I
close your small velveteen ears, darling,
don’t pay heed to the waste of voices
and their restful, rabid resemblance
with your callous crimes, and dither from
repentance, free every broken song
and write an equal-footed murmur
with your sagacious mouth — sewn shut —
all your comeuppance unstrung on time.
~
II
never drink from the well of knowledge,
for it heralds the end of peace, and
keep hostage, the calamity of
your condition — dreadful purple and
slated fates, furtive in a fragile
dance — a duel between demand and
need for self-effacement, bringing forth
the wreckage of woebegone endings.
~
III
fingers for eating, lips for smiling,
cheeks to be always flushed the right shade
of painted roses — pink and red and
every shade of bloom, flourishing in
the din of hollowed-out bones — tendons
that stick out in felicitation
of life — your awareness has come to
light — switch off your mind before it tries.
~
.
#8linepoems with #9syllables, originally posted on my new Insta handle (Pt. 3 would be uploaded today): @anmol.ha
Linking it up with Poetry Pantry at PU.
Disclaimer: Not really meant for children. Ha!
Image source: Self Portrait on the Operating Table by Edvard Munch
***
I have been working on a new Insta handle for over a month now, for literary and creative posts: @anmol.ha.
For contact, you can reach out to me through my multiple profiles, enlisted here.
HA's Place 
This is beautiful! (And it’s nice to come across a fellow Indian blogger, since I’m kinda new here. )
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Your third verse particularly took my breath away – profound write
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The second poem in the series speaks to me most forcefully with its warning against drinking from the well of knowledge. Perhaps just a sip? Otherwise, we would die of thirst. What a dilemma!
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This is such a remarkably woven piece! ❤ Love the depth and wisdom especially here in; “free every broken song and write an equal-footed murmur with your sagacious mouth”… Gorgeous work, Anmol 😊
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I am struck by “never drink from the well of knowledge” and “switch off your mind before it tries”. Was cool reading this right after Brendan’s. Same perspective. So well expressed.
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The same perspective as Brendan’s but so much tighter in verbiage. Very well expressed. I hated school before university. Hated it. all the blindness and bullying and ignorance. I loved school at University. My mother was a great proponent of higher education. I obtained a couple of degrees at university but in honor of my mother, I went back to school at my late age and just obtained another, one that I think she would have approved of. Take those sips from the well of knowledge but only sips and not great big glasses full. “All in all we’re just another brick in the wall”.
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A profound sequence Anmol.
Happy you dropped by my Sunday Standard today
much love…
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I like a lot of these lessons! Definitely worth learning
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So: Is it better to be a happy fool/robot or a frustrated/outcast sage? The lockstep lessons are always great for a mask, but only if they can be taken off and put on easily. And then there’s second nature, yes? And first nature? How you’ve got me caught up in my own “waste of words.” Love that! You show us the problem from the outside, sort of like Plato laying out his Republic.
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I enjoyed the blast of Florence and the Machine – I’m a South London girl originally, so appreciate the sentiment of the piece!
I also enjoyed your poem, especially:
‘…free every broken song
and write an equal-footed murmur
with your sagacious mouth — sewn shut —
all your comeuppance unstrung on time’
and
‘every shade of bloom, flourishing in
the din of hollowed-out bones — tendons
that stick out in felicitation
of life — your awareness has come to
light — switch off your mind before it tries’.
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I was thinking of the Velveteen Rabbit in the first piece. I like “every shade of bloom.”
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Some stunning word weaving in this. I enjoyed the second stanza, in particular … it brought to mind the Pierian Spring of Macedonia.
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This poem makes me think of the “messages” modernized fairy tales often spread. Not the one we see/read on the top layer, all the you-can-do-anything-if-you-are-good (or, at least, as good as society says you must be. Not, not that one. I’m talking about the most insidious message, the one that suggest that if you pretty much allow another to shape your thinking you’ll get your prince or princess and probably a kingdom.
Your note made me giggle.
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The reverse psychology, the tongue in cheek works very well Anmol… too many minds that have been switched off to the truth refusing the well of knowledge….
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