@MoziburUllah Haha, thank you.

@MoziburUllah Nice! Is this about Vietnam?

@MoziburUllah I don't remember, I always liked verses and put them down when I used to feel inspired you know

@LakshmiNarayanan: Well guessed! It is. Its based on that famous photograph of a girl running away from a village in Vietnam. I was talking about Napalm with some friends in a pub a couple of weeks ago and we were wondering what exactly it was; and I think that helped inspire me to write this.

Inspirations important. I tried writing another poem on the same theme years ago. But it didn't work. No inspiration.

@MoziburUllah Sometimes, restricting to particular forms is helpful to get playful and the creative juices flowing. Have you tried your hand at, say, Haikus?

@LakshmiNarayanan: I've come across Haikus but I've not tried my hand at them.

@MoziburUllah Finally! In the room at the same time :)

The frog jumps into the pond.

Bubbles.

@LakshmiNarayanan: As luck would have it. How are you doing?

There's that famous haiku by Basho - I think.

Aren't all haikus 5-7-5 syllables?

Yeah. That's true. I'm not adept enough for such strictures. Instead, I think about making it as short as possible. Maybe I should try a bit harder... Let me think...

Have you tried any?

@MoziburUllah Yes, some are philosophical, some are observations of common behaviours

@MoziburUllah You should obsess!

Here's one, it's called Spaceman

it's a tribute to Calvin's alterego Spaceman Spiff :)

Whose Calvin?

Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes

Ah yes, I have come across them!

Yes, I used to read it on lazy summer afternoons on a hammock :)

The Haiku of Bashos I was thinking of was translated by Lafcadio Hearn in 1860; it goes

Old pond

Frogs jumped in

Sound of water

He hasn't stuck to the 5-7-5 rule!

Haha I was waiting for it to finish lol

Hammocks are cool (when they're done right).

Here's another: It's called Veins

Great. And both are traditional 5-7-5!

@MoziburUllah Lol is there a story here?

Maybe you're a stickler for formality? ;-).

@MoziburUllah Thanks

@MoziburUllah I just read somewhere that 5-7-5 is haiku and started writing them in that form! I like the restriction cos it helps me think at times.

Want to hear another one?

Mine is a 7-1. An anorexic haiku! I think I prefer mine to Lafcadio's. It's more condensed.

Sure, go ahead!

@MoziburUllah Haha

@MoziburUllah It's called No biscuits

That reminds me of a couple of lines in William Blake. Have you read him by any chance?

The dog starving by his masters gate

Predicts the ruin of state.

@MoziburUllah oh wow powerful

I like the way you put in direct speech.

@MoziburUllah Not much, where do you suggest I start

Songs of Innocence and Experience is his most famous works.

Here's a short piece by him; it's the first piece I'd read by him; I guess it's short so easily anthologised.

O Rose! Thou art Sick!

@MoziburUllah Thanks will read them

@MoziburUllah Go on

The invisible worm

That flies in the night

Through the howling storm

Has found out thy bed

Of crimson joy

And thy dark secret love

- that should be: And his dark secret life

Does thy life destroy.

And his dark secret love.

Not life.

@MoziburUllah It's epic! ( I googled it as you were typing ;) )

It struck a chord with me when I first read it years and years ago.

Blakes an iconic figure here in Britain.

There's a statue based upon one of his engravings in the courtyard of the British Library.

What is the Rose? England? He was writing at the time of Britains industrial revolution...

@MoziburUllah Ah turbulent times!

Are you based over the Pond?

@MoziburUllah Nope, I'm from India

What with Calvin & Hobbes??!

@MoziburUllah Haha yes, why not?

brb

I thought Indians were into Bollywood?

Amitabh Bachan - Sholay!

What's the word for gangster in Hindi?

brb?

Hmm, do you work in IT by any chance? Or am I stereotyping here?

I guess why not, indeed!

@MoziburUllah be right back

@MoziburUllah ROFL

@MoziburUllah I don't speak Hindi

@MoziburUllah I'm an academic so yes, it's a false stereotype here

@MoziburUllah I take it Indians make you uncomfortable?

Ok, see you in a bit.

Not really. I just haven't met that many of them. I knew a few at university but lost touch with them.

What made you think that?

@MoziburUllah you know the bollywood and the gangster not to mention IT

anyways, I gotta scoot. Keep trying to write!