why write

Enraged
on being ignored
till the observed
takes the form
of words on sheet
haunts the observer
breaks rules
flashes itself
at the mention of
any image linked
to it.

Chaser Wind

A dried leaf
swayed onto the
ground raising
another forward
half feet above
like a bird
chasing another

Thin cup

a long narrow
white cup
with blue floral
design around

in the center
a repeated tight
floral circle
evoked a saucer
with a possible
cup image

maplewood chopsticks

As I walked into
Sun Dining restaurant
a natural perfume
of custard apple fruit
agreed with the
smooth green colors
of the wide booth

changing fortune

Ideas not coupled with action
never become bigger than the
brain cells they occupied

Education is less expensive
than ignorance

Fortune Cookie, Sun dining.

The secret life of a recipe

The first time we we were invited to our landlord's house for lunch, I do not remember what we had before dessert. One reason, I remember the dessert is, it was served in a small bowl of the cooling glasses brown shaped in the form of a half cut apple with a leaf. And two, the dessert was Gulab Jamun.




With its novelty, you can imagine my mom asking the landlady for the recipe, still better asking her to show how (new word for hands on) to make them. Since this is a dish that just does not depend on proportions but also how the jamuns are rolled crackless, passing on of it, requires patience. May be by hit and trial, one can learn how to make it - like the time my sister and I learnt how to make rose cookies, getting the conistency of the batter right or mar it - like the time I made gulab jamuns which would better pass as tough donuts.



What makes people try recipes? My dad once made peanut brittle. As a young kid, I had a bad experience of having too much of it while travelling. That time also coincides with my forming a tough no-no bond with the likes of soft drinks - thanks to the head stir created by Thums up! Taste the Thunder.



**************************
Or was she flattered that Randolph wanted it?
Eat my words- Reading women's lives through the cookbooks they wrote- Janet Theophano

Thanks Grandma

In a house with a hen
the daily egg is precious
With many in the family
you would wait till
you amassed enough
for a meal for all

Releasing it in the morning
from an overturned basket
where it has been held
the previous night
cutting short the
wanderers trail ignoring
its shrieks and jumps

One such egg was boiling
with the white rice for me
and my sister hidden
from the eyes of my cousins

One of the
first days
of school
or lunches
my grandma
getting me
a tiffin
of rice with
ivy gourd
curry
and water
in chembu

As children
if we knew
and ate well
we could
save our loved
ones, long walks.

little yellow flowers

my brave
peanut plant
has spewed
two little
yellow flowers
with
stems strong
only for a day

from the side
as if to grab
attention away
from the straight
towering post
of leaves and
branches

Beasts Inside

With the knowledge
of just having had
lunch, my hunger
couldnt be real

A Ghirardelli
square with
hazelnuts
was to fool it

Just then the
chocolate's sweetness
kicked in and I rushed
for another with almonds
This is never different

The monster in me
probably knows
I will never let
'I want chocolate'
out

And then
there was still
the real hunger
to tame.

Not for cold storage

A shriveled apricot
last of its lot
in a refrigerator

Even in this
mushy state
does the seed
stay as
disconnected
as ever

Protome

Every pot
out of
the potters bowl

Even the
ceramic plates
on display
at
Danish Christmas.

Painted Beaker

Tea in
glasses
with
flowers or
leaves of
green and
white

Gadroon

Betel juice
ground in
a palm sized
soft black
mortar and pestle

permeates
with phlegm
sand in
the hourglass
Brass spittoon

marks the intervals
of grannies tales

Store bought perfection

On my first attempt
to have a
Vanilla cup cake
from the ziploc bag

Dampness
on the top
stopped me

Then again
it must be how
they look
while munching
I wondered
how store bought
they taste

A german chocolate
cupcake half eaten
with no base
the topping of
chocolate
and coconut
caramel
and pecan
fell down

forcing me to
have another

Thankfully
my dislike
for fondant
worked in
my favor
from keeping
me away from
a pina colada
cupcake

I should try that
next time.

Window shopping at grocery store

Green cauliflowers on the top
of a group of cauliflowers
like a color-it page
with one box colored in
green crayon
and rest left blank

Baby cauliflowers
look better than
brussel sprouts

White Horse at Uffington

on the green hill
like veins of virus
on a green leaf

Regular tomatoes go to market

Siamese Brinjal

Towards the end
of the day
we look
at the tomatoes
gathered in
the big basket before
us

It will be sewn with a big
needle and covered
with a jute cloth
and just before that
my sister and I
look for the
ones
which are oblong
or anything not
like the rest.

My pet complaints

that I have always been
on a very flat land
the only one water body
I saw instilled fear

I forget
that the offshoot path
to our ancestral house
was raised earth.

In the aftermoons
of holidays
we slept under
the tamarind trees

sometimes trying to
fell them

The trees were on
a ten feet mound
which was all covered
with quicken tree

the red pink berries
never seen elsewhere
and so not
pronounced edible

were denuded
to their transparent
inners and
lost to ground.

*************************
Fuamnach struck Etaine with a rod of scarlet quicken-tree.

Purple dress

Purple long skirt
with few inches of
black border at
the bottom

It was on me
on my sister
too

Do mothers
dress their children
alike

so that
even if one forgets
one's dress or the other's
the other can remember
one's dress or the other's

*******************************
slaught on memory:

The Purple Stocking(painting by Sir James Jebusa Shannon)
Midir's purple leather, purple tunic (The Wooing of Etaine - Retold by Ann Moray)

from 'The Celtic Quest: An Anthology from Merlin to Van Morrison' edited by Jane Lahr

A kiss to the bird

I think
I know
why humming
birds are cute
why they
look like babies

Red and Green Apples

Apples and oranges
have become
too staple for
afternoon snack
so much that

Red and Green
though apples
are no
longer of
the same family

Sometimes the
green apple
crisp like a
pear is really
no apple or sweet

Today finding the
oranges too small
to satisfy visual
appetite

my eyes took in
small bunches
of fresh
apricots
peaches
and plums

crazy day
who wants
apples then

Content spill

I didnt know
that Bolillo
at local bakery
had eggs in it
until one day
they smelt too
much to disguise
the presence
and tasted
very chemical
after left
too long
dunk in tea.

(aah- dunkin doughnuts figures!!)

Memorious clouds

Funes remembers the
shape of clouds
on any given day

One day
I remember
driving to the airport
the sky had
mountains of clouds

This day
I want to remember
the red bird
with blue wings
before
it joins

the
clouds
of all
the other
days.

Slowly blown away

Sternum in dark clouds
ribcage in light ones
fast diffusing into
a powder

Lithops

Welcome to
Cyclops fake treasure

Agave Potatorum

ripples like water
and then parts
to quake like fire

State bird

Cactus Wren
on Boojum tree
like a
Rooster
on a Windvane

Little less spitting mirror image

Boyce Thompson Arboretum, Superior AZ

Colour in Moisture

The drizzle from
rain and sprinklers
didnt all reach the
ground.

Recession: Eye opener

Of all the birds
the saddest to be
a statue
would be
a roadrunner

The day my friend
told me of it
I saw one running
in the parking lot
and knew it was
a roadrunner

This statue
was a heap
of faded copper
until the birdwatcher's
eyes opened
and the border stores
next to it closed.

Obituary of a fly

It puzzled sheriff fly
that the house fly
who could

buzz within earshot
escape human clap trap
create more ruckus than a rattling AC

was last found
pressed under an
asleep human

He thought
This can happen only once
and sent out an advisory
to all the flies
" Dont underestimate
stationary objects,
you never know
when they roll"

Mill Mill

Saw mill
Wind mill
flour mill

KinderCare

A mom
at a wooden gate
with a child by
her waist
and another
looking back
unwilling to enter

I wondered
why it seemed
like he wasnt
being attended to

A pop
bringing his
daughter out
of her seat

I should have known
they dont stay there
they go for care

A Magician's trick

Pulling the
purple back comforter
with a white front
out of the laundry
I was the magician
pulling a rabbit
out of the hat
only not effortlesly
and to a solo
audience reminding
him of all the
'tons of laundry'
that he had to
play the trick on.

Flying time

In yoga
how does time
pass so quickly?

Forsaking

To your love
try saying goodbye
thinking you own it
and find
you are enslaved.

Self fulfilling choice

When a choice
is to be made
between
yoga and elliptical

In the morning calm
yoga wins

Recipe for a good cook

A recipe
that turns out well
makes you feel
like a good cook
and cook more

Office Deco

On the ledge
in a restroom
blooms
a white flower
in frumps
on a toilet roll

Blending Naturally

In the forest
people
are always
cutting trees
to make a clearing

Imagine a garden there

Invasive

When seated
at eye level
still water at Lakeside
of Tempe Center of Arts
merges with the
man made Tempe Lake

with occasional
joggers, walkers
bobbing out

Wild rose hips

When
Red
Blue
Green
are the only colors

When
all the world
is just one
sky
and or beach
and or palms

Minimal
yet Holistic

*****************

The Dove in the Eagle's nest - charlotte Mary Yonge

Overcoming

A square
chocolate chip
cookie
with ridges

The beginning
of uncraving
is with
forgetting the
tastes already known.

On the mind of a lost hiker

When theres an
unplanned forest
in a desert
to cross back
and a way to find
ahead
whats a snake
curled in your way?

In the pyramid
of fear
they rank
below
the prospect
of getting lost.

************
Superstition Mountains, AZ.

Fleur Chasers

Some butterflies
land innocently
on
skirts
green with specks
of white

***********
Phoenix Botanical Gardens

Things to do

If days available
are three
and a thing to do

Its best done today

For tomorrow and another day
there could be more
anew

Building

Tiny barbels
spread out
on a fresh
green cactus.

Tender forms
soon to
take the
thorny stiffness.

How were the
mountains
before this big?

*******
Orogeny

To see what smooth writing reads like

go to Kicke out of Kindergarten

WOOF Contest – Top Picks

Poetry


zorlone - “Almost a sin?” - A borrowed experience from a good friend which I turned into a poem. The main character asked this question in the end.


Dragon Blogger - “Lovers in Bed” - Another poem of passion between a couple.


Jennifer M Scott - “A Bad Night for a Poet” - I think the title describes it all, perhaps not my best work but it is genuine for what I am feeling at this moment.

Non-Fiction / Personal Memoir / Personal Essay / Philosophy


Dina Tibbs - “Kicke Out Of Kindegarten” - Memoir of my early years being raised by hippies.


Deeptesh Sen - “Dance at Dusk” - It was an experiment with the higher truths of life and profane religious thoughts engendered in this tormented world where only HE can save us again.

Brought to you by PlotDog Press with the Writing Software: "Save the Cat Software and Book Review"

Cliff dwellers

In April, its presence stronger
than its absence, in September
the water of Beaver Creek

I would have guessed
that the creek flows
from left to right
towards the corner bank.

in the direction
out of the plaque of description
of their vanishment guess

Do settlements happen
uphill?

***********

Montezuma Castle, AZ

A Treat to read

p>WOOF Contest – Top Picks

Prose / Humor / Life Story


The Flavored Mom - “Hello, Muffin” - Contemplating body image, how we define ourselves, when are we at our best and the advantages of maturity.

Poetry


Zorlone - “Summer” - Summer is felt everywhere! I just want to let everyone know how I feel about it.


Himri - “Warm Sage bushes” - Construction from observation –or- How planters dress differently from pullers.


Jennifer M Scott - “Forks Go on the Left” - A poem about purpose.

Dramatic Monologues / Fiction


Webbielady - “Her Last Laugh” - A very short written detail about her final moments in his hands...

Brought to you by PlotDog Press with the Writing Software: "Save the Cat Software and Book Review"