Art by Ron Wilson
Shaper Shaped by Harindranath Chattopadhyay
In days gone by I used to be
A potter who would feel
His fingers mould the yielding clay
To patterns on his wheel;
But now, through wisdom lately won,
That pride has gone away,
I have ceased to be the potter
And have learned to be the clay.
In other days I used to be
A poet through whose pen
Innumerable songs would come
To win the hearts of men;
But now, through new-got knowledge
Which I hadn't had so long,
I have ceased to be the poet
And have learned to be the song.
I was a fashioner of swords,
In days that now are gone,
Which on a hundred battle-fields
Glittered and gleamed and shone;
But now I am brimming with
The silence of the Lord,
I have ceased to be sword-maker
And have learned to be the sword.
In by-gone days I used to be
A dreamer who would hurl
On every side an insolence
Of emerald and pearl
But now I am kneeling
At the feet of the Supreme
I have ceased to be the dreamer
And have learned to be the dream.
Some powerful poems I read this week:
"What do we do now, now that we are happy?
Our hands so tightly held by our lover’s,
You can feel the wounds you gave him.
And every time you spread your arms,
He pushes you against a cross And drills the nails into your palms" -from The Pursuit of Happiness by Bijaya Biswal
"Beauty, I’ve seen you
pressed hard against the windowpane.
But the ugliness was unsolved
in the heart & mouth.
I’ve seen the quick-draw artist
crouch among the chrysanthemums.
Do I need to say more?"
-from Poetics by Yusef Komunyakaa
"The plants are wilting
In a fresh cup of water
Sometimes, they die
When you care too much,
pouring more love
Than asked for.
Is that why we died
When we were to bloom?"
-A love medley by Meghna Prakash (Read two more poems from Meghna's debut poetry collection Trigger Warning: poems of love and resistance here.)
"In the new temple man has built nearby,
the priest is the one who knows freedom,
while God hides in the dark like an alien.
And each day I keep looking for the light
shadows find excuses to keep." -from Freedom by Jayanta Mohapatra
Recommended Listening:
22 (OVER S∞∞N) - Bon Iver 'Schindler's List' performed in the largest European synagogue in Budapest - Csongor Korossy-Khayll (Violin) & Xaver Varnu Sweet Little Lie - Nils Frahm
Links of the Week:
Quarantine Games for all ages Subscribe: thank you notes by justin wolfe Eva Münnich's super sassy animation featuring 'The Flower Ladies' (LOVE!) Masks, Toilet Paper, and Thermometers Transform into Miniature, Outdoor Adventures by Artist Tatsuya Tanaka
Forest - Stay focused, be present (Loving this app!)
Watch: Rejected by Don Hertzfeldt + Don Hertzfeldt & World of Tomorrow - Script to Screen (Sheeilliance!)
New features on the website:
"As I spend more time in North India, I realise how my life in Cochin was a time to be treasured. I will never forget how I once excitedly clicked pictures of palm trees last year at one of my fashion shoot locations, when it hit me that I have actually spent most of my life growing up with them right in my backyard. It was strange realising that the distance from home was not only physical, but mental as well. The lockdown at the start was a period of utter cluelessness, and drawing home - to reminisce, to miss, to learn, to connect - felt right."
-Namita Sunil's Cochin series
"I try to spend as much time as possible just watching nature's beautiful cycle of death and rebirth. It fascinates me to no end and is my biggest source of inspiration. From this came the evolution of my series of pods and buds. I have even realised through these observations that I prefer being inside a jungle, under trees and bushes than looking at a scene from up on a hill or mountain. Being inside it, surrounded by it, that feeling of being close to the earth's soil. It is so grounding." -Nidhi Mariam Jacob on her botanical art series + Also check out Nidhi's #theorgasmflowerproject
"My strong, tenacious, resilient, hopeful, spirited reader. It goes without saying that this pandemic has been a challenge for each of us, and in the last few months some of us have probably fought personal battles that we didn’t imagine we would have to someday. But the fact that you are here and reading this tells me a lot about you. Just being here, is an act of self preservation and care. It tells me that you are actively trying to keep your spirits up. That you are using the internet to expose yourself to good things, not just the terrible news that’s bombarded on us on a day to day basis. It tells me that you are willing to engage in various forms of creative media and willing to allow art and music and other interesting modes of information to become a source of inspiration. It tells me that you’re willing to fight. And that’s amazing! I am so proud of you.
This act of trying to keep up our spirits, is what I would like to talk about in this newsletter." -from This is my newsletter #3 by guest curator Rucha Dhayarkar
If you enjoy receiving The Alipore Post in your inbox, you'll probably enjoy subscribing to the quarantine newsletter: This is my newsletter, an online experiment where every Sunday, the newsletter is put together by a surprise guest curator! Subscribe here: http://tinyletter.com/thisismynewsletter
GIF by Into Action
Sending you all good vibes on a Monday night. You got this!
-Rohini