I traced the jagged edges
Their warmth tingling
My ruddy fingertips
They didn’t seem strange
These mountains and ridges
I ran along them
All my rugged life
The ups and downs
Made up the landscape
Where I survived
With the wind in my hair
Hope in my stride
With eyes like diamonds
And a sprinkling of gold dust
Adorning her eyelids
A dance of jeweled splendor
A tango, a salsa, not a misstep
A gaze to mesmerize into
The vortex of a constellation
Where each star conveys
Of my destiny interlocked
With hers, captivated, plundered
The allure of her iridescence
Dense yet brittle, all at once
I tore the sky apart
To capture the stars
In my calloused palms
They lost their shimmer
Lay in silence
Without a glimmer
No joy, no shine, no sparks
Far away from home
In a place so forlorn,
Against their will
Without a wish
Even stars became stones
FromOneLine Volume 3 has been published and is now live! Here is around 220 pages of pure brilliance, emotions, words, and thoughts, compiled by Meghan Dargue for the third FromOneLine anthology, published by Kobayaashi Studios, United Kingdom. This anthology features poems and flash fiction from writers around the world.
Where can just one connecting prompt line take us? That’s what the FromOneLine community of writers have been exploring on a regular basis since 2019. I was privileged to be featured in the second volume in December 2021. I regret not being in the first Volume only because then I was not seriously following my creative writing passion. Around mid-July 2021, I was pulled into creative nourishing of the soul due to myriad reasons, and then magic happened.
I reinstated my blog, became a book reviewer for #ReedsyDiscovery Reedsy and the #HimalayanBookClub, got opportunity as a probono editor for a self-published author, and got published, as a short story writer and imagist poet. It was the inspiration and boost I needed in a time of self-doubt. It helped me make some significant decisions to embrace change.
Life changes course in more ways than one. My creative pursuits are not as intensive as they were at the close of 2021, however, I continued writing for the #FromOneLine prompt. It gave me much joy and artistic succor. It made me believe in my creative abilities. For me, being featured in the third anthology is a manifestation of my desire to be read and acknowledged, to be meaningful, and to make my words touch hearts and souls. It’s fulfilling and I only feel love and gratitude for Meghan Dargue for connecting personally with selected contributors and making this gorgeous cover design and poetry collection happen.
“The writings to make it into this volume were chosen from a staggeringly high number of submissions. Poems and pieces of flash fiction have danced me through a rollercoaster of emotions. Words that I have returned to time and again to discover new feelings, or just to delight in connecting with familiar ones. I hope you will enjoy exploring them as much as I have, and may they inspire many more writings and adventures to come.”
The blurb from the Amazon site says all about the stellar writings that Meg chose for this book
FromOneLine Volume 3 (paperback) is available on Amazon for worldwide delivery. In India, the book is available on Pothi.com.
Do not haunt my house
With the carcass of ambitions
Threatening to steal my peace
Filling my languid hours
With a disdain that taunts
At my simple needs
Pushing me to compete
Only to hang me by the weight
Of unending desires
So that it can find a companion:
Another human shell,
That gave up joy, for all the toil
Blue Pen Strokes 