Pragya Bhagat's Poem:
this poem isn’t an answer
it’s a question
how do we become the stories we tell ourselves
how do we become the stories we tell
how do we become the stories
how do we become
how do we
how

My response:
Answer Can Be

Or rather the stories become us
Perhaps no becoming
Perhaps they just are
As they wait for expression
Hidden beyond sight

Remember I am
Remember all I see is I am
Remember whatever comes at me is also I am
Remember I am that is all there is
Remember I am the life
Remember I am
Always

Really ounce by ounce
Pouring the concrete
To bridge
That needs bridging
To love
That needs loving

Good god Ganesha
Climbing into hearts
In a flick of a moment
With a sweet smile
And answers bestowed
In the nick of time
All is well
When Ganesha is aboard

Beyond time born the King
Beyond the cycle of birth and death
As though born
As though gone
Living a beautiful life
Bred for beings
Out of love
Out of compassion
A greater sacrifice
Beyond comprehension

Waiting for the humanity
To wake up to the words
Ever living in the time
Passing moments
Reminding of the passage
Yes wake up to the words
Before the ebbing of time

The greatest way to celebrate the King
Is to follow His song
Happy Janmashtami

Idealistic standards set him apart from practicalities
Yet struggles to break free of norms are ongoing efforts
By the Gandhiites if there are any left
Life is a tall order when your goals are taller
Yet a willful soul can make it seem effortless
With the sheer tenacity of the indomitable will

Lights lights lights everywhere
Smiles lighting up every face
Cheers rolling out every moment
Love pouring out every heart
Peace overcrowding every atom
Making room for only happiness
Everything else forgotten
True celebration

Any afternoon, just like any other
Began this afternoon
This special amalgamation
Of musical balm

Surrounded by the peace
Echoed in the high arches
Accompanied by rhythmic
Clapping of enthusiasts

Emerged the culmination
Of strings and percussions
Emitting swaras in procession
Of magical precision

Inviting the dance of the deities
Embracing all and all
In divine immersion

I fly free
I fly free and fabulous
I fly free and fabulous over the magnanimity

As I take everything into account
Every little detail, the shape, the texture, the contour
The enormity of what’s below me, below but not below by any means

The majesty of the silver lined gorgeousity seems to loom all around me
Aspiring me to give up the flying and land on its heart
As I write nestled in its embrace

Dwelling in its magical realms creating its own constellation comprising
The floating paradise, the grand Himalayan range
Nestled amongst the snow white clouds
My heaven

I hear you
I hear you so well
Here I am having a full life
Yet dreading the day to be
Dreaming dreams not to be
Dancing at the will of the dread
Wishing wishes ought not to be
I want the set, reset
You so gracefully
Flipped
Yet again, wishing
Wistful

Once upon a time, we loved our neighbors.
Once upon a time, we shared not just love.
Once upon a time, we were role models for the world.
Once upon a time, we were leaders to be followed.
Still we are in the depths of our hearts
If we choose to
Look underneath
The fumes kindled
By the few
New veins could be found
To be unearthed
To alight the future

I hear celebrations in the air
As Mother Nature puts up
Her fancy costume
Ghouls and ghosts and goblins
Get ready to scare the world
In the cutest tiny packs
Tricking and treating
With giant sweet tooth
Loving and loving
Every tiny bit of
Shrills in the air
With colors in the back

Is a lifetime enough
Is a lifetime enough
To immerse me
To my heart's content
To my souls quenching
To my mind's limits
To just soak in poetic phase
Is it really enough

Is a lifetime enough
Is a lifetime enough
For you, my poetic contemporaries
To create, to reflect, to rejoice
To regenerate
Is it really enough

Is a lifetime enough
Is a lifetime enough
Dear patrons, dear lovers of words
Is it really enough
To celebrate the words
Their sounds
What they profess
What they lead to

Yes
Almost
Just quite not
Feels so
But take it back
May be or not
Slipping through
Slits in memory
Just wanting it to be
Deja vu