Poet’s Day
A Slice of Orange is delighted to welcome poet, Neetu to our rotation of authors.
Neetu’s poetry is an expression of life’s rhythms and the beat of the human spirit. She draws upon diverse multicultural experiences and observations across three continents in which she has lived. She has contributed to The Australia Times Poetry Magazine, October Hill Magazine, Prachya Review, among others. Her poems have appeared in The Poetic Bond Anthology V and VI published by Willowdown Books, UK, NY Literary Magazine’s Tears Anthology and Poetic Imagination Anthology (Canada).
Neetu lives in Pennsylvania, USA and will be publishing a poem on the 26th of each month here on A Slice of Orange. Her column will be titled Poet’s Day.
Enjoy!
A Clock Stops
In the shapeless hours
of an endless night
the old clock
stops ticking
I hear it chime once
a labored groan, only half-shrill
I do not need to look
at its brass pendulum
to know it is still
all I know this time
unlike all other times is
its motion cannot
be restored.
© Neetu Malik
-
crow flies overhead
I hear pandemonium -
last night’s hurricane blew the roof off
pieces of felt lay on the street like bits of rubber tires -
She needs to dig deep
to pull the roots
that grow under her feet
to do so requires strength -
my room
a sanctuary
at the end of the day -
It must have been
a stormy night
when love flew out the window
of my vacant roomlike a feather
from a molting bird.
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I follow Neetu for many years, a poet I admire, a kin spirit.
I’m so glad we are able to feature her here on A Slice of Orange.
Hi Neetu, Welcome to A Slice of Orange. Powerful sentiment about time and life and finality, “it’s motion cannot be restored.” Reminds me of the importance of living every moment well.
Hello Nana! How wonderful to see you and thank you for coming by to read and post such a gracious comment. Thank you!
Thank you, Marianne, for setting up this lovely page for me and the posting of this poem.
Thank you, Veronica. It is great to be here. Time is one of those things – easy to lose track of, yet just as easy to treasure. We learn slowly, but we do learn.
I discovered Neetu’s poetry over five years ago, and in the past two-three years we have frequently helped each other online with our work–we even met a couple of times at poets’ gatherings. The more I read of her work, the more convinced I become that she could become a major Voice in American poetry and Slice or Orange is fortunate indeed to have her on its pages. Many influences right now are splintering poetry in a dozen different directions, each one trying to define itself in an unstable world that doesn’t know its own values. Through it all, Neetu’s short poems quietly assert their solid messages in clear language and striking images that speak to the emotional core of most readers . As is the case in this first of what will be a series of poems: the quiet wisdom here becomes memorable because of the central image that carries it. You simply do NOT yawn aside a Neetu poem! they stick to your inner self and demand attention.
Clark, this was one of the best comments we’ve received on A Slice of Orange. Thank you so much for stopping by and for your support of Neetu. I am delighted to be able to feature her poets.
Clark, I don’t even know how to respond but am grateful, not just for the complimentary comment, but also for the incredible and unwavering support you have given me through these years. From my first poem you read to the hundreds you have read and critiqued, I have absorbed elements, at least some I hope, which you taught to students of poetry in your time teaching. I have never learned them as theory, but your words and suggestions have become part of my unconscious writing. Thank you for the numerous times you have encourage me when words fail me, or when drought strikes. Above all, thank you for having confidence in me because, quite often, I don’t.
Marianne, thank you. Clark is a fantastic poet in his own right, and I daresay, far more of a scholar than I. He taught poetry to university students in Vancouver and is a long-retired professor. I am very fortunate that our paths crossed when I had just started expressing myself through verse.