Teesta Review: A Journal of Poetry, Volume 7, Number 1. May 2024. ISSN: 2581-7094
--- Hema
Ravi
From a landscape desolate, dreary and opaque,
where a terrifying battle was lost,
Sphinxlike beings from the ruins awake
to reclaim the torn threads tossed.
Sparks within refuse to get dimmer –
no longer can be suppressed Collective Voice!
Life instincts rouse in shaky glimmer
to reclaim self-rule. Peace is theirs by choice.
Proud faces atop pillars lie flattened to dust,
beside the lake, heaps of broken dreams still lie.
Debris dislodged by a sudden gust
soars skyward above the quiet ones long gone by…
Beneath bareness, lies concealed might –
A luminous beam on a snowy night.
Letting Go
--- Hema
Ravi
In the
sands of time, when ‘Let Go’ raised its hood,
I
buried myself deeply in the world of gadgets.
The
resultant perks were a sore neck and blurred vision.
Finding a large empty box, I filled it
with anguish, anticipation, desires, fears
and negativities- the overflow nauseated.
Pushing aside pain, I indulged in
compulsive shopping and binge eating
and began expanding. Clothes refused to fit.
I sought advice from a mental health professional,
who prescribed colorful medicines, which left me
more exhausted than energetic.
My empathetic family suggested: ‘Yoga’ –
the all-season remedy. My restless mind
and body refused to remain still.
At daybreak, a chirpy chorus allured me to
break off inertia and take a Spring morning stroll.
An empty nest fell with a loud thud. Eye Opener…
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Bio:
Writer
by passion, Hema Ravi has had a brief stint in the Central Government, as a
teacher of English and Hindi for over two decades and is currently a freelancer
for IELTS and Communicative English. She is a poet, author, reviewer,
editor, event organizer, independent researcher, and resource person for language
development courses. Her articles and
poems have been published in international print and online journals.
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