Poetry Reading at Hip Hop Studio on Earth & Sky

 

Poetry Reading at Hip Hop Studio on Earth & Sky

On 23rd September, 2023 Lampshade Writers had its first in-person poetry reading in Kolkata, at Hip Hop Studio. This was also the first time this writers' circle moved offline beyond the city of Hyderabad.

The founder of Lampshade Writers, Nivedita, along with a couple of friends, had come all the way to Kolkata to attend the event. There was a lively bunch of participants and attendees who made the evening vibrant.

The themes were "earth" and "sky". A variety of poems were recited on these themes, inviting much musing and interaction. New friendships were forged amid fun and laughter. The event was also covered by media outlets like Daily Hunt, Calcalling and Eastern Chronicle.

Here are the themed poems that were recited:

Theme - Earth

Chronicles in My Palm

By Shrey Verma Rodricks

Standing on the banks of Ganga

I pick up a fistful of soil.

In my palm is the realm of the universe

Past and present as dust,

ash, sand and water.

I am part of all that lived through eons

carried forward by their DNA

and elements of nature.

I am a continuation of generations.

Everything is interrelated

to manifest itself - 

The sky, cloud, a tree, a seed

You and me and the Cosmos.

I am standing here

And with me all the living,

Now and then,

From an amoeba to dinosaurs,

Whales and Dodo,

Extinct or living through all ages -

Precambrian to Cenozoic and now

The Anthropocene Epoch.

I am standing here

With all that was and that is.

In me are living all ancestors,

All creation,

The emptiness and plenitude,

Interbeing with one another

and with life -

I am Earth personified.

Lime Blossoms 

By Shovona Mukherji

We all grow old

Even books

Yellow thumbed pages

Never fail to entice

Many a hand 

Held the books

Many a past have they seen

The sparkling green leaves

Of Badam trees

Grow at a speed

Never ceasing to surprise

Filling us with wonder 

At growth and decay

And yet

With age comes apology

Of losing strength 

Do leaves feel sorry

When the edges turn dry 

Are the books

Not full of pride

To spread wisdom 

Why then are Men

Sorry for themselves 

Justifying inability 

And there is Kiara 

Smiling from  billboards 

Ageless beauty

The Gods and Stars

Never age

Like lime blossoms

Drifting fragrance 

Of eternal youth and love

Promising emerald life.

And yet

We all grow old

All.

Even books.

 

Roasting Unity

by Gopa Bhattacharjee

(previously published in the book 'Thirty Birds')

Were you able to swallow the Earth completely -

or a few pieces of its fragmented self are left on your platter?

The platter was filled with barbecued forest,

grilling mountains, wild fauna and precious pebbles.

Was the blue sea, oceans, rivers, lakes enough to

quench your thirst?

Was all this not enough?

That you are craving to an appetite for war

salty religion versus sugary principles

brutal human versus generous God.

Who said we have no unity?

Are we not all champion chefs -

jointly burning the harmony of Mother Earth?

Solitude

By Surela Chakraborty

Alone sitting on the rocky outcrop, where

the surging blue breakers crashed.

Pink twilight came forth, it's light spraying through the frayed clouds.

Those patterns enmeshed in the waters below, streaks of magic light!

The deep waters dazzled like a million crystals!

Moss and fern grew on the rock,

I wondered how they extract nutrients from a hard exterior, 

Do they become stubborn too?

These thoughts played in my mind, as I admired the twilight.

Why do I search and want for more,

Is it because the search never ends, and wants never bend?

The Nurturing One

By Patrichia Dcruze

If the earth didn't have the heart to spare,

The sky wouldn't enjoy the vast space, so rare.

What if the earth wasn't softened by the gentle drops?

Wouldn't the trees have lost their chance to breathe?

What if the gentle petals didn't get the generosity of the earth?

Would they bloom again to welcome the new season?

The answers are not known to all.

Humans :

From earth, they were born,

To earth, they will return.

The earth :

The nurturing source,

The mother to our warm nature,

Emitting the aura of love and grace,

Welcoming like the delicate hug of our beloved mother,

And a shield against the odds.

The Search

By Ratul Chakraborty

(previously published in the book 'Sutradhar')

To the banks of the Yamuna I shall go,

And search for the one who beckons me

Rain and Sunshine

Day and Night

Awake and Asleep

I shall search for the One who beckons me.

Alone I walk a starlit path

shielding my flickering lamp of earth

This yearning heart my only pride

That sweetest flute my only guide

To the banks of the Yamuna I shall go,

And search for the One who beckons me

But when I find that Nameless One

I will let him go with a teary smile

So that he calls me again to the Yamuna bank

And fills my heart with nectar divine

So that he thinks of me just one more time

And plays that song, that's me and mine

To the banks of the Yamuna I shall go,

And search for the one who beckons me

Theme - Sky

Skybound Serenity

By Samara

For a manic depressive, euphoria is like a swing that makes them sway from one end of the world,

To the other;

And then the ropes of the swing break and they free-fall,

Swallowed by the endless pit of the Pacific.

Life, for us, is an unending roller coaster ride

And we live it from one rush to another

So that when we wake up one day and find the world drained of colors,

We could relive that one moment in a constant loop,

Within the confinement of our tortuous minds.

These days, when I find myself drowning,

I fly back to that moment of rush

When I found myself being vigorously pushed off a cliff on a chilly winter afternoon.

I kid you not, I almost wet my pants in fear

As my mother’s pale face flashed before my mind’s eye,

And I realized that my dogs would keep on waiting for me to come back home, but I never would.

I hoped my grandma would not forget to feed my cats,

Before I was pushed to my untimely demise.

No rush could ever surpass the rush of death, closing in on you and creeping up your spine,

As you hear the manic laughter of the Grim Reaper,

Basking in his twisted sense of pleasure.

Two seconds passed by.

I opened my eyes.

I found myself mid-air, flying amidst the Himalayan mountains during the sunset.

There was no rush anymore, as there was peace-

Just the sound of wind rushing by,

As I glided effortlessly through the air, like a beautiful, majestic kite.

The sky was my friend.

A singular moment of peace is greater than a gazillion rushes of euphoria.

I felt the wind drying up the tears on my cheeks,

As I realized that I had never been surrounded by so much beauty.

All these words, yet I haven’t even started to scrape the surface of how it felt like to be there in that moment

At pace with relief, and nothing else.

My words would never suffice.

I still tend to escape to that one moment

When everything around me is falling apart

And I know in my bones, just like I did that day

That I would eventually land on my feet-

And that, one profound moment of sheer epicness

Is always greater than an infinite shallow lifetimes.

Colourful Love in the Sky

By Delisha Alam

I miss you so much, my dear

I search for you everywhere

But you are gone, nowhere near

Then I look up at the sky, so clear

Hoping to find you there

In the mysterious beauty of the sky

We hold hands and fly high

The sky is colourful, like a rainbow

Just as colourful as your love,

that makes me glow

The sky fills me with positivity and happiness

Just like your love, that is my bliss

I gaze at the sky, hoping that we meet somewhere there

Hoping that our eyes meet and we fall for each other again,

just as deep as the air.

Upon The Blue Dome

By Shravan Kumar

Upon the blue dome

crawled a vast word

above which 

the gods 

built their homes

chin up, in my home

i wonder

do gods too

look up at their skies?

Children of the Sky

By Ananya Sarkar

Children of the sky

You've come to earth

To bask and frolic

Muddy your hands

And smell the lilacs

And kiss the touch-me-not shy...

Children of the sky

You've come to earth

To witness the wonder

Of the dance called Life.

Joint Theme - Earth & Sky

Earth and Sky

By Nivedita N.

If Earth and Sky were our friends, 

it would teach us 

to be resilient 

and dream beyond 

never from our goals and thoughts, 

should we abscond 

Hold their hand and walk along 

If earth and sky were my friends

Earth would be Surela and 

Sky, Ananya and 

with them, I'd sing along.

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