Category Archives: Could be Verse

Oct13

I missed Malala

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…At point blank range

With Malal Yousafzai so much in the news again with reports and articles such as these:

in the The Prague Revue

in the Washington Post

and in the New York Times

I thought the time is right for me to post a poem I wrote several months ago on a chance remark made by my husband when I wondered how the would-be assassin could miss Malala at such short range? And he replied, ‘Perhaps he couldn’t do it’. And from this, the following poem arose:

The training it was thorough

The orders loud and clear

The young girl was a menace

And she was spreading fear

I really didn’t get it

But my superiors were sure

And on the Internet they said

Her demands were all impure

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Sep14

Job 28:1

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Two things happened. I received, as i regularly do, a reading from the Bible Job 28:1 (There are mines where silver is dug; There are places where gold is refined. 2 We dig iron out of the ground And melt copper out of the stones) and found the imagery wonderful and truly quite awesome. Then a day or two later I read about the Onegin Stanza also called a Pushkin Sonnet.  With these two influences buzzing around in my head I have created the following piece with two Onegin stanzas ending in a set.

I hope it works for you, although I think a modern free verse attempt may have captured the grandiose emotions a bit better. Perhaps another day.

There are mines where silver is dug, and found

Places where our gold is refin’d

We dig for iron right out of the ground

And stones we melt for copper to find

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Sep2

The Miracle

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Another poem from Rupali!

I looked up towards the sky

To where the great eagles fly.

The clouds were passing by

In shades of grey and white…

Read it on Rupali’s page!

Aug11

The Storm – a new poem on Rupali’s Page

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Drum Roll…

Trumpet flourish…

We have another rhythmic, lyrical poem from Rupali…

The Storm

The night was dark

The wind did howl

The streets were empty

The tramps didn’t prowl…

See the rest on Rupali’s Page

Jun21

The Pearl Divers’ Songs

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Their music was so strange and distant
From hymns they sang straight to the sea
Or praises raised to mighty Allah
Those lovely songs, that fidjeri

Above the waves of Bas Ya Bahr*
The Nahhaaam raised his melody
Along with him the clappers played
The jahlah or mirwas, plaintively.
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Jun6

Panchatantra – The Fall and Rise of a Merchant

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For those of you who may recall

The last of our Panchatantra tales 

We had Dama-na-ka, our hero brave

About to share yet another sage tale

With Sanjeev-aka that noisy ol’ bull

And here’s the story, not in part, but full…

The Fall and Rise of a Merchant

“What story?” asked Sanjev-aka all agog

“Dantila, the merchant, the one who lost all

For he treated the royal sweeper like a dog

When Gorambha the sweep, came to the ball

That Dantila threw for his own wedding

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May29

The Piper

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light2by Rupali Mistry
Piper, Piper, play me a song
So I can dance
And sing along

Piper, piper, I hear you now
And I’ll follow you
Beyond the clouds

Piper, piper, stop playing your pipe
For I’ll stay awhile
In this place of light
May26

The Angel

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by Rupali Mistry

I asked if she
Would help me
To cross the street

My vision’s a blur
I don’t even hear
My bones as they creak

The street’s so wide
I cannot decide
Where to point my feet
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May5

On reading the youthful memoirs of Yevgeney Yevtushenko

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I came across this piece I’d written almost forty years ago and was quite prepared to relegate it to my personal slush pile or trash it. But, I do believe, we’re all rather attached to our own creations so I didn’t. Then at one of our poetry meetings David Hollywood asked us to write a poem about justice and present it at the following meeting. Since this was my own creation albeit many years before, I decided to read it to the group. And now I offer it to you. I’m curious, does it in any way give away the difference in age?

What is truth?” said jesting Pilate

As he mocked the Prince of Peace

The saddest fact that now remains

The scorner’s sentiment’s increased

And ‘truth’ having gone through much change

Now goes around in guises strange

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Dec31

Panchatantra – The Jackal & The Drum

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Continuing the Panchatantra tales in verse…

(So king Ping-a-laka settled down to hear

Dama-nak-a’s story, all about fear

And an unknown fear, as we all know

Must be faced in order for it to go)

And this dear friends is the tale we’ll hear

About the jackal and the drum he feared

 

The Jackal and the Drum

A hungry jackal went in search of food

And came to a deserted battlefield

But loud strange sounds made him feel not so good

And he thought to run from the battlefield.

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