Today is Leap Day and everywhere I look, I see advertising for Leap Day specials – some offering special deals for items at $2.29 (buy one, get one for $2.29) and many others for 29%.  Oh well, so now Leap Years have one more day for ‘special sales’ in addition to the others we already have. Is it good or bad? Well, not sure about that but I certainly am enjoying the uniqueness of this – for my DD, this is the first Leap Day that she can now put in her memory box (she was only 6 the last leap year – 2012). And the National Day Calendar decided to keep it easy for today (happening only once in 4 years) – so today is National Leap Day (of course!!) so leap your way to fun and get some exercise in the process. It also happens to be Rare Disease Day (and I guess that kind of makes sense too and hopefully these rare diseases stay that way).

Talking about the National Day Calendar, this started a tradition for me with my DD a few weeks ago now (sometime in Dec 2015 actually). When I started running out of jokes and riddles (or rather, forgetting that I am repeating the jokes and riddles for her) for including in a note with her lunch each day, I decided to write about how each day was being celebrated. I check the National Day Calendar and pick the celebration which will appeal to her and be most appropriate and make that part of her note. And now, her friends ask her each day – “What is today?” They have had fun discovering and learning and being surprised at some of them (me included!).  For example, did you know that February 4th is National Thank a Mail Carrier Day. and National Periodic Table Day is on the 7th of February. We also have a Toothache Day, Do-a-Grouch-a-Favor day while my DD really loved knowing that there days set aside for Peppermint Patties, Chocolate Mints and almost every other beloved dessert! 

As I looked at poetry forms for the letter G (this week’s letter for
ABC Wednesday), I discovered one new form (the grook and it is a delight) and
revived my love of another form (the ghazal) by attempting to write it. 

The grook is a short aphoristic poem form invented by the Danish poet and scientist Piet Hien. Some say that the name is short
for “GRin & sUK” (“laugh & sigh” in Danish), but Piet Hein said
he felt that the word had come out of thin air.The poems were meant as a spirit-building, yet slightly coded form of passive resistance. The grooks are characterized by irony, paradox, brevity, precise use of language, sophisticated rhythms and rhymes, and an often satiric nature. The Archimedes Lab website has a few of Hien’s grooks and do head over there after this post – they are simply ‘to be read’.  

This is my attempt at one – though it might not really meet the spirit-building requirement 🙂

Time Conundrum

Amazing how time zooms by

like a ball downhill

When engrossed in what thrills

But it can also stand utterly still

Totally so

When what you are doing is a chore.

-@LadyInRead

The second form I am exploring is the ghazal. With my father’s love for music, I grew up listening to music – various forms of it, be it Indian classical forms like the Carnatic from South India or Hindustani from the north, music of the Beatles and ABBA, Indian film music in many languages (Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada among others), as well as bhajans and ghazals.  Listening to ghazals definitely soothed one and this music seems perfect for those quiet evenings and nights. 

When I looked at poetry forms, I rediscovered the ghazal – and here is my attempt to write one.

The ghazal is composed of a minimum of five couplets—and typically no
more than fifteen—that are structurally, thematically, and emotionally
autonomous. Each line of the poem must be of the same length, though
meter is not imposed in English. The first couplet introduces a scheme,
made up of a rhyme followed by a refrain. Subsequent couplets pick up
the same scheme in the second line only, repeating the refrain and
rhyming the second line with both lines of the first stanza. The final
couplet usually includes the poet’s signature, referring to the author
in the first or third person, and frequently including the poet’s own
name or a derivation of its meaning.

This is my attempt at the ghazal – again, a little away from the traditional – but as close as I could get.

 

Fingers gliding over black and white

Do fill my ‘mother’s’ heart with delight.

‘thank you, mom’, also ‘you are the best’

these words dispel darkness – they are Light.

A hug, a smile, a peck on the cheek,

All these are the grandest gifts – no fight.

Each tiny little accomplishment,

each word of praise, I’m proud all right!

A handmade gift (all done in secret)

With a sweet note on it does delight!

Tiny fingers once curled around mine

Hold LadyInRead in pride upright!