Showing posts with label India Poetry Circle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label India Poetry Circle. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 27, 2026

Efflorescence 2025 - Chennai Poetry Circle - 18 Jan 2026 - 25th Edition Release - Happy to be part of the Anthology Launched #UmasreeRaghunath #Anthologies



 https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/anthology-by-chennai-poets-circle-released-it-features-60-poets/article70533937.ece




Efflorescence 2025 – Umasree Raghunath

Poem Title:  Happiness Matters


Looking out through the window,

I watch the doves conferencing the pane

What would they be talking?

I wondered and felt happy above disdain

Health, I compromised unthoughtfully!

With it, my happiness vanished gleefully

Stress, was my constant companion

Sharing my space, meals and every tension

Pleasing people, was my go-to goal in life

Less did I know, that I can please all like a wife

Targets, Milestones, is what I thought matter

Pleasures of life took its backseat to batter

Every invite honoured, every event attended

I felt like the Guest of Honour with smile intended

Then, the hospital bed invited me with glory

I embraced the needles and medicines in fury

Tears rolled down, when I no longer mattered

To everything I thought I am indispensable!

In no time, people forgot I exist, except family

And few best friends who still adore me in ally


A silent lesson, creeped up in life


That nothing but your inner peace and happiness

Is all that matters, for you and your own

No matter, what position, title or money you hold

Don’t rush to do hundred things, but few

That makes you happy and lets you be healthy

Be like those doves conferencing on the window

Instead of being your own fake shadow

Be a person, who can smile with happiness

Spread peace, spread joy and live life!


Book Launched on 18 Jan 2026

Monday, February 10, 2025

Wings of Time (A Haibun) - A mother's reflection of purpose, change, transformation and managing empty nest syndrome!

As I sit to eat, she used to give that shrill cry...making me jerk and just be with her. She never wanted me to leave her sight, walking behind me like a puppy to the bathroom as I shower. She used to hold tight to my legs as I got ready to work and cry out of her lungs, when I pack my travel bags to onsite. From being a young mom in early twenties, to now being a sick woman in mid-forties, my journey of life revolved around her. My thoughts, dreams and aspirations were built around her progress and existence. Slowly, the world changed. Her life too. She no longer wants my presence. My words echoed like a noise. My advices chocked her to core. My very being becoming a burden to her free fly. The mother bird has to let her young one go. That is only nature. She has to now look after her purpose, her aspirations around her own life...no longer intertwined with mine. The vacuum of empty nest syndrome is real. It can be redefining the way you lived. It has to repurpose your life. Is this not the time to actually be Selfish, like she now tells you are one! Selfish being focusing on your health, wealth and happiness. No strings attached. But the threads of life are finely interlinked that you have to be careful...not to burn bridges or bend to break beyond .... this is not a mother's cry. This is the nature's way of life. As weave into the tapestry of life. After all, life is a vicious circle! In fact, a nice roller-coaster circle of ride. Tighten your seat belts and enjoy the ride!

The Empty Nest

She once clung tight a little hand in mine,
A shadow trailing with her laughter divine.
Her cries would echo as I walked away,
Begging me, pleading, "Mom, please stay!"

Through sleepless nights and endless days,
Her world was mine in countless ways.
Dreams I wove with love so deep,
A bond unbroken and a promise to keep.

But time, the thief, so silent and sly,
Stole those moments as years flew by.
Her wings grew strong and her voice so bold,
She sought the world let go her hold.

My words, once wisdom, now just noise,
My presence faded in her joys.
No longer needed, left behind,
A silent ache, a restless mind.

Yet nature whispers, soft but true,
A mother’s love must bid adieu.
Not chains, but wind beneath her flight,
Let her soar to chase the light.

Now is my time to stand, to be,
To find the self I used to see.
Not lost, not broken, just reborn,
A life my own, no more forlorn.

The nest is empty, but skies are wide,
A journey waits, with time as guide.
So tighten your belt, embrace the tide,
Life’s a circle, a wondrous ride!

 

Wings of Time (A Haibun)

She followed me everywhere—her tiny feet pattering behind mine, her arms wrapped around my legs, her cries piercing through my heart whenever I left. Her world revolved around me, and mine around her. From the morning rush to bedtime stories, from school lunches to teenage dreams—I was always there, always needed. But time is a river, never pausing, always flowing.

Then, one day, she no longer turned back to look for me. My words, once her comfort, became a burden. My presence, once her anchor, became a chain. I watched as she broke free, soaring into a sky I once painted for her. My hands, which held her steady, now trembled with emptiness. The nest is silent, yet my heart still echoes with her laughter.

Letting go is love, too. So, I turn inward, embracing the solitude, the new beginning. The wind whispers—this is not an end, just another flight.

fallen autumn leaves—
branches stretch to touch the sky
without looking back

 

Dedicated to All Mothers

who sacrifice, who bravely fight, who give everything they can!

To their children

& 

Dedicated to all Children

who dare to dream and fly high with wind beneath their wings!

and also stay connected, rooted in love and grace 



Monday, January 2, 2023

India Poetry Circle Confluence VI - 'Silver Years in Between'

 Happy to be part of India Poetry Circle Confluence 6....loved getting my copy today and feeling elated seeing my Ago poem. Thank you Jairam Seshadri and Anju Kishore for your painstaking efforts in bringing this to us

⭐🙏⭐