Eyes ...
Behold
Scold
Speak
Shriek
Dare
Bare
Stare
Glare
Express
Impress
Process
Possess
Implore
Deplore
Explore
Devour
Cry
Sigh
Adore
Abhor
Laugh
Scoff
Reproach
Approach
Survey
Convey
Betray
Dismay
Dart
Smart
Glance
Dance
Command
Demand
Lead
Plead
Protest
Contest
Detest
Attest
Thrill
Chill
Charm
Disarm
Arouse
Browse
Expose
Dispose
Seethe
Breathe
Blame
Tame
Wink
Blink
Smile
Beguile
Love
Move
Assess
Caress
(From
my poetry collection ‘P-En-Chants’ - a small attempt at something unusual!)
Sides of the Same Coin …
The Sounding Board
When
he hadn’t much else to do,
She’d
be there for sure, he knew,
Eagerly
waiting to take his call,
As
if she had no other work at all.
“Hey
I need to talk to you”
Was
always his opening line,
And
that would be her cue,
To
know that all wasn’t fine.
Office
politics, colleagues and salary raise
Were
topics on which he’d go on for days.
All
she had to do was, listen, listen, listen,
If
she spoke in between, it caused friction.
Occasionally,
she would also get the urge,
To
call him, but when she was on the verge,
She’d
remember all those earlier occasions,
When
he rejected her calls with impatience.
Saying
he had this, that or the other to do,
And
about his “pressures”, had she no clue?
She
would thus be silenced to rue her fate,
That
had destined her to stand and wait …
What
if she gets bored of being a sounding board?
And
feels, continuing this way she could ill afford?
What
if she chose one day to raise her voice?
And
let him know that she too had a choice?
The Punching Bag
Rarely,
when he was sober,
She
was his sounding board,
Absorbing
his angry words,
That
plunged her like a sword.
Other
times - most times,
She
was his punching bag,
Absorbing
the frequent blows
Of
his misplaced fears, deep inferiority,
Unreasonable
suspicion and insecurity,
That
left permanent imprints
On
her body – on her face,
Back,
neck, shoulders and head;
Most
of all on her bruised psyche.
Between
the swinging punching bag
And
the often mute sounding board,
Their
children cowered and shuddered
As
they saw the hanging Damocles Sword …
(This was posted by me on 8 Mar’16 – International Women’s
Day – on my literary networking forum www.ratemyliterature.com)
Poet’s Brief Profile
Having
explored the worlds of banking and urban governance in senior positions,
Padmaja Iyengar – Paddy is currently the Hon. Lit. Advisor of The Cultural
Centre of Vijayawada (CCV).
She also manages an on-line literary networking forum www.ratemyliterature.com that provides a
free platform to writers to showcase their works.
Paddy’s maiden poetry
collection ‘P-En-Chants’ has been reckoned as a ‘Unique International Record of
Excellence’ by the Wonder Book of Records International for
Never-before-attempted Movie Reviews and Management Topics in Rhyming Poetry
form.
Besides poetry,
she also dabbles in articles, short stories, book reviews and movie reviews (in
poetry form) that have appeared in leading Indian newspapers like The Hindu and
Hans India and e-zines like Muse India and Boloji.com. Her poems have also been
published in several poetry anthologies.
Many thanks Poet Stephen Jarrell Williams, for this opportunity and for publishing three of my poems here.
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