the lights go off in the section where
dusk meets the dark tidings of time
– limitless, engorged, stagnant –
whites to become whole at
this juncture of hope,
where no one stays
when shutters
have closed
down.
don’t
stay now
either, since
my unslept dreams
resound in emptied-
out hollows of the mind —
all that was sought, to be lost,
has been found at a decried end,
where staying is no longer in need.
.
© Anmol Arora 2018
For With Real Toads’ Fussy Little Forms, where Nonets are the order of the day
Image source (Before the Dusk by Dana Dion)
***
I have been working on a new Insta handle for over a month now, for literary and creative posts: @anmol.ha.
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HA's Place 
Thank you for posting this song. I have a place like this in my own childhood, and I go there when I hear this. Your poem speaks to me in the same way, staying is no longer in need. A very haunting and beautiful poem.
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Thank you, Victoria. I am glad that you found some resonance with the poem.
And yes, the song is quite beautiful in its nostalgia and heartful reverie. ❤
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Masterful touch with this. You did the double which I most admire. my unslept dreams resound in emptied-out hollows of the mind. Absolutely wonderful! Your poem touches the inside of my heart.
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Oh, that is so very kind of you to say, Toni. Thank you! ❤
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It seems like the person wants to stay, but also keeps moving. I like the word choices that evoke this inner conflict: “stagnant” and “hollows” contrasted with “hope” and “limitless”.
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I had to read your double nonet twice, Anmol, once in silence and once aloud. I like the use of hyphenated parentheses to foreground the list of three to describe the the ‘dark tidings of time’: ‘limitless, engorged, stagnant’, which don’t seem to give much hope at ‘this juncture of hope’, And then I find it at the end of the second stanza:
‘…at a decried end,
where staying is no longer in need’.
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I can sense the inner conflict of the speaker so palpable in this poem.. the urge to move on .. while haboring an uncontrollable desire to stay .. pain is never easy to cope with it gnaws at fragments of heart and soul as one attempts to become whole. Especially like: “my unslept dreams resound in emptied- out hollows of the mind”… such a poignant image ❤
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Melancholy, beautiful, and as Victoria says, haunting.
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I like your caring priority of those “unslept dreams.”
..
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This is excellently done, Anmol. You have worked wonders with the form. I love the ‘unslept dreams’.. my kind of imagery!
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Thank you for your kind words, Kerry! ❤
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Anmol, wow. I have stayed here and read this multiple times, thinking and feeling. I listened to the song… was not familiar with the artist but have heard the song before so thanks for connecting them. 🙂 I can’t help but read this piece as a broader reflection on society and injustice… and in the end, after losing, finding again, but different, smaller, changed, maybe a small amount of hope remaining. This really affected me. Thank you.
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Hope is the last thing left in Pandora’s box after all.
I am glad that you could see and read it through multiple lenses, and interpret it in such a manner.
Thank you for your kind words. ❤
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I love the stark emotions and those unslept dreams being possibility or threat… the form adds so much in double, like having to pass a funnel
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Hello Anmol, Could you email at brudberg@gmail.com
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The song plays so beautifully with your wonderful words.
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I think you’ve taken the form and made it work For your words and ideas, rather than trying to have form fit function; this being said, it all adds up to a very impacted poem (much like a tooth) – it hurts for the pain, yet without it, there is a longing for the loss, even as it may now, be of relief.
Your words carry both weight and hope – and they are layered. Very layered, which means many reasons to stop and read several times – and let them soak into the mind and spirit. One is left with both safety and comfort, release and relief, and yet, still, an undercurrent for the timeless conundrum of both the familiar and its comforts, even if sorrowful and yet the eagerness to be set free, even if it is slightly threatening, in its own way.
This is a wonderful piece, and very well worded; you’ve chosen well for the effects.
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Thank you for such a thoughtful interpretation, Pat.
Even when staying is no longer in need, the familiarity holds you back and as you leave, you turn around and look at the ghosts of all the possibilities if things had worked out differently. But we are who we are and the paths that we have taken have to be tread upon continuously to go on. It is, yes, a conundrum, and this uncertainty makes it a bit frightening too.
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all very true – that longing in the duel/dual nature of being…. human.
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unslept dreams – hard to know if it is in fear of or just unable to embrace a possibility…. Haunting.
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Yes, I feel the melancholy. Hope at times is a hard thing to hold on to. I feel there is a thread of it in this piece, but its fraying impacts soul and spirit.
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