and time stood still

Imagine a single moment in time. A moment when time felt like it stood still. Or a moment that you wished you could have stopped time. Write a poem that immortalizes that moment.

-subject matter can be anything.  
-two entries per poet
-no collaborations
-keep it under 300 words

i can't wait to read your submissions!

Moment

I hadn't wanted a child
I hadn't wanted you

the contractions started
as soon as they pumped in the Pitocin

I was so cocky
thinking I could handle your coming
with ease

when it happened
there was nothing gradual
about the colossal, invisible fist
choking my being

this long-haired anesthesiologist
in rainbow suspenders
became my angel
the soothing, numbing warmth
of the epidural shooting through me

the cord had wrapped
around your neck
you were going to strangle

I saw nothing but pink
a spread of soft satin
we knew you would be a girl
your little bedroom awaiting you
in a pale blush of spring

they flung me on the table
cutting so fast
someone marked a slash
into my hip
still today it hums
in a strange rhythmical pulsing

at the memory of a loud,
wet taking of myself
a terrible lessening

no
no

your cry pierced the room
there was nothing ever so right
so beautiful in my life
the lyrical purity of your voice

I never felt such joy
such lack of my usual emptiness

as you melted into me
and we became one

oh! that moment...i am right there with you on that one. spectacular entry!

reversing the 'champaka' times

it had been perfumed overnight
the nostalgic airs
of the just-erected shed
that stacked mouth-shut cartons
tucked with two cities' remnantal loads
of almost a decadeful memories
of the abandonments
that struck like a tsunami, twice
over the same broken shores
chiselling solitude
with fading boundaries
of leftover ruins

sipping bitterish Coorg coffee
with accentuating chicory
the floral fragrance wafted
like dancing angels
starkly against the tongue-choking
milkened solid brews

champaka taken in my palms

seducing topnotes fast-fused
within empty nightish skins
yellowish-orange
slender feminine petals
with sprawling tips
stood as if it was a host in ached waits
for its  awaited 'what'?
a pure mingling touch, a deep
depositing dewdrop, a long
resonating wave sequence,
a slight sweepy breezelet
or a stormling destruction?

destalked last twilight  
its halfed-life with falling fleshiness
and descending scents
wasn't disheartened
at the worsening senescence
fastened
by palm-touched warmths  

within minutes of the clocked
brahmamuhurta
that blessed me with temple's
marghazi pooja
echoing bells,
fragilities would breakdown
my champaka  
like a blackening
banana peel


life you be conferred
derived from those blessings

let the emotionless time
be once maddened
by a befuddled backseat
and further
to a comatose standstill

the mesmerizing you
be eternalized
from delicate~sinless stints
to much elevated purpose



P.s: brahmamuhurta (sanskrit)- early morning hours before sunrise
marghazi (tamil)- a tamil calender month coinciding december
pooja(sanskrit)- hindu act of worship

oh John and Uma! thanks so much for entries. so good.

Time Stood Still

seeing them again together
swung back the pendulum
swinging back to distant past
sepia colours made fresh

the ageless one swinging his ax
to clear the land for his home
power in his biceps and hands
red sweat on his brows

she, petite, in her white dress
gossamer around her ankles
caressing the wet grass
with her hems

seeing them together again
a thousand years afterwards
the sands of time mid-air
for the one fed on

she glided away
from the children of Lamia
she, the ageless victim
always sixteen from the day
she turned.

Momentum


Balancing in the sand  
while seashell hunting.
That's my summer ending.  
 
[Balancing in the sand
while summer's ending.
That's my seashell hunting.]

###

oh my! these are all spectacular!

Interior Design Flaw

I couldn't stand the thought
of dishes left undone overnight
and although I skipped as many classes as I could
I knew which to ditch and when
kept tight track of it

so when I woke up from the accident
a month later and unable to speak
or move
connected to tubes and only a clock on the wall
to stare at as twenty-four hours rolled into
nothing time and again

there was nothing to control or know
I had to let go to hang on
but sometimes
time stood still for too long at one time
and I felt ill about returning to a world
where people hang the get well cards over the bed

right where the sick won't see them...

and all the staff and visitors stare at the clock
while acting like it isn't there

mikimoondancer, thanks for your entry!

time is almost out! i'd love to see some more entries!

WELL DONE! All of you! This was very hard decision and I am completely honored that you all submitted pieces. Again, Well done everyone!

thank you for the comp, much enjoyed! Congrats to John and Toni well done

Thanks for the trophy, Minerva, & thumbs up to Toni & Miki. so much fascinating poetry here...