Poetry Corner: New Year– Beginning Anew

POETRY CORNER

The Secret Garden, felt pens on paper by Sahana Shrikaanth.

– 1/02/18

Hosted by Shrikaanth Krishnamurthy

We begin anew with each year, day, and action we take. Especially at this time of year we become more sensitive, aspiring to make a good beginning and through the year. We also look back to the old, and feel the ephemeral quality of our lives. Here our featured poet, Shrikaanth Krishnamurthy, highlights these qualities of life and encourages us to be watchful, aware, and inspired, and finally to let ourselves be loved, as well as to love. The beautiful five line tanka (meaning small song) as used by Shrikaanth carries all the emotion and meaning. A very fine poet, and musician, his heart sings through his verses. His wife, Sahana Shrikaanth, sings through her beautiful artwork, in accompaniment.

~ Kathabela

Wave after wave, acrylic on paper by Sahana Shrikaanth.

Shrikaanth Krishnamurthy

wave after wave
patterning the sand
neither the first
nor the last
this calligraphy

Just as years come and go, so do we, like waves. There have been many before, there will be many after; each beautiful in its own way, for those that seek the beauty within. We are but a link in the chain of humanity, of life: not that different from others, yet unique. Every moment is a new beginning. The New Year is a celebration of one moment to mark all those moments.

letting go
of those words
every drip
of the thawing icicle
still as biting

Moving on from pain, trauma is never easy. Big or little, each one leaves its mark. Some stay on the surface, others are buried deep. But they never quite go. In just the wrong moment, they will raise their head and sting again. But these must be borne to begin anew. Life is built with bricks of mistakes made and lessons learnt.

five little kisses
to wipe my slate clean
each day
writing a new meaning
deep into my heart

What life takes, it gives back too in plenty. It is up to us to know what these are and receive gracefully, gratefully. A child’s love is one of the most precious gifts- pure, unconditional, humble. If we open our hearts fully to it, we learn Karmayoga; Buddha nature.

An Indian psychiatrist, living in England, Shrikaanth Krishnamurthy writes haiku and other haikai poems in several languages, and is currently the editor of Blithe Spirit, the journal of the British Haiku Society.

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First Rain, acrylics and pens on paper by Sahana Shrikaanth.

Sahana Shrikaanth is an engineer by qualification, an artist at heart, that manifests in many loving ways. Apart from being a wife and mother, she teaches music and draws/paints for a hobby.

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