Day 8

Published on April 8, 2025

My parents
from Chikmagalur
My context
the old forgotten gulf
My constant
english entertainment
A true false third culture kid

Let me be one of your continentals, Shahid
Let me study for a degree that makes me no money

In the Gulf I was taught to be patriotic
Now mom says I’m not enough nationalistic

Accounts of large crowds, told matter-of-factly
What taint is attached to the journalistic?

Thirty years spent meekly, then explosion of hatred
on return, no empathy. Why am I not optimistic?

No one walks anymore, only iron bubbles on bad roads
eyes closed to the scores gathering at Majestic

I am drowning, holding on to the feminine
While here insists on being chauvinistic.

the lines all have to be of around the same length (though formal meter/syllable-counts are not employed); and both lines of the first couplet end on the same word or words, which then form a refrain that is echoed at the end of each succeeding couplet.

Thoughts? Leave a comment

Comments

tanvibhakta — Apr 14, 2025:
Prompt

The ghazal (pronounced kind of like “huzzle,” with a particularly husky “h” at the beginning) is a form that originates in Arabic poetry, and is often used for love poems. Ghazals commonly consist of five to fifteen couplets that are independent from each other but are nonetheless linked abstractly in their theme; and more concretely by their form. And what is that form? In English ghazals, the usual constraints are that:
```
the lines all have to be of around the same length (though formal meter/syllable-counts are not employed); and
both lines of the first couplet end on the same word or words, which then form a refrain that is echoed at the end of each succeeding couplet.
```
Another aspect of the traditional ghazal form that has become popular in English is having the poet’s own name (or a reference to the poet – like a nickname) appear in the final couplet.

From https://www.napowrimo.net/day-eight-12/