unraveling a concerto

Image by Penny Byrne

a jukebox reality —

black rafters have been removed, for the lady
liberty has to put up a show of flower-disguised
equality, or so they call it. the weather is torn
between a rumbling thundershower and a bitter
sunshine that seems to melt the skin off, of all
the spectators.

oh, pity — they hope, they quarrel over some petty
crimes, they carry the burden of proof and safe-
guard their non-existent privacies. they are clad
in a humble blue contrary to lady’s silver linings,
awaiting the pleasure of music they would have to
stream otherwise from pirated sources. the artistic
royalties are too exorbitant for masses of idolators
or so she would often say, in her half-hearted tone,
her eyes sad for effect.

ah, encore — the song goes on, harps turn into bats,
pianofortes into eagle shrieks, every hue into pea-
cock flamboyancy — such a stylish disconcerting stare
to enjoy in the land of many crazies(—cracies), wide-
open plays and theatrics of a celebration based on
rainbow sentimental myths. let’s look for the damned
exit before it is over and all is lost in the triumph calls
of the masters of this reality.

.

© Anmol Arora 2018

Originally published on Visual Verse
Linking it up with The Tuesday Platform at With Real Toads

 

***
For contact, you can reach out to me through my multiple profiles, enlisted here.

Advertisement

resisting self-appropriation

the demarcation of identities may become
concrete beyond any measure of trust,
suggesting a clear-cut boundary (line out of control)
set with laced edges for an open-field view of
all the action, where stars rupture, mind swells
and foot-long visiting lists and eager spectators
wait for an epiphany in their limited visage,
or form, or expression —

i could light my body, turn paper into a wildfire,
stone into an insolent air, and turn my named
references back to their semicircular beginning,
without the complexity of politics of my body
or desire, obstructing the moon to rise in its tiding,
leading to a vasectomy of all craft.

there are seeds that grow without the spurt,
some pollen have a similar quality of disdain
for birth,

and i know that i cannot open
the undisclosed aftermaths of attention
depleted into this sin, or the afterword of joy,
to become pen and ink and words.

i fuck up like a fucked up alarm clock
(going cuckoo has cuckooed and gone)
springing to its climax at inopportune
times, when even time cannot be shut-
off, visions silenced, and this extravagant
search for a home in the buried remains
of self-hood finally discarded off in
neural pathways and cardiac tunnels.

an individualized treachery is preferred
over  a displayed form of acceptance, with
its soft-toned and hard-knelling voice
that thinks that just the right tone would
change the facets left unexplored, deep
in the recesses, way away from light, because
that is all they are, in the eye of the storm
that won’t bring me down or go away on its own.

do not worry about me, do not worry
about my fiefdom of lust and loss,
or my faces split open one by one,
little by little, without hurt and pain,

as the death’s wagon parks at my retina,
harnessed by my sleepless eyes,
and i wake, and i wake, and i breathe,
galloping through, breaking away
from all the signs.

.

© Anmol Arora 2018

I wonder if the intersection of self-appropriation and poetry suggests a kind of depravity. Nonetheless, it is for me a kind of resistance to even consider the same — it is supposed by the experience of letting it be the subject as well as the object of observation. Perhaps “my act of understanding” is flawed but it is as honest as it could be in the current struggle. Is it failing the internalized resistance or is it resisting the resistance?!

For With Real Toads’ Weekend Challenge — quite a challenge indeed;
Linking it up with Poetry Pantry at PU as well.

Image source (id Painting 27, 2015 by Mark Wallinger)

At least, we have Chopin and Brigitte Engerer’s playing available online.

***
For contact, you can reach out to me through my multiple profiles, enlisted here.

On US Government, Discussing Hiroshima and Nagasaki Bombings

(Copied from Listverse comments section because I couldn’t upload screen shots):

Nathaniel A. • 7 hours ago

Nuclear warfare has its uses though, without it, the US would have lost hundreds of thousands of more lives in Japan and a large scale land-war would be likely have erupted between the US and the USSR in place of the Cold War. 

guest  Nathaniel A. • 6 hours ago

Disagree with the first, but agree with the second. We would have just blockaded the island, without external resources Japan was ineffective.

While the “Cold War” was bad in many way, I agree the reason it stayed Cold and didn’t become a land based conflict is thanks to Nukes.

Nathaniel A.  guest • 6 hours ago

“We would have just blockaded the island, without external resources Japan was ineffective.”

Source?

HowAnxious  Nathaniel A. • 5 hours ago

And may I know your source as well(hoping against chance that it is not a biased article written by an American or an American-devotee like you justifying the atomic attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki)?

I find it disturbing that the American citizens have come to accept what must have been fed to them by their dominating government, which still tends to act as a dictator of the world

Nathaniel A.  HowAnxious • 5 hours ago

“And may I know your source as well”

Here is one for starters:

http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima….

Though common sense should be enough.
You also chose the wrong place to vent your anti-American butthurt, may I suggest this website:

http://hateusa.narod.ru/

 

HowAnxious  Nathaniel A. • 4 hours ago

Is that all you could come up with? If you think I hate the US just because I am not an American, then you are seriously mistaken, my friend.

The latter link shows your ignorance that a person who is not a supporter of American actions can’t have an opinion. That is my opinion and I stand by it because my morality hasn’t blinded me and hasn’t led me to ignore the common sense that the atom bombs harmed innocent pupils. The propagator of Human Rights has wreaked havoc over the mankind since years past. US government “butts in” and that is one main reason that we are still living in such terrible times as a result of this Unipolar world order.

I would quote from your link: “The U.S. believed that if the atomic bomb could end the war, Soviet influence after the war would be restricted and domestically the tremendous cost of development would be justified.” Did the US think about the population of Japan because as far as I know and understand, the Emperor was not the embodiment of the entire population of Japan. Why was it alright to bomb Japanese cities to stop the influence of Soviet Union? Again from your link: “After spring 1945, with Japan in an extremely weak position, the United States was considering the following ways of bringing the long war to an end: invade the Japanese mainland in November 1945.” If Japan was already weak, then what was the need of even thinking about conquering the country. Did the American government want to satiate its blood thirst?

And for your kind information, I don’t hate anyone. I just can’t bear the mistakes of the US government which are deemed necessary by so many… just because it is the great government of USA, the world superpower. I have no personal ill-will with the country, nor with its citizens. 

Nathaniel A.  HowAnxious • 3 hours ago

” If you think I hate the US just because I am not an American, then you are seriously mistaken, my friend.”

You called the United States Government disturbed, “dominating” and a “dictator”. Hardly sounds as if you like them.

“The latter link”

The latter link was chosen as a joke to mock you, and should be judged with that in mind.

” If Japan was already weak, then what was the need of even thinking about conquering the country.”

Weak in this context means having lost all of it its captured islands, and some of its supplies. The entire Japanese population would have fought tooth and nail for every last inch of their island, so that is why the bombing was a better alternative for the US, but not necessarily right from a moral standpoint.

As to the rest of your comment, this is not a debate about the “morality” of the atomic bombings, I was only sharing with you what would likely have happened if the bombings had not taken place.

---

 

I know, you’re wondering what is this? Today, I got into a discussion about the nuclear attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on a nuke-related list on Listverse. If you’ve read my statements, let me tell you that I have made some wonderful contacts on wordpress with some American bloggers and I like them and respect them a lot.

If you think I am criticizing the people or nation of US like Nathaniel felt, let me clarify that I am actually criticizing the US government and its policies and actions and not the people. And here is my last reply to Nathaniel which I’d like all of you to read as well. I know, it has turned out to be a big post but it is significant.

Dear Nathaniel,

You still seem to dwell in the era of Ancient Greek when politics meant both nation and state and there was seen no difference between the nation and a state. But dear friend, modern political philosophers definitely realized a difference between the two. Let me specify it to you briefly:

A Nation is referred to as a group of people who are interlinked with a bond so strong that they feel compelled to stay together on a particular geographical area or beyond and support each other and they are frustrated,when separated or controlled by an outer force. Nation encompasses the psychological connection of people.

A State on the other hand is build up of four components: People, Land, Government and Sovereignty.

Dear friend, as a result of confusion between nation and state, you tend to forget the difference between people and government. I tend to love people of not only US, but the entire world and I quite dislike US government which you even mentioned correctly but failed to realize:

(Nathaniel’s statement, from above)

“You called the United States Government disturbed, “dominating” and a “dictator”. Hardly sounds as if you like them.”

Yes, I repeat that the United States Government is dominating. But isn’t it well known? May be the use of the word, “dictator”, was ill-mannered. I apologize because I was a little emotionally charged while typing my reply to you. Okay, I agree that I don’t like US Government.

Now let me ask you some questions, in context of our discussion as well as the tragic event we were discussing about:

1. With a silly link that you posted for my kind reference: http://hateusa.narod.ru/, which you later regarded as a way of mocking me, I feel sorry that the topic of our discussion was so comical to you. We are talking of murder of so many people and you tend to regard it as a joke. May I ask you, what did you find so funny about the points that I put forth that you judged me about my opinion and provided me with such a silly link?

2. First you mention that the US government had two choices: 1. Nuclear Attack on Japan, or 2. Conquering Japan by land. You provided a link(comparatively sensible one) to support your statement. When I quoted from that link provided by you regarding the fact that Japan was too weak and I further suggested that there was thus no need of trying out ways to punish Japan by way of bombing it or conquering by land as an alternative, you mention that, “The entire Japanese population would have fought tooth and nail for every last inch of their island, so that is why the bombing was a better alternative for the US”. Would you share your thoughts as regarding why was it so necessary to crumble Japan from within? The war was almost won. Was there really any sensible reason to drop nuclear bombs on those two cities according to you? According to me, there wasn’t any. There could have been other ways to make the Empire fall down and not the people. I hope you won’t confuse Empire/Govt. with people again.

3. Here comes the question of morality. When I apply my notions of morality in determining what I consider to be the common-sense(which you earlier suggested that I lacked) that the direct implication of those bombs was on the people, you state in the end that our discussion is not about morality and that you were “informing” me of what would have happened(as in the loss of life of a large number of people in the bid of US govt. to conquer the territory of Japan) if what actually happened(the nuclear bombs dropped on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki which claimed many lives) didn’t happen. I ask you, why not? The society, the government, the people prod us to use our morality in our actions. Why shouldn’t we talk about morality in case of such a serious discussion? Was US government’s decision to drop those bombs a moral one? I don’t know of a specific answer for the second question because I have only read about in books. I was not there, then, at that point, neither am I a high scholar who is an expert of that time… but I am a person and my heart beats and it condemns what happened. That was terrible. And you have produced an ambiguous source behind your statements but that source doesn’t explain… why was it so necessary for the US to cripple Japan and makes me question if it was only a method of the US political leaders to declare their power, their dominance over the world.

* You may not agree with my thoughts but that is alright. I won’t “mock” what you have to say about it. Please do share your viewpoints because it would only add into my understanding and help me realize or further question, what was the necessity behind that action!?

** I apologize profusely for being a little too critical in the comments shared on Listverse. I was emotionally charged and that is all I have to say.

Memories: Political Science Teacher

Political Science has always been a subject of my interest but I got to study it for just two years. I am a person who participates in political discussions.. I love to put forth my opinion and discuss in detail the government’s policies, bureaucracy, political corruption, important incidents in the political history, etc. I garnered a political vision because of those two years.

Particularly during the second year, my teacher was amazing. She used to lecture us about each and every view point, take us through the minute details and she was a teacher who used books to teach but that did not mean she would limit her teachings to that boo cover. She would always offer her opinion and encourage us to do so as well. And that is what had made her my favorite teacher.

Mam! I’d like to share my opinions regarding the same..

All through the year, we would discuss different political matters and it was me who used to speak the most. Sometimes it was as if we two were talking in the class. I don’t know but no one else was as interested as I was in those discussions.

Now a funny thing… My class mates would always thank me after the class for having involved the teacher in a discussion or another, which gave them ample amount of time to take a nap. That doesn’t mean I was a teacher’s pet. But I know I was her favorite student too. She had told me so time and again. She would always praise me for having my own view point, devoid of what others tell me.

Even today I am independent in my thoughts, my opinions and thanks to her today, I am trying to live in the way I want and not in the way what society tends to believe is right.

Before this post gets too boring, I must tell you I am no longer in contact with her. I had her phone number and after when she had left the school (she left it before me), I tried to contact her but her mobile number was changed by then. I tried searching for her on facebook but to no avail. I miss her… That sounds weird, a student missing a teacher. But I do, for her patience and her calm attitude and most importantly, for her opinions and something she taught me which gives me a little strength in these difficult times.

Have you ever had a teacher like that? Which was/is your favorite subject? Is it your favorite subject because of the teacher who used to teach it or just because you like it anyhow? I would love to read your experiences. Please do comment.

What an Outsider knows about Occupy Wall Street Movement

I am trying to participate in the Weekly Writing Challenge for the first time, that too on the topic I’m not much familiar with. I like to know what’s going around the world but the particular phenomena of occupy movements, taking place in some of the countries last year couldn’t grab my attention. I’m not sure why but it all seemed very impractical to me.

The problems being discussed under these movements persist in every economy- there is nothing, here by nothing- I mean nothing instrumental, that can be done in bringing down or preventing the inequalities. Rich and poor, in economics- what we try to distinguish as poor and non-poor are the prevalent social groups; it isn’t practical to consider the conversion(at a major level with the interference of economic leaders) of the poor into non-poor and vice-versa because such things, in general, are not of much significance for the big economies where primary aim is economic growth and not necessarily overall development, even though the political leaders keep on babbling about bringing forth social justice and equality. But that seems like a distant dream when we think about it in practical sense.

I am here focusing particularly on the Occupy Wall Street Movement. I am sorry but I don’t know much about it, neither am I going to read about it right now. I am just going to write what I came to know and what I think about this particular movement. I am not representing all the outsiders(non-Americans) but since I’m an outsider- I would call it

What an Outsider knows about Occupy wall Street Movement?

1. Many Americans gathered together for yet another cause, which many other Americans don’t give a damn about. I am not being prejudiced in my opinion but may be I am.

2. The movement actually came forth because of the frustration of the increasing unemployed in the United States, even when they might themselves have been at fault but they found a great way of blaming everything on some one else, here the political and economic leaders.

3. It might have been a political stunt on the part of most respected Mr. Obama. I won’t explain it further.

4. Money factor- Increasing Income Inequality was one of the most important talked about matters under the Movement which I completely would be ready to protest against myself because an increase in the overall income(GNP) won’t be of any good, if it is not divided equally among the “committed” work force of the country but as I earlier mentioned, such problems arise when you want economic growth.

5. It was for the first time that the Americans realized and made the world realize that Capitalist economy is not necessarily the best form of economy, what with all the decisions being left to the free play of the market forces.

6. Corruption- Being a resident of India where corruption exists at every door-step, I won’t be commenting on this particular matter.

7. Was it only me or did you also notice that the large no. of protesters were indeed young? Well, I didn’t follow the activities of the movement much- so, I can be wrong but if it was really so, it is a great news that the youth of the world’s largest economy(its not China yet, right?) came forth to do something for the societal benefits.

So, here are my views and my overall knowledge about the Occupy Wall Street Movement.

Now, I would like to apologize if I did hurt someone’s feelings unknowingly as a result of my lack of knowledge regarding the matter or may be because of some other reasons, if any.