Daily Verse
Week 4, December 2023
As the Years go by
By Ivy Hansdak 25th December, 2023
As the years go by
Like loving spirits of mid-day dreams
I dreamt upon grassy, sunlit spots,
Which dwelt only for a gracious moment;
So my thoughts fade into nothingness
Blown by the winds of experience;
Then settles on my yet-youthful heart
Feelings untouched by mind’s fancy;
Then, like winter treading on autumn’s heels
And overtaking its serene beauty,
My heart is darkened by melancholy,
As I regret the passage
Of the years gone by.
elm leaves hold fast
nobody wants to be
last
stirring
my pumpkin spice coffee
under a harvest moon
getting louder
colorful whispers of
autumn
Mellow March
By Sangeetha Kamath 27th December 2023
Dainty spring under the March sun rays pale and mellow
Snowdrops take a bow and hellebores put on a show
Garden fairies pirouette in green tutus
As dawn celebrates with pastel plums and ecrus
Bewitching is this earth's heavenly song
Cold lament of winter's fine veil was long gone
Dewdrops shimmer on the sweet smelling grass
Gardens will bloom and birds will sing the sweetest of chants
New saplings in the fields and pastures rise
Warm breeze serenades them under shell-pink skies
Poems
by Mona Bedi 28th December 2023
winter stars —
how warm this silence
between us
vermilion sky --
the radiant smile
of a new bride
lip syncing the prayer kindergarten assembly
A Calendar of Events
By Sekhar Banerjee, 29th December 2023
I.
Oranges ripen to pure gold
Pomegranates to infinite drops of new fire
Old winter returns home tired.
II.
Gloomy autumn visits Mahua forest
Yellow leaves wilt and fall one by one
Sunlight misses its full shadow.
III.
Lovers break up in autumn
A familiar knock on the door in spring
Kisses melt silence in lips.
IV.
Water ripples around a fish-hook
Angler listens to the rotation of earth
Summer sky breaks in pond
V.
A rainy day in hills
old rooster prays long in the morning
A forecast for more rain
Biographies of Poets
Dr. Ivy Imogene Hansdak is a poet, scholar and translator employed as Associate Professor in the Department of English, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. She did her M. Phil. on “The Tribal as the ‘Primitive’ Other in Indian Literature: A Study of Three Texts” from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and her PhD on “Conversion, Marginalization and Emancipation in Three Women’s Narratives”, also from JNU, New Delhi. She has authored two poetry collections titled The Golden Chord (Writers Workshop: 2010) and The Prism of Life (Writers Workshop: 2022), besides editing her father’s autobiographical narrative, A Doctor Among the Santals: The Autobiography of Dr. Stephen B. Hansdak (ISPCK: 2012). She has also published several research papers in edited volumes and scholarly journals. She is an upcoming translator of Santali fiction into English. Since 2020, she has been editing an online journal titled The Johar Journal, of which two issues have been released (URL: www.joharjournal.org)
Roberta Beach Jacobson is drawn to the magic of words–poetry, puzzles, song lyrics, flash fiction, stand-up comedy. She is the editor of Cold Moon Journal.
Currently based in Singapore, Sangeetha Kamath is a contributor to various national and international anthologies of poetry as well as short stories. Her work has found its way in literary journals and ezines including Borderless Journal, eMerge Magazine of Writer's Colony of Dairy Hollow, McKinley Publishing Hub, ALSphere Magazine of Asian Literary Society and The Wise Owl to name a few. As a regular participant in various online poetry platforms and short story contests, she found her true calling in the writing world when she emerged as the Third Prize Winner in 2020 and the Second Prize Winner in 2021 in the short story contest held by Wordweavers. When she's not reading or writing, illustrating and journaling occupy a major part of her day. All her writings can be found on her personal blog sanguineallegory.blogspot.com
Sekhar Banerjee is a Pushcart Award and Best of the Net Award nominated poet. He has been published in Stand Magazine, Indian Literature, Arkana, The Bitter Oleander, Ink Sweat and Tears, The Lake, Madras Courier, Outlook, The Wire, The Bangalore Review, Kitaab and elsewhere. He is a former Press Secretary to the Governor, West Bengal. He lives in Kolkata, India.