.jpg)
The Daily Verse
To make The Wise Owl more dynamic, we have introduced The Daily Verse, a segment where we will upload poetry all days of the week. Just send in a poem to editor@thewiseowl.art
February

About the Author
Radha Chakravarty is a widely published writer, critic and translator. Subliminal: Poems is her recent collection of poetry. Her poems have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. She contributed to Pandemic: A Worldwide Community Poem (Muse Pie Press, USA), nominated for the Pushcart Prize 2020.
Thursday, 6th February, 2025




pierced heart
on a window pane
dusting day
cradled faith
a prayer awaits
the pole star


Why, child, do you
step into my aura,
only to vanish?
reality
taking shape
in conjured worlds

About the Author
Kavita Ratna is a children's rights activist, poet and a theatre enthusiast. Sea Glass is her anthology of poems published by Red River. Her poems have appeared in The Kali Project: Invoking the Goddess within, A little book of serendipity, Muse India, The Wise Owl, Triveni Hakai India, Haiku in Action, the Scarlet Dragonfly, the Cold Moon Journal, Five Fleas Itchy poetry, the Haiku Dialogue, Stardust Haiku, Leaf (Journal of The Daily Haiku), and many others. She was on the Haiku panel at the Glass House Poetry Festival, Bangalore, 2024. She is also a Pushcart Prize nominee, 2024.
Wednesday, 5th February, 2025

Twilight Hours
By Geeta Varma

They stay,
The early ones,
Like old photographs
On a fading wall,
Of-
Sweaters, red and brown
hanging on a clothesline,
waiting for the school bus
in the cold,
sister in a white petticoat
refusing to sit
on a cold metal chair,
a soft white flower falling
and I, picking up
as we, father and I, walk
one dark evening,
waiting for a peacock feather
in my notebook
to germinate,
grandma’s echoing voice
in the old courtyard
of her ancient house,
our running in the rain,
our new-born baby
packed, full of wonder,
ready to be cuddled….
So much, so many
Frozen in time
In the twilight hours
Of my life!
About the Author
Geeta Varma is a poet based in Chennai. She has worked as a teacher and freelance journalist for some time. She has to her credit two books of poems and is a regular contributor to a few online magazines. She lives in Neelankarai with her husband Shreekumar Varma and has two sons, Vinayak married to Yamini, and Karthik.
Tuesday, 4th February, 2025



fallen leaves -
all the words
I didn't say
lockdown -
wall of silence
unveils the stars


cicadas...
the empty shell
of my womb
About the Author
Giuliana Ravaglia was born in the province of Bologna (Italy), is a former primary school teacher and has a great love for poetry, especially haiku. His poems have been published on websites and online magazines: Otata, Troutswirl, ESUJ-H, Asahi Haikuist Network, The Mainichi, Scarlet Dragonfly Journal, Haikuuniverse, Cold Moon Journal, Akita International Haiku Network, The Bamboo Hut, Take 5ive, Haiku Corner, Memoirs of a Geisha, HaikuNetra, Haiku World, Failed Haiku among others. he received Honorable mention in Haiku EuroTop 100.
Monday, 3rd February, 2025

Everlasting Memories
By Sreelekha Chatterjee

Memories hang like verglases
from the rock-solid ceiling of my mind.
With the warmth of my remembrance,
they melt, pouring out, come alive.
Moments turn into memories
I do not know when.
One leads to another,
clustering as though a bunch of grapes
from the soul of my existence,
belonging to a common memoir clade.
Memories frosted for life
bloom as delightful flowers—
imperishable like the fragrance
of my being without which I feel disempowered.
Refreshing as the roseate air of dawn’s
illuminating grace,
anamneses come forth,
seem to ebb and flow—
vanish and reappear.
Reminiscent of the frosted icing on the cake,
I relish them, venerate their lived experiences—
some of memorized tears, others of recollected laughter;
their beauty embraces with passionate wings.
Akin to the snow that amasses—wise and bright—
memories remain sealed,
my heart endowed with gratitude chimes.
About the Author
Sreelekha Chatterjee is a poet from New Delhi, India. Her poems have appeared in Madras Courier, Setu, Raw Lit, Verse-Virtual, The Wise Owl, Pena Literary Magazine, Ghudsavar Literary Magazine, Orenaug Mountain Poetry Journal, Poetry Catalog, Suburban Witchcraft Magazine, Creative Flight, Medusa’s Kitchen, Everscribe Magazine, and in the anthologies—Light & Dark (Bitterleaf Books, UK), The Harvest & the Reaping, Winter Glimmerings, and Whose Spirits Touch (Orenaug Mountain Publishing, USA), and Christmas-Winter Anthology Volume 4 (Black Bough Poetry, Wales, UK).
Friday, 31st January, 2025

Patterns
By Avantika Singh

As frosty winds blow,
Icy patterns of frost on windshields grow
From trees to intricate leaves
Beauteous patterns, the ice weaves.
My warm breath I see escape,
In the cold air in a shape
Like a small, puffed-up cloud—
Patterns I see where none did abound.
As frosty winds blow,
The homeless shiver slow
On the roads, they lie
Besides small fires under the open sky.
Sometimes on a gurdwara’s steps
At other times under the flyovers complex
They find shelter from the cold
Bundled under quilts tattered and old.
But the world works in its own fashion,
As unknown hands reach out in compassion
Distributing blankets to the destitute
Covering them with love resolute.
As frosty winds blow
The patterns of compassion show,
Embracing the cold on footpaths and pavements
In steaming cups of tea and other arrangements.
As frosty winds blow,
The dogs lie snuggled low
On small hillocks of dug-out earth
For that warmth is their hearth.
As a compassionate soul passes by
Jackets and food they supply.
In this world, as we pass by
In patterns of compassion, let us tie
About the Author
Avantika Vijay Singh is a communications professional, wearing the hats of a writer, editor, poet, researcher, and amateur photographer. She has authored two solo anthologies, edited three anthologies, and has been published in national and international journals. She received the Nissim International Award Runner Up 2023, WE Gifted Poet 2024, and WE Illumination Award 2024.
Thursday, 30th January, 2025

Frozen Memories
By Fatma Zohra Habis


memories frozen
alone I review
old movie

a cold spark
from frozen distant echoes
I reach for it's warmth

novel on the shelf
time folds its pages~
memories frozen
Thursday, 30th January, 2025

Poems
By Vijay Prasad


winter dusk –
her eyes weep
fog

inside the winter wind my last breath

cold moon –
not a speck
of mind

snowfall . . .
her one-sided
hesitancy
Wednesday, 29th January, 2025

Farewell
By Shivshankar Menon

I will break my ships down now
To pieces of floating driftwood
And cast them out upon the sea to
Journey where they will. For I
Don’t want to point them any longer
To my own purposes, nor chain
Them to indefinite waiting at anchor.
Let them find at last their own
Favoured waves and shape their own
Voyages. Let them follow their
Preferred siren voices and challenge
Shipwreck on rocks of their secret
Desiring. And shorebound I shall perhaps
Watch them for a while, shading my eyes
From sunset-daggered waves and spray
Until sky and sea embrace in darkness
And my ships, whole once more, return
On the green tides of dreams
About the Author
Shivshankar Menon served for many years on the History faculty of St Stephen's College, Delhi. Currently he lives in his hometown Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala and devotes himself to the study of Russian language and literature. His work has appeared in the online journals Muse India, Gulmohur Quarterly, induswomanwriting, and Poems India.
About the Author
Monday, 27th January, 2025

The Frozen Memories
By Toolika Rani

Under the umbrella of time
We feign ourselves protected
From the snowflakes falling around
Our footprints getting buried
In the seamless snow-filled ground,
And forward we march in an arrogant ignorance
Creating a crunching sound,
Until time plays a trick again-
Unearthing the frozen memories
Unleashing astonishing discoveries
Revealing, seventy-five years on,
the enigmatic Mellory
And,
Throwing Irvin’s shoe up right after a century.
Who knows what else the snow covered up!
When it melts, the clock may turn backwards!
About the Author
Squadron Leader (Dr) Toolika Rani is an ex-Indian Air Force Officer, Mountaineer (Everest Climber), International Motivational Speaker (TEDx), Author, Poet, Assistant Professor of History, and was also the G-20 Brand Ambassador of Higher Education Department, U.P. Government (2023). Her books include Beyond That Wall: Redemption on Everest (2021), Sherpas of Solukhumbu: History and Evolution (2023), two collections of Hindi poems titled, Dayron ke Bahar (2023) and Hasratein (2024), two collections of English poems titled, The Song of the Sky (2024) and A Wild Flower (2024). In addition, she has edited an International Anthology of poems on Himalaya, titled, The Mountain was Abuzz, which was displayed at the Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival in 2024. She is the co-author of the book, ‘Healing and Growth: Inspiring Stories for Massive Transformation’ published from the USA.
Friday, 24th January, 2025

Anniversary
By Sanjeev Sethi

As you hide in the halo of unsung harmonies,
my tunes wallow in the vernix of unborn lyrics.
How much ever one may circumvent, run on
uncommon routes, marks from memory inter-
crosses like tired stamps or exhausted songs.
When it is too late to remedy or recast, the
answer is acceptance. With tottery stiles, one
bends towards the balustrade. Barreled, everyone
is a dead ringer. Secure in syllogisms, Cassandras
in my canton straggle me as I baste a safeguard.
About the Author
Sanjeev Sethi has authored eight books of poetry. Legato Without a Lisp is his latest (CLASSIX, an imprint of Hawakal, New Delhi, September 2024). His poetry has been published in over thirty-five countries and has appeared in more than 500 journals, anthologies, and online literary venues. He edited Dreich Planet # 1 India, an anthology for Hybriddreich, Scotland, in December 2022. He is the joint winner of the Full Fat Collection Competition-Deux, organized by Hedgehog Poetry Press, UK. Sethi is in the top 10 of the erbacce-prize 2021. He is the recipient of the Ethos Literary Award 2022. In 2023, he won the First Prize in a Poetry Competition by the National Defence Academy, Pune. He was conferred the 2023 Setu Award for Excellence. He lives in Mumbai, India.
Thursday, 23rd January, 2025

Tanka
By Jahnavi Gogoi


misshapen bow
floating in the air like wishes
tufts of cotton rehomed again
in an old razai
my mother’s compromises
foggy morning
grandma’s prayer song
offers a glimmer of solace
the marigolds orbit the quivering
flame of an earthen lamp


old photograph
father in a field of verbena
cradling an infant with my smile
the northern sky witnesses
our final meeting
Poet's Note: The misshapen bow refers to the instrument used by the quilt makers of India.
Razai: A quilt .
About the Author
Wednesday, 22nd January, 2025

Fire and Ice
By Sunil Kaushal

Speaking of bygone eras-
Today, matchbox homes have burnt the fireplace
when North winds tease tinkling icicles off naked branches
when single file footsteps in circles reach homelessness,
diaphanous snowflakes frost
breath in and out of lungs, seeking a roof
warm fingers, toes and a bowl of broth!
When peals of bells slice heavy silence, hibernation stirs,
Santa’s landing on my rooftop, I feel.
When indigo twinkles on blanketed pristine white,
my ancestral home rooms stay warm all night
not as a hangover of the colonial culture or rule
but the hearth being the heart of this home,
fires are lit, wood chips and shavings kindle kindling
logs hiss and sizzle, chimneys smoke
yellow, orange flames lick the flue aglow
tongs and poker standing by ready to stoke.
Young and old gather, beholden togetherness.
Overcoats, mufflers, mittens and caps shrugged off
guffaws and giggles, veins and cheeks aflush
peals and squeals break the night’s gelid hush
everyone baubles the Christmas tree a little. A tall teen
fixes the Star of Bethlehem on the peak.
Good cheer casts a presence, rum and eggnog, add on
peanuts, pistachio shells perk up dancing flames.
Red- green themed cover and candles, buoy
laden tables with our favourite fare
love and laughter ginger the air.
The grandfather clock nudges, time in bed to be tumbling
new logs on dying embers warm the home now slumbering.
Snuggled and hugged cherubic cheeks turn rose gold
cradled in granny’s gossamer shawl’s lacy folds.
Sated and sleepy we’re ready to say goodnight
to the sound of carols “…..all is calm, all is bright!”
About the Author
About the Author
Vijay Prasad is a poet from Patna, India. He is disappointingly interested in life. He has a passion for haiku, language, philosophy, and so on ... He is published in Bones, Under the Basho, tinywords, Failed Haiku, The Mumba Journal, Haiku Dialogue, Prune Juice, among others.
Monday, 20th January, 2025

Calcutta Winters
By Haimanti Dutta Ray

It seems last year, but
Eons of years have lapsed
Since me holding hands with eyes shut
Inside the Zoo; childhood, dashed
Amid pages of an album, suddenly erupt
Woolens, out with mothballs, washed
Worn with love – pristine, not corrupt
Forgotten time that ran and clashed
With the clocks, the hour hands did disrupt.
Movements – seasonal and personal – smashed
The liquid frozen time, that came up – a memory abrupt
Winter outings, in the brilliant sun, abashed
The cozy pictures within phosphorescent memories, cupped
Calcutta winters are solidified warmth, molten n’ cached
We revel in them, until they swirl in our gut.
About the Author
Haimanti Dutta Ray is a Kolkata-based poet whose poetry collection 'Yesterday in Tomorrow' has been released recently.
Friday, 17th January, 2025

Hot coffee with a view of a snow covered parking lot
By Biswajit Mishra

A well-earned latte,
after an unusual walk by snowy streets-
some sidewalks still have uncleared icy patches
but the sunny afternoon
enticed me to come out-
two large dumping of snow
may have brought my bar lower
and another deviation I make
stopping by for a coffee at Starbucks
where a light music is on-
Christmassy ambiance
and I sit with my coffee
looking out at the unused patio
just outside my window
where two chairs sit
on which snow is still hanging on,
a few vehicles are strewn about
with the detached tractor of a semi
in the parking lot beyond
which is fully covered with snow
metamorphosed into a brownish hue
traded on, driven on-
could have been sands
that kids had wrangled on at a beach
giving the lot a forlorn look-
a scene out of an apocalypse movie.
All seemed to be attuned to the pace
of a November afternoon
that I enjoy with a calmness
at the turnstile
where both autumn and winter
face each other in a stand-off, each scheming
to get a jump on the other.
About the Author
Mona Bedi is a medical doctor in Delhi, India. She has been writing poetry since childhood but a few years back she started writing the Japanese form.. haiku. She has authored two poetry books published by the name of 'they you and me' and 'dancing moonlight.' She received the Grand Prize in the 3rd Morioka Haiku Festival, 2021 and four haiku of merit in the World Haiku Review 2021/2022 alongwith an honourable mention at the Japan Fair 2021. Her haiku, tanka haibun and Haiga has been published in various journals of repute like Presence, Modern haiku, Haiku dialogue, Haiku in Action, Triveni haikuKatha, Drifting sands, Failed haiku, Stardust, among others.
Wednesday, 15th January, 2025

Hymn for Fallen Soldiers
By Michael R. Burch

Sound the awesome cannons.
Pin medals to each breast.
Attention, honor guard!
Give them a hero’s rest.
Recite their names to the heavens
Till the stars acknowledge their kin.
Then let the land they defended
Gather them in again.
Poet's Note: When I learned there’s an American military organization, the DPAA (Defense/POW/MIA Accounting Agency) that is still finding and bringing home the bodies of soldiers who died serving their country in World War II, after blubbering like a baby, I managed to eke out this poem.
Tuesday, 14th January, 2025



teardrops
of burning memories
all evaporate
only to return back
as rain-soaked grief
melting snow into blades of grass


frozen differences an adjective of the past
still breathing the scribbles deep beneath the frosty time


tea flowers grandmother’s kyusu brewed with joy
About the Author
Pravat Kumar Padhy is a mainstream poet and a writer of Japanese short forms of poetry (haiku, tanka, haiga, haibun, tanka prose). His poem 'How Beautiful' is included in the undergraduate curriculum at the university level. Pravat’s haiku won The Kloštar Ivanić International Haiku Award, Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Invitational Award, IAFOR Vladimir Devidé Haiku Award, Setouchi Matsuyama Photo Haiku Award and others. His haiku are published in many international journals and anthologies including in Red Moon Anthology. Haiku are featured at 'Haiku Wall', Historic Liberty Theatre Gallery in Bend, Oregon and at Mann Library, Cornell University. USA. His publications can be read at http://pkpadhy.blogspot.com
Monday, 13th January, 2025

Mummified
By Lily Swarn

I let the chill mummify my dreams
With the stubbornness of snow
Hardening into blocks of stony ice
Sabre toothed icicles swoop down
From frozen cliffs of sepia memories
Lampooning slopes of shrouded Dalhousie
Rambler roses died bruised deaths
With whiffs of perfumed nostalgia
Beside carrot nosed comic snowmen
I let the frost gnaw into my innards
With nightmares of wild Yeti forms
Riding Tibetan yaks ,wool blinded
About the Author
Lily Swarn won the Reuel International Prize for Poetry 2016 and was recognised by the World Union of Poetsas Global Poet of Peace and Universal Love. World Institute Of Peace conferred the title of Global Icon of Peace on her in Nigeria. Lily has been awarded the Virtuoso Award by Philosophique Poetica. She has penned several books and her poetry & prose have been featured in many prestigious literary magazines.
Friday, 10th January, 2025

Forgotten
By Nandita Samanta

I have no memories,
I watch myself from behind an amnesiac mirror
in delirium, touch my body gently,
narcissus returns to me.
Then sleep comes, leaving behind
the foreshadow of an exile.
The forgotten frigid passion
cuddles the setting moon.
That night, you wished to touch me-
that was only the caress,
I couldn’t feel anything after that.
About the Author
Nandita Samanta is a poet, short story writer, reviewer, editor, artist, and translator. She freelances as a parenting and relationship advisor and colour therapist. Her writings, published in three of her compilations, many anthologies, webzines, and journals, are highly appreciated and translated into different languages.