Daily Verse
Final Week, November 2023
A Poem
by Latika Singha 27th November, 2023
If winter comes,
can spring
be far behind?
wrote the bard,
and yet,
we deny
the happy song
of spring flowers,
bursting into
a
thousand hues
and hang on
relentlessly
to
tailcoats of
winter..
thoughts huddled
in
frosty, fearful
congregations..
even as
the sun,
with garlands
of spring,
beckons
to share
its warmth
Poems
by Michael Lee Johnson 28th November, 2023
Summer is Dying
Outside, summer is dying into fall,
and blue daddy petunias sprout ears—
hear the beginning of night chills.
In their yellow window box,
they cuddle up and fear death together.
The balcony sliding door
is poorly insulated, and a cold draft
creeps into all the spare rooms.
Bowl of Black Petunias
If you must leave me, please
leave me for something special,
like a beautiful bowl of black petunias—
for when the memories leak
and cracks appear
and old memories fade,
flowers rebuff bloom,
sidewalks fester weeds
and we both lie down
separately from each other
for the very last time.
The Gold must Blur Always
By Amita Sarjit Ahluwalia 29th November 2023
The Gold must blur, always.
A desperate urgency to catch the richness
of beauty and love, a secure indolence
like that of a domestic cat stretching to purr
in the sheer overflow of well-being under a warm caress,
so also Autumn, the plenteously mellow, the honey sweet,
the deliciously apple-curved and pear-ripe and juicy-chinned childlike
all at once in park and backyard and single tree universe
Sun hanging overhead oozing distilled drops of ductile sunshine
morphing into the satin brownness of rounded conkers
reddening into auburn haloes of trees turning colour at sunset
paling into dawn- drenched and drifting mists in magic mornings.
Roll the sweetness up in one tight bunch ere the Hag Winter
strips forests of their riches like a fascist
and under wet eyelids see the blurring points
of orange streetlights on dark moonless nights
in dull December and the chilling tunnel
of endless nights of shivering deprivation.
The Gold must blur
around the pale grey bark of Russian birches
and fall on floors like piles of gold the dream of Midas
once and only once beheld in wonderment
before the harsh reality of cold metal meets pouting lips
and teeth hungry for food turn broken pearls
and regret strikes and mind recants from heart’s desire.
The rawness of Spring’s green though edged with gold
is not lost on tender lips breathless to kiss
catkins are not yet soft with fuzzy fur.
And Summer Sun, too harsh on window panes without their blinds
And eyes not heavy-lidded.
Therefore the Gold must blur
always.
Haiku
By Debarati Sen 30th November 2023
November breeze
I let go off summer colours
from my notebook
Autumn hues
wrapping my sunburnt dreams
within a maple leaf
Dehra hills
revisiting Rusty’s childhood
at Paltan Bazar
Changing Moods & Rhythms of Seasons
By Sreelekha Chatterjee 1st December 2023
Spring—like a newborn child—ushers in a manifesto of inspiration,
when flowers bloom and birds sing underneath the blue sky,
endowed with colours, nature calls for reasons of fascination.
With the enthusiasm of children learning their first lessons,
blossoming gardens engage in breathless rustles and noiseless whispers,
their dreams flourish and promises purport to splendid expositions.
Summer comes in ablaze—with golden hues dazzling the azure sky—amid splendor,
resembling the valour of youth and incandescent energy;
long, limpid and immense days bring in their own wonder.
Sweltering days and suffocating nights,
energy of many surrenders to the fiery attire of the stretchy days;
fatigue ensues when nature cries in pain and longs for respite.
Monsoon tones down the bridling heat with its comfort downpour;
it matches with the middle-age when knowledge and wisdom flows;
at the end, it’s a bountiful harvest that is surely in for store.
Dark clouds linger in the sky like guests in a wedding,
Earth as a bride yearns to meet her partner rain,
a union so heavenly that vibrant verdure of embellished boughs spring.
Advent of the delightful autumn triggers withering leaves detaching from trees,
a transitional phase before the old age is believed,
when disengaged beings swirl and twirl in the pleasant breeze.
A vague disquiet succeeds the joy of the autumn,
a time to reflect and ponder the yesteryears;
elderly, matured days which is called winter so often.
Caught up in the noose of cold winds and throttling low temperatures,
a gentle warmth of sunshine balms the body and enlivens the mood,
lost in reveries of the spring, the bright days of childhood one captures.
Seasons go on in an unending cycle as is life,
birth and expiry imitate spring and winter;
moments to comprehend, joys to treasure as long as they are in sight.
Biographies of Poets
Latika Singha, ever enchanted by the written and spoken ' word ', lives in jaipur, with her green friends, friends with paws and some spirited fellow humans. She is also besotted by expression in hindustani.. and absorbs herself, reading and writing in this lovely language too..
Michael Lee Johnson lived ten years in Canada during the Vietnam era. Today he is a poet in the greater Chicagoland area, IL. He has 295 YouTube poetry videos. Michael Lee Johnson is an internationally published poet in 45 countries, a song lyricist, has several published poetry books, has been nominated for 6 Pushcart Prize awards, and 6 Best of the Net nominations. He is editor-in-chief of 3 poetry anthologies, all available on Amazon, and has several poetry books and chapbooks. He has over 453 published poems. Michael is the administrator of 6 Facebook Poetry groups. Member Illinois State Poetry Society: http://www.illinoispoets.org/.
Amita Sarjit Ahluwalia is a Punjab-born, Patna-based, retired Indian bureaucrat. She enjoys writing in different genres, in English, Urdu, Hindi and Punjabi .Her writings are imaginative and humane, with occasional flashes of wit and frequent touches of wry humour.
Sreelekha Chatterjee is a poet, short story writer, researcher and editor. Her poems have been published or are forthcoming in various magazines and journals like Raw Lit, The Mini Magazine of Assam, Verse-Virtual and Ghudsavar Literary Magazine. Her poem “Moods of Halloween” has been recently published in the anthology, The Harvest, ; the Reaping (Orenaug Mountain Publishing, USA). When not writing, she loves to sing and spend time cooking. She lives in New Delhi, India. You can connect with her on Facebook at facebook.com/sreelekha.chatterjee.1/, on Twitter/X @sreelekha001, and Instagram @sreelekha2023.
Debarati Sen is a recipient of the ‘Poiesis Award for Excellence in Poetry -2023’, and the Sylvia Plath Women's Literary Award. A poet from Kolkata, she writes both long verses and haiku. She has recently been declared the winner of NaPoWriMo 2023 by the Elite Book Awards. She has published two solo poetry collections and has contributed to more than 10 anthologies. Her haiku has been published in various international journals. Her latest collection of poems, Saudade, was brought out by Penprints in 2022.