Monday, December 9, 2019

Landai



The ice is melting under my paws.
You have made my homeland a place of hunger and death.

                                  ***

The wildfires are burning the forests.
As we flee, we hear the cries of burning koalas.

                                  ***

Can we sit in prayerful silence
contemplating the destruction of our living world?


                                  ***

How many times can a heart break open?
In my dreams, wild wolves are seeking a safe place to hide.

                                  ***

Mama Bear and three cubs flee the policeman
but they cannot run fast enough to outrun his gun.

                                  ***

From the southern border, can you hear
the distressed cries of children calling  for their mothers?

                                  ***


Some depressing landai for Sanaa's prompt at Real Toads: the landay. 9 syllables in the first line, 13 in the second, this is a form usually sung by Afghan woman. They can include topics of grief, death, women's oppression - and sometimes are ribald, provoking women's laughter. I love how women find ways to release, if only temporarily,  the yoke of oppression through poetry, song and laughter. I chose North American topics, because oppression, of people and species and natural systems, is everywhere.


19 comments:

  1. Oh. So heartbreaking Sherry. Makes me teary-eyed.

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  2. Oh my aching heart these are evocative, Sherry! The current state of the world leaves me in tears and with prayers for things to become better.. Thank you so much for writing to my final prompt!❤️

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  3. There’s nothing wrong with ‘depressing Landai – at least they tell the truth, Sherry. We can’t be ribald about climate change, although sometimes it helps to laugh a little abot other things to take our minds off it. My favourite Landay is:
    ‘How many times can a heart break open?
    In my dreams, wild wolves are seeking a safe place to hide.

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  4. It is okay to be sad. I am sad as well. How many times can a heart break open? This is a heartbreaking line.

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  5. Well this really states the truth. Not only do we cruelly reduce our fellow animals on Earth we even hate our own desperate kind by separating parents and children should they seek refuge and a better life in a wealthy country.

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  6. Such a powerful poem - each verse a story in itself

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  7. Thia form suits you. Enjoyed them all.

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  8. Each landay made my heart break a little more. The earth fights back, but for how much longer can it resist the onslaught?

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  9. Oh Sherry, I am gulping hard at the truth in your words.

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  10. The world is breaking to pieces caused by us...

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  11. We humans are so destructive..Each one of these poems is gems of harsh truth

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  12. "How many times can a heart break open?"

    Poignant question

    Happy Tuesday Sherry

    Much✏love

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  13. Zero lies detected. You paint harrowing tales that unfortunately and tragically are all too real.

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  14. Indeed not much to take heart in right now! Sigh.

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  15. O that enough of the right people could read these woeful words. Good job, Sherry.
    ..

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  16. These landai, though sad, fit well together. Thanks for sharing.

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