relationships or from nature.
Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance are the stages of grief that can be extended here on the effects on the leaf by the storm.
They shut me up in Prose– (445)
BY EMILY DICKINSON
They shut me up in Prose –
As when a little Girl
They put me in the Closet –
Because they liked me “still” –
Still! Could themself have peeped –
And seen my Brain – go round –
They might as wise have lodged a Bird
For Treason – in the Pound –
Himself has but to will
And easy as a Star
Look down opon Captivity –
And laugh – No more have I –
Source : https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/52196/they-shut-me-up-in-prose-445
Close Reading : This is a poem on the love of poetry Dickinson had. She didn’t want to be confined in thinking about prose. Freedom is restricted in prose according to her. As her mind and heart wants poetry.
She refers to society or the ones who teach her prose and tells that they shut me up. Her mind and heart weren’t working in prose. She refers to a little girl, making it gender specific. She maybe indicating that poetry writing was a man’s affair ? Putting in a closet meaning not giving freedom. Because they liked her still. Making it obvious that girls weren’t supposed to express and were supposed to listen to orders. It was a patriarchal society. So girls were not allowed to think freely and pursue a career in poetry.
Society as a whole confined the thoughts of women in the times of Dickinson. So it was hard to rebel against the society as a whole. From when they are little girls , they were told not to think freely nor assert their independence. So it happened with prose and poetry as well. Poetry is a medium where you express with lesser words and more meaning. Prose is something ingrained in the little minds and even though it has more words , it doesn’t have the creative freedom of poetry. Since it was supposedly a man’s job to provide, it was thought that only he could have the creative freedom. But Dickinson broke all these chains and wrote her heart out. Expressing herself was such happiness to her.
She claims that society could have seen her brain go round. Working with effort and without result because the brain didn’t like it. They could have peeped and seen this scenario. They might as well have caged a bird for treason. Clipping it’s freedom and giving it pain. Bird in cage always thinks that it has no freedom. It forgets that it has wings to fly for sometime.
Birds can’t be enclosed like animals. They can fly. Like a star looks down upon captivity. Stars and birds are free in the sky. They don’t understand about captivity or freedom. One realises freedom only when one is captive. Emily Dickinson tells that she doesn’t laugh on captivity as she understands the pain of captivity. Not able to express in poetry is a curse according to her.
This poem is similar to “I dwell in possibility”.
This is a guide for learning Carnatic music for beginners.
1. Identification of Ragas is easier with this YouTube channel. Carnatic 101 is a wonderful collection. https://youtu.be/G02uoTF95cA
2. Lessons on swaras and the basics.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.oneteamus.CarnaticMusic
3. For collection of Carnatic music songs.
For those of you interested in Carnatic Music here is a treasure
https://ramanarunachalam.github.io/Music/Carnatic/carnatic.html
This is a directory of 37,000 Youtube videos of Carnatic Music, searchable by Raga/Artiste/Composer/Kriti. A Bangalorean has aggregated this by crawling though Youtube.
4. For another collection of carnatic music songs. https://www.sangeethapriya.org/
5. At your leisure , you can also look at Chennai Mathematical Institute’s videos on music by T M Krishna. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXbeECQLLcSjPRUhVzBkRLUmBm0ATbhQL
This post is an attempt to help persons who are trying to configure pinax-notifications for Django.
While pinax-notifications at https://github.com/pinax/pinax-notifications have documented it very elaborately, there are some errors which I encountered.
1] First error: RuntimeError: Model class django.contrib.sites.models.Site doesn’t declare an explicit app_label and isn’t in an application in INSTALLED_APPS.
If you look closely, the error explains that Site is not added in INSTALLED_APPS in settings.py.
Add ‘django.contrib.sites‘ to INSTALLED_APPS in settings.py. Also, many users in StackOverflow suggest that one needs to add SITE_ID=1.
django.core.exceptions.ImproperlyConfigured: You’re using the Django “sites framework” without having set the SITE_ID setting. Create a site in your database and set the SITE_ID setting or pass a request to Site.objects.get_current()
is the error one gets if the SITE_ID=1 is not added into settings.py.
2] Second error: RuntimeError: Model class account.models.Account doesn’t declare an explicit app_label and isn’t in an application in INSTALLED_APPS.
The error suggests that Account is not added to INSTALLED_APPS in settings.py.
Please add ‘account’ in INSTALLED_APPS in settings.py
3. Send the notification by calling send function on performing an action.
send([user], "friends_invite", {"from_user": user})4. The result of sending notification is seen on the terminal.
Using pinax-templates or your own templates, you can set notification emails to be sent.
For any doubts, ready to help.
-S
This poem was for Beetle Magazine.
Unfathomable, unpredicted chance meetings
that addiction difficult to abandon
Appreciating the aspiration to be similar
Thoughts that – Mirror Images
He came in a personal difficult time
Barren was my mind and soul
He gave life to me – assertion that
life is an assimilation of godsend realities
Adhesive so perfect
Soul searching ally
That attention – awakening my mind
those problems we did solve
those ambitions we have
anticipating moments with him
But Tired of asserting the non-attractiveness
its just trust, not lust
Friend who ascends you to the zenith
through knowledge and wisdom
Transcending you to a different world
reiterating that platonic does exist
He is a gem – so rare
Wouldn’t trade anything for the friendship
Intelligent and Genius are words that will shy
I am an admirer and will be forever
How is it even possible? you ask
Arousing interest in mind
All men don’t do
commend him for such a personality
Force of intelligence is more than attraction
It’s so easy to pen yet so difficult to express
the emotion I have for him
can’t abandon the adoration for once
Certain things are boolean
his friendship is with charm – but
benefits it is not
Days go by but our attachment is stronger
He knows me better than myself
He guides, reprimands
That is how life is meant to be
with him as a best friend forever
These were the rules:
Poetry:
Up to 60 lines maximum (1,500 words)
Topic: Can Men and Women be friends?
WordSlush-
men – again, force, pen, zen , ten
women – abandon, abstraction, activation, addiction, addition, adhesion, admission, adoration, adoption, adulation, affection, alleviation, anticipaiion, appreciation, aspiration, assimilation, assertion, attention, attraction, awaken, barren, beckon, boolean, certain,
friend – ally, soul, admirer, trust
ascend, commend, extend, intend, mend, godsend, transcend
—
Stay Safe. Mask up.
-S
I decided to participate in Wingword Poetry Competition.
I wanted to write a Sonnet since I never attempted one. So I started reading through the sonnet structure. I had to decide whether it will be Shakespearean Sonnet( 4 + 4 + 4 +2 – ABAB CDCD EFEF GG ) or Italian Sonnet( 8 + 6 – ABBAABBA – CDECDE/CDCDCD)
I put a ring on the Shakespearean sonnet.
Here is my attempt.
The poem is in Shakespearean sonnet style. It is about love and trust. It is also about betrayal of trust. It is about the new found love and excitement of the lady at first. Then the town gossips about the love as a clandestine affair. This breaks her heart and she wishes her lover understands that her love is pure. Unfortunately, the “whispers” of the gossipers were more important than the trust in her and he loses her. The sacred love she had is termed as an affair in his head. It is an acrostic poem , it is a mock at the gossipers who are the real cancers of society poking their noses in unnecessary things.
Whispers
Damsel dancing to her own tune
Aching to meet her lover
Many days she would croon
No one would discover
Yes, there’s a secret, concealed
Oh! That’s not appropriate
Under a cloud, lips not sealed
Clandestine , called it was immediate
Agony, all eyes looked at her
Not knowing what she was going through
Connected she didn’t feel, betrayed feelings are
Earnestly, she waited for him, only one she knew
Rare moments, he believed them than her more
Suddenly, lost her to a sacred ‘affair’
—
Stay Safe. Mask up.
-S
I have to be honest. I found it hard when I embarked on the journey of self-publishing. So many confusions so I wanted to give up on the task. But I treaded on with the goal. Now, I want to help people who have started and have the same confusions.
First things first. You have to decide what medium your readers would like your work in. I chose Amazon KDP for Kindle version and Notionpress(Xpress publishing mode) for paperback version. The urge to release a paperback version came many months after the release of Kindle. Amazon KDP paperback versions are not available in India. That’s the reason I opted for Notionpress Xpress Publishing mode.
Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing:
After publishing, you can promote the ebook with different offers and promotions.
Help for different topics on KDP can be found here in this link.
NotionPress (Xpress Publishing mode) :
I rummaged the Internet to find a suitable resource for publishing my paperback versions of my books. After many days, to my relief , I found NotionPress.
Since I had experience with Amazon KDP, the process with NotionPress Xpress Publshing mode was way too easy. The claim is that you can publish in 4 steps. That is, if you know the cover creation and manuscript formatting processes.
These are some of the steps I followed. If you want any more help, you can contact me on Twitter or mail me. You can also contact me through contact form on this site.
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Chutney mix in the head.. Want some ? 