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Mango aroma and green flies
Sweltering summer’s thawing smiles
Liquid fire flowing through kyles
We slowly melt as winter dies
Nightly fragrance of white bloom flies
Riding the crest of wind for miles
Mango aroma and green flies
Sweltering summer’s thawing smiles
Disgruntled humans supine lie
Prickly heat’s torture making all rile
Poor sun turns up as the most vile
The loo’s* made of sapiens’ sigh
Liquid fire flowing through kyles
We slowly melt as winter dies
* The Loo (Hindi: लू, Urdu: لو, Punjabi: ਲੂ) is a strong, hot and dry summer afternoon wind from the west which blows over the western Indo-Gangetic Plain region of North
India and Pakistan.[1] It is especially strong in the months of May and June. Due to
its very high temperatures (45 °C–50 °C or 115°F-120°F), exposure to
it often leads to fatal heatstrokes. Source: Wikipedia
Posted for Open Link Night # 149 @ dVerse
&
Shared with Poetry Pantry @ Poets United
Your words make the dry harsh summer a beautiful place.
ReplyDeleteOh this sounds so much like summer is nothing to wish for in India.. I had to smile at the word loo... with it's meaning in British English (this has to lead to confusion)...
ReplyDeleteso i gave a little note from wikipedia :D
DeleteThis is a beautifully written poem, for all that I despise the heat!
ReplyDeleteBeautifully starting like a haiku, the melting becoming more fierce, but pulls within me a love of India and my Indian friends. Great verse - as always.
ReplyDeleteOuch, fierce summer indeed - although the scent of mango nearly had me waxing lyrical about this! That's what I dislike about summer in Greece or Romania as well - that constant feeling of stickiness and too exhausted to do anything during the day.
ReplyDeleteLovely poem Sumana
ReplyDeleteWhew, I can really feel the heat in this poem, Sumana. Interesting how the season I look forward to is the season you dread. I know I would hate those green flies though!
ReplyDeleteI am not a fan of heat, to say the lest, yet I enjoyed the way you made us see, smell and feel that heat. "We slowly melt as winter dies" - my favorite line in your poem.
ReplyDeleteThe sigh of the wind. It is little relief from the heat but. You have cast an interesting snapshot of summer in India. Here all the bodies gather around any water hole they can to find relief.
ReplyDeleteSweltering hot summer unveiled well!
ReplyDeletePhew.... sweated some more just reading about it.. :)
ReplyDeleteI had to look up "kyles" too.
ReplyDeleteHaving lived in India and Pakistan (the Punjab), I knew "Loo".
I loved your images and description.
But since you said on my blog: "I second Gabriella…" who only said my poem was about feces, without further thoughts. Let me say sometimes over rhyming for rhyming sake can sacrifice the potential beauty of a poem.
I actually tried a roundel with a twist at the end :)
DeleteSweltering, heavy, honied delirium, for sure. As an asthmatic, I do not fare well with too much heat or cold; and yet we take summer road trips into the American Southwest where temps soar way over a 100 F, so hey, I feel this poem viscerally,
ReplyDeleteI felt like I was there ... and didn't want to be. :) Well done!
ReplyDeleteNot being a fan of heat, I had to fan myself while reading. the heat in this area is soooo humid and sticky. Thankfully we do not have the loos here. The rhyme scheme is excellent and adds much to this piece.
ReplyDeleteNo question about it, you've really captured the heat--and its effect on man,in general. Good rhythm and rhyme as well.
ReplyDeleteI love the repeating chorus ... mango aroma and green flies ... fills up my senses.
ReplyDeleteAh.. the heat in India of windows with no
ReplyDeleteair conditioners.. is certainly a humid
steaming treat.. in Florida days of
swelter too.. as AC pleases..
but what i find
is to stand the heat is to appreciate
the cool of Summer night.. as
well as flowering smells of
living life.. and it takes
a Hurricane named Ivan
to provide that living lesson..:)
Wow. How sticky and uncomfortable! I guess summer isn't always fun and games. Really well-written.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry! My English is not good enough. I have no idea what you are aiming at. :-(
ReplyDeleteThat mango aroma has spread nicely across the entire piece - and balances out the discomfort of summer too :)
ReplyDeleteThe mango aroma sounds heavenly but the fatal heatstrokes from the high temperatures sounds hellish!!!
ReplyDeleteI like temperatures up to about 25 degrees C...so I would not do well with those high temps...I WOULD love to visit your country some day though!
ReplyDeleteOh Sumana... you reminded me of Summer in my homeland! How I wish to devour some mangoes right now :D
ReplyDeleteLove love love this poem! :D
xoxo
Of course it is not only the temperature but the humidity that saps the energy from us. Sweltering summer certainly thaws the smiles from our faces as they drip from us. Beautifully descriptive Sumana.
ReplyDeleteThat heat feels oppressive and testing..although the smells and hope of perhaps feeling that cool water brings it alive and something to be marvelled over..
ReplyDeleteHeat and flies and melting flesh ... "The loo’s* made of sapiens’ sigh" ... that's a lot of sighing while supine. ssssss. Wow, you made me fill it through today's chill.
ReplyDeleteA similar summer I experienced in Arizona going to college...the heat and humidity deadly....zapping all energy, all moisture....beautifully written!
ReplyDeleteDonna@LivingFromHappiness
Beautiful and dangerous mingle together in well balanced poem...Love how the poem found a reflection in the art.
ReplyDelete"Liquid fire flowing through kyles
ReplyDeleteWe slowly melt as winter dies"
Beautiful and spot on! Summers in India are always on the extreme side.
I can feel that hot dry wind in your words......I liked the repeated lines, like a mini-pantoum.
ReplyDeleteSumana,
ReplyDeleteReminds me of many continental holidays, especially when camping and when there was no relief from the summer heat. My goodness, right now we'd love just a few degrees of warmth, as May moves along with more rain and gloom!
Eileen
Hi Sumana, thanks for the enlightenment. always learning new things from your poetry every midweek and sunday. good day to you!
ReplyDeletei have never been to india...but this poem totally drew me into the atmosphere of your summery homeland. every single word is beautiful. sounds like such a lovely place.
ReplyDeleteThat's hot all right!!!
ReplyDeleteYou make the sweltering heat palpable with your words. Not sure I'd like to experience that, though it gets pretty hot where I live too.
ReplyDeleteits hot hot here as well, my mango tree was cut down a while now but i can still smell the ripe fruit fruit half eaten by the birds as the wind passes, only in memory though, your poem did a littlle stirring
ReplyDeletehave a nice Sunday
much love...
I like all the sensual, summerly scents and colours in the poem.
ReplyDeleteGood thing you clarified 'loo, Sumana. Never knew summer could be so severe. Great lines!
ReplyDeleteHank
I can sense the slowness, the oppressive heat, the lethargy.
ReplyDeleteYour poem appeals to all the senses - I feel the heat on my own skin in these Autumn days of the south.
ReplyDeleteI am facing it in Delhi. I so relate to this piece...
ReplyDeletespectacular in the jagged edges of mind
I am glad I do not experience such heat.
ReplyDeleteThe sun is like that - great write.
ReplyDeleteAnna :o]
Beautifully done!
ReplyDeleteWhew! What a superb poem! Enchanting and evocative!
ReplyDelete