Saturday, May 12, 2012

Sunday Scribblings: In the Beginning

Fiji, an ocean ago
The river and laundry outside
and enormous rocks
Chasing my mother
baskets tucked under her arms
My bangles, dancing along my arms
Little red scooter
wooden and worn
Coconut milk early in the morning
Warm rain
lizards slithering in rich hue
teensy-weensy frogs
Earth is a spell in green
Chutney and pickle
onion and pepper
My kaleidoscopic world
Nani and the ghee, my grandmother and the sacred butter
My mother, taller than trees
willowy and wise
A fusion of clove
cardamom
camphor
Her hair, onyx. Endless
Her eyes, tired and stone...

Sweet sixteen, an ocean away from home
sloshed and stoned
Goodbye daddy
California, alone
Summer in the valley
relentless heat
Stale and sugar plump
My mother, strange and far
Bittersweet
Friendship and solace
Midnight movies on the Old Sac lawn
Mushrooms and ice-cream and voices
A sodden song
A river so long
Trips and talks and a decade to treasure
Water, a wave, and the wash...

Acceptance
trail
renewal
A new shore, North Beach
more enormous rocks

22 comments:

  1. The pattern of life and growing and losing and re-starting..stumbling on the rocks a little..but always moving..like the ocean..beautifully fluid..rich..embracing writing..Jae

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    1. Yes, solace in the fact that the circle is endless. :)

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  2. I like to think that there is always hope to renew. It doesn't happen for everyone but it did for me. I'm blessed to be able to reconnect with my mom after a long period of eestrangement.

    It's not always possible, is it?

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    1. That's awesome, I'm happy for that Chris. And sometimes it's a matter of moving on and coming to terms within.

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  3. Although there is sadness here, I also see multiple beginnings, many lovely ways of being alive in the world.

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    1. Yes, there is little reason to stay stuck in one place when the world is so magical.

      Thanks for visiting!

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  4. a beautiful lament of a wonderful childhood and some sadness as an adult and to return for renewed vigor leaves me with a sad but encouraging picture... I hope your hopes are renewed above the rocks of that beautiful place.

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    1. Thanks for the little wish. Above the new rock is more than beautiful. :)

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  5. Life is a series of beginnings and endings, think of them as chapters in a book, your book, your story. Some beautiful and joyful, some bittersweet, some jagged rocks to be climbed over, some smooth and round and warm agasint your feet!

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    1. Exactly! No room to grow without all of those pieces. :)

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  6. What a beautiful poem! I really love the use of the word "onyx." Perfect choice!

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  7. I love this introspective sifting through memories poem/story of your life...beautiful threads tied together in your life :)

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    1. Thanks for coming by, Dee. I wrote a note to myself once, with these pieces, and then decided that it should be something like a poem.

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  8. Archana this is so sweet and beautiful...its something special...

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  9. This is my absolute favorite (until the next one you write). I saw your life flash before my eyes. I felt a rush of emotions, yours and mine flooded together. Not the same story but emotions evoked in similiar circumstances.
    It reminded me of being estranged from my mom. Though she lives a couple of miles from me we are forever seperated by an endless ocean of despair. Living in different worlds that will never cross paths again in this lifetime. Bittersweet indeed.

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    1. Thanks Debra, for reading so intently and sharing with me. I hate to know that we swam in the same water, but I love the story where we know that we will not repeat the cycle with our own children.

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