Did you know that shop down the
corner here?
I went looking for it, but
it was closed…
Son, it shut when the
lockdown was imposed
and never opened again. How
many years
have you been away? The last
two have changed
so many things – how we
work, play, buy and eat,
the number of shops shut
down on this street
the entire neighbourhood’s
been rearranged
a hundred homes upended,
windows gone blind
livelihoods destroyed, a war
without a war
shutting down our lives,
never mind the store
the last couple of years
haven’t been kind
where have you been, son? Stuck
on the other side
of the world, waiting for the
plague to subside.
Last two and a half years, I've been treading water as far as writing goes. Posted here regularly of course, and at WEP - these are like breathing, can't imagine life w/o them (Thank you my WEP and blog families!)
But I made no submissions anywhere. Zero. I wrote plenty...I was just nowhere near up to editing the stuff into submission-worthiness. Hopefully, that out-of-control spell is now broken and I am now open, business as usual. For which I am grateful.
Check out this link here - Portrait of a Garden, and if you feel able, please share on your sm platforms. Thank you for your support.
Hari OM
ReplyDeleteI hear ya - I feel stagnant, creatively... and yet so many others found their inspiration during that time. A juxtaposition of focus... good to hear you are getting back on the track. Now to follow... YAM xx
Creativity requires a certain critical mass of peace. Which has been sorely lacking in my world for sometime now. But enough is enough, - given the situation one must make one's peace with it and within it. All the best for yours.
DeleteI LOVE your garden piece. It made my heart sing and filled me with longing - which the very best of writing so often does. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteSo glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for reading.
DeleteBeautiful piece.
ReplyDeleteThank you for reading.
DeleteThe poem is very touching, Nila. This plague has certainly been hard on business along with most other things. It's true you can return to places with no assurance that a favorite shop will still be operating. What sad stories a closed shop can tell.
ReplyDeleteAnd congrats again on your publication. I'm glad you're finding more time to write and submit.
The poem is inspired by a real life event - family I know came back to India after being stuck abroad for two years due to the pandemic and found that their neighbourhood grocers had gone out of business. It's not just a grocery store, these neighbourhood shops are landmarks, they know all their customers by name and have more than a business relationship, witness to our lives really through thick and thin. Painful to see them go.
DeleteThanks for the msg of congratulations and for your understanding all through. Not so much a time issue but a state of mind. Hopefully better composed now.
Hi Nila - I think many of us are feeling 'your way' ... things are opening and closing so quickly - the camaraderie of being part of a group of shoppers - eg chemist, or newspaper - which sells milk - always helpful and cheering. I'm grateful I belong to a few groups ... so camaraderie there too ... but vis a vis war, politics etc - it's not easy to think straight. I'm ok ... and will be - I just feel for those who struggle to adapt. Your poem conjures up life exactly for so many now - cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteSo true Hilary, an avalanche of changes in the last few years - difficult to wrap one's head around them! Glad you're able to find your place among groups and are okay. Stay well.
DeleteYour poem captured change with quite the images. It must be how someone feels when let out of jail and the world has moved on. So many subtle and big changes. I'm still being surprised as I round a corner.
ReplyDeleteThe pandemic has been a prison for each one of us though in marginally different ways. Glad you enjoyed the poem and the garden piece.
Deleteoh - and a "musical of liquid beauty". I liked that image in your garden piece.
ReplyDelete