Electric Day 277

I had the experience of my first "concert" of sorts recently and had scribbled this down. Just never got around to posting it. There was a strange connection between the thousand people who had come out to watch - there was almost an electricity charging everyone up. Where the night went, how we danced so long and how all inhibitions just disappeared into one evening was the inspiration of this poem. I thought it might give it more context if I gave a little introduction to it :)

Moving in rhythm, the flashing lights calling us out
Puppets in motion, the music fueling us along
The mind quiet, the senses alive, our body is our guide
Moving in unison, the sound seeping through our barriers
Staying with us long after we break apart and go
We're electric, we're unstoppable, we own this place

What is this connection - it ties us together
What is this connection - it binds us to ourselves
We meet ourselves in the shadows of strangers
We move within the safety of the dark, we have no shame
We're electric...we're invincible, we claim this night

In our quiet resolutions, in our loud steps, we're heroes
We're slaves, we're beautiful, we're perfect
The lights play on our features, like we're cut-outs
Our senses reach their peak, we let our own judgments go
Our eyes are bright, our skin glistens in the night
We're electric...we're evolving, we find ourselves tonight.

- RKS

Storms Day 276

Right before a big storm, there is a strange stillness which takes over the air. The normal slowly starts to stir uneasily. An eerie mood settles in the sky before the first lightning strike. And even if you can't see the dark ominous clouds, you can feel the change… almost feel nature gripping in anticipation. You can taste it, smell the air, the charge in the atmosphere raises something within you. And you wait… you grit your teeth and await… silently, like the trees and grass, with the wind that whispers it's arrival, you watch the dark clouds gather strength and come toward you.

Calm before the storm - I am not sure if there is such a thing. Some part of us has been tuned to know when something big is about to happen. Sometimes we're not listening enough, or we're shifting our thoughts into denial rather than preparation. Storms come in our live metaphorically and literally. Both in their own ways creating havoc.

What is a storm after all? It is strength, passion which doesn't deter it's path - it goes where it chooses without invitation and without any apologies. It removes all that is in it's path, it reduces everything to it's will and when you're in the midst of one, sometimes the best thing to do is stay still, dig your feet into the ground, close your eyes and let it pass over.

In the last couple of weeks, I have been a witness to both kinds of storms. The kind of storm which trapped us indoors and also the kind of storm which breaks a person down to pieces. Where there is no other thought and a person's most natural of instinct is shattered. I have had some days of pure simplicity, appreciating the sun and the beautiful sky… and in the next few days, have seen a child buried in the cold, unforgiving ground. Elements are what we're made of and elements are what we return to. Sometimes I think - are we not the lashing storm ourselves? The soft rain that follows desolation or the scorching heat, are we not the warm breeze as well as the soft snow? Is our nature not in tune with the nature around us… does it listen to us, the way we listen to it… does it feel the rain of our tears that fall on its ground, does it see our angry dances - do we stir the elements the way they stir us… does nature ever succumb to the power of the storms that exist within us?

A few words.. Day 275

I have had so many thoughts and blogs in my head in the last week or so. It really has been just a week since I thought of writing here and yet the illusion of experience has made time feel much longer :)

I will start writing them out - sometimes thoughts are almost caged in my head till I write them. I guess it would be a matter of time before I forget, but till then, they seem to bang against the walls of my head, wanting to come out in some form of expression. So I will write them out, fill these awkward silences of my blog :)

But today I wanted to write something short… I had my birthday recently and one of the gifts I got (which was a few days earlier) was my poems from this blog published in a book. I had been meaning to write about this and well, now is as good a time as any :) It's something small in a lot of ways but it was kind of special seeing these blurbs of thoughts which I put out here - my poetry which has been the most personal, collected and printed. It's a small book and maybe just the start of something else… but it felt strangely real when I could run my fingers over the verses and read what I had written over this "challenge".

Since I was very young, I have been fascinated with the idea of "publishing" my works. I have always felt there is some sort of immortality to a book. Some sort of eternity in a published word, that lives on centuries after you're gone. It reaches people you don't even know, people who don't even exist - your words are quoted, you're analyzed and your emotions are given a higher ground… it takes a book to write of a legend, a story to make a hero known and a poem/song to remember what has occurred in an otherwise normal day. While I don't expect this little book to do as much.. to see it printed in that way and for me to read it, was very special to me. And if this blog does nothing else - it gave my poetry some form of immortality even if it is just one edition of one book :)