Skip to content
  • About
  • Gallery
  • Events & workshops
  • Teaching

poet | artist

A. Anupama

Tag: creative writing

Open or closed

November 6, 2022Categories creative writing2 Comments on Open or closed

My favorite word is “or,” a hinge on which possibilities can open and close securely, which is an obvious necessity when using prose. But it’s more than that to me. Ask a question using “or,” and you will understand. It requires you to imagine what might be. If you really wish to complete the thought…

Continue reading ➞ Open or closed

Red copper gold

October 31, 2022October 31, 2022Categories creative writingLeave a Comment on Red copper gold

Landscapes fade to gold around here. Gold is their resting state, revealed only just before the dark. Whole hillsides melt into caramel. Sunrise seems to last all day long, but the light dissolves a little more week by week. Light a candle before you read a poem at night. To make anything with this landscape,…

Continue reading ➞ Red copper gold

A fused music

October 23, 2022October 24, 2022Categories creative writingLeave a Comment on A fused music

Perfect for a Diwali mood, I’m listening to the live broadcast of the Ragas Live Festival, a 24-hour cycle of ragas and raga-inspired world music at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, 8pm 10/22 until 8pm 10/23. Listening in on WKCR is an annual tradition for me. A transcendent night, just begun. Already at 9pm, a pair…

Continue reading ➞ A fused music

Invented words

October 15, 2022October 15, 2022Categories creative writing1 Comment on Invented words

At least it’s an affordable luxury, this craft of poetry. Catch a phrase loitering around the alley of your mind, and find a place to keep it. Pretty phrases are as plentiful as the red-gold leaves turning the road into a bed of glowing embers. I'm pretty sure I spend more on my poetry practice…

Continue reading ➞ Invented words

Marigold mind

October 2, 2022October 2, 2022Categories creative writingLeave a Comment on Marigold mind

Poets are monster slayers. I have always thought so, but I don't picture a pen as the weapon. A pen is a pretty wimpy object, if you really look at one. And I don't think our weapon is some mystical effect arising from poets' voices, which aren't any more shatteringly shrill than anyone else's. Poets…

Continue reading ➞ Marigold mind

Because insight

September 18, 2022September 20, 2022Categories creative writingLeave a Comment on Because insight

Yesterday at my annual eye exam, the optometrist told me to get myself a pair of reading glasses. Here they are--inevitable lenses through which I'll have to gaze at poems and paintings from now on. I'm not complaining. My blurry vision is a reminder to me -- don't take this for granted. This is also…

Continue reading ➞ Because insight

Water’s fall

September 4, 2022September 5, 2022Categories creative writing1 Comment on Water’s fall

How thirsty will we have to get? Drought looks terrible on the Hudson’s palisade, where trees have browned all along the crest. The brook in my neighborhood had dried up completely last week, but got back a trickle at least, which I noticed while walking Old Mountain Road this morning. The beech saplings alongside might…

Continue reading ➞ Water’s fall

Beginning

August 7, 2022August 7, 2022Categories creative writing1 Comment on Beginning

The grace of starting something new isn’t mentioned all that much, at least, not as much as we talk about the discipline to get started or the inspiration to begin. Maybe it’s because grace is not in our control at all, unlike these other two. I'd like to acknowledge and give credit to grace itself…

Continue reading ➞ Beginning

Prefixes

July 30, 2022July 31, 2022Categories creative writingLeave a Comment on Prefixes

My daughter and I were talking about the difference between “overwhelmed” and “whelmed” in the car while I merged onto a parkway. I think those words are close to each other but not freely interchangeable. Creative work thrives on “whelmed,” as a kind of outflow of real compassion. “Overwhelmed” seems like the crowded on-ramp, where…

Continue reading ➞ Prefixes

Like a heart

July 23, 2022July 24, 2022Categories creative writingLeave a Comment on Like a heart

Like painting with colors no one can see. Like writing a poem with one word. Like remembering a celebratory dinner only by the brilliant smiles around the table. That’s what a true heart truly likes. I started a new job as copywriter in a medical communications company this week, which prompted one of my poetry…

Continue reading ➞ Like a heart

Posts navigation

← Previous 1 2 3 … 5 Next →

About

A. Anupama is an Indian-American poet, watercolorist, essayist and critic. MFA graduate from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her new poetry chapbook Saffron Threaded is available from Dancing Girl Press.

Click on cover image to order a copy!

Follow poet | artist on WordPress.com

Social

  • View anupama.amaran’s profile on Facebook
  • View aanupamapoet’s profile on Twitter
  • View a_anupama’s profile on Instagram
  • View a_anupama’s profile on Pinterest
  • View Anupama Amaran’s profile on YouTube

Instagram

the deer came to see how beautiful #happyprom2023
If you’re going to the book sale @nyacklibrary this weekend, please go see my artworks in the staircase gallery too! And save the date 6/16 for a reception💖
real or representational or actual or image #blogpostalert #artsaward #hudsonvalleyart
may we fly #blogpostalert and belated #decisionday #sunynewpaltz2027 @michael.k.dave
beautiful Arbor Day event yesterday @friendsofriverhook thank you for inviting me and my poem #poetrycommunity #poetrees #poetrymeadow #blogpostalert #watercolorart
nostalgia makes every small thing too big #blogpostalert #springingup #watercolor #memories

The ideas and views expressed here on my blog are my own and do not represent those of my employer.

art books children's art collaborative poetry creative writing Creativity dance Dhammapada featured flowers literary translation literature meditation Meetup MFA National Poetry Month New York Botanical Garden painting photography poem poetic craft poetry poetry books poetry reading poetry workshop poets Rae Armantrout reading recipes roses Saffron Threaded Slovenia spring flowers sunflowers teaching travel Tu Fu Vermont Vermont College of Fine Arts watercolor watercolor painting writing writing process writing prompt writing prompts

A WordPress.com Website.
  • About
  • Gallery
  • Events & workshops
  • Teaching
poet | artist
A WordPress.com Website.
  • Follow Following
    • poet | artist
    • Join 206 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • poet | artist
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...