TASTING EUPHORIC METALLICA

Watching the masters
Make puppets of us all
Making us yell
Headbang and call
The memories remain
The battery so strong
Should creeping death claim us
Nothing else matters at all
We'll toll that bell
Make that road our bride
Waiting with bated breath
Till enter Sandman
Wherever I may roam
For me the bell shall toll
I'll be off to never never land
And adapt to the unknown
If only metallica
Rides the lightning
Bangalore fade to black once more!

Fading Blueprint

Building a space to protect your soul
Requires some introspection.
Friends, critiques, foes, and events
Are not so much a consolation.
The walls begin to rise
The rigidity high
The structure starts to crumble.
The friendship that grew to support it all
Rotting the core pillars instead.
Replacing trust with deceit
Replacing freedom with boundaries
The structure is built again.
Friends turn foes and foes turn friends
It's most intoxicating.
Security crashes into doubt
Courtesy into chores
It is most excruciating
Solid shiny steel replaced by ferrous molds
Brittle and begin swaying.
The break is imminent
The loss apparent
The cynicism disheartening.
The optimists' smile
Turning sour in mind
Masking a faith so disconcerting.
Protecting the soul
No longer the goal
We expose it to chill n rain.
Till it festers hope
And corrodes plans
And makes you question your gain.

--Shivangi Vyasulu

The Complexity of Learning

Words written in squares

From the mind’s eye

Converted to graphics by the hand

Creativity ebbing and flowing

Like the tide of learning.

The glitches in learning

Fixed by those

Who know the code.

Creative words and graphics

Integrated seamlessly

To create a stunning reflection

Of facts and figures

Wrapped up in pretty templates

Making raw information

Easy to digest

After being analyzed

And critiqued.

We researched it,

Wrote it,

Animated it,

Integrated it,

Checked it,

And delivered it,

And through it all,

We learned just as much!

Escape from Reality

The sounds that escape the lips
Get drowned in the midst of panic
Displaced insecurities reflected
In the mirrors of one's computer screen.

The thoughts that burst forth
Through a maze of understanding
In retrospect
Maybe they were too intimidating.

The wisdom that is imparted
With  years of experience hedging the bet
Ignored for lack of foresight
Suppressed by pride.

The words thrash through the barrage
Placed to segregate bias from success
Reinforced by authoritarian airs
Creating sparks of fire in the environment.

Picture Courtesy: Troubled Times 2, Vaishak Seraphim, Leviathan Customz.

Retrospection is a bitch.
Foresight, her snooty sister.
Ridicule and Presumption, their cruel dopplegangers
Making annual visits to collect their dues.

The course meandered by the words
Having escaped the lips
Encounter Retrospection, Foresight, Ridicule, and Presumption
They crash and burn with a magnificent hue
Blinding light pushes all other thoughts from the mind.

-- Shivangi Vyasulu

Albatross

Acidic asinine albatross are you,
Caustically wandering down the path.
Sardonic smart-alec are you,
Blathering on about your task.
Snarky fountainhead are you,
Wuthering on about the load.
Scathing captain are you,
Corrosive at the helm.
Mordant artless are you,
Dodgy with your words.
Tart insipid and jaded are you,
Oblivious to stochastic innovation.

Wondrous am I,
Astounded at your foppery.
Stupified am I,
Bewildered by your ineptitude.
Tarrying with bated breath am I,
Antsy for the undoing of a vision....

— Shivangi Vyasulu

Fragmented Journey Forward.

Idling on the open road to discovery
I wait for the gunshot
Sending my thoughts rumbling along
Thundering thru the valley.
I'm owed a dream.
I'm owed some stability.
I'm owed a new perspective.
Slide into place oh mighty puzzle,
Engage gears.
Fill up that open road that's echoing
One of my most nagging fears.

Picture courtesy: Priya Krishnan, Great Ocean Road, 2010.

Procrastination tempts me.
I move into neutral once more.
Idling once more.
I turn around and take off in the opposite direction.
Maybe I should pile on the mileage
Before I gun for the finish line.
The fuel gauge reads "Half tank"
I have a long way to go yet.

--Shivangi Vyasulu

Burning the venom

Slither away lover,
Surprise me all you want
Notice not my fangs and venom
From deep within your world.
I may not harm you instantly
But time will only tell
I'll make you writhe in pain and regret,
I'll be your worst damned hell.

Hold me close cold lover,
Heart as cold as stone.
Then forget me cold cold lover
But for heck just don't drone.
For I don't get cold lover
Not in rain, snow or lack of soul
I'm warm and tricky lover
When angry hot as coal.


Strike me with venom lover,
Try to kill me if you must.
But I'll burn you limbless lover
With my wrath and flaming touch
You'll slither away in pain
And I'll bask in the sun
I'll laugh at you wriggling lover
But dont expect me to hover


Of course I love you, you damned snake,
You remind me of my strength
If it weren't for you damned snake
I'd be cooking or stitching a hem

Thanks to you slimy lover,
Cold heart and vacant soul
My strength would be forgotten
Probably growing mould.

I'll lie by your side cold venomous lover,
Join you wherever and whenever you will
But if you bite me lover
You'll fall very very ill.

--Another reply to  http://rhymsterswoe.blogspot.com/2011/12/hiss-and-her-song.html

UPS Symphony

Beep thru my mind
Break my thoughts
Sound the alarm
Just stop me short
Beep beep shut down
Be-eep work starts
UPS et. al.
Just call it a day!
        --Shivangi Vyasulu

Evasion.

Swirling through the air
An epitome of negligence
Drafts of intense indifference
Bouts of nausea
Encompass the mind.
Rivulets of fresh air
Seep in only to be poisoned
Muffled and disfigured
Acetic, pungent and disgruntled,
Begging for release
From the frigid throes of routine.
I wander through it all
Diversions, conversations, and the likes
The root of the issue
Buried under paperwork
Improvement impotent without backup.
                                --Shivangi Vyasulu

Grandma said it all!

Grandma called me a lady.
She said I was good.
She thinks I'm unpredictable
She says I'm "modern".

Grandma thinks I should go out with friends,
Stay the night if I'd like.
She wants me to be careful
Make sure I do it all right.

Grandma told me to protect myself
Despite the moment
She said she's heard nightmares
And she'd say it in truth.

Grandma asked me about men.
She said they'd  be willing
But when the time comes,
They'd behave a little chilling.

Grandma said I didn't have to get married
Unless I knew the dude was right
She said, " I know you youngsters..
Always trying to hide"

Grandma told me she was young too
And met people new
But grandpa came along
"Too bloody damn soon!"

Grandma says he was a good man.
He provided for her well.
But the times were so complicated
She's now in a shell.

Grandma says I should be free.
Do the things I want to do.
If you are sure about it,
Who am I to stop you?

Grandma gave me the sex talk.
The modern version I guess.
She said I'm old enough
So she won't second guess.

Be careful my darling
People are on the prowl
But if they push you around
Tell me and I'll make them howl.

Grandma is eighty-four now
Who'd have thought she knew
How well she knows me
And how incorrigible I am too!

--Shivangi Vyasulu