#NaPoWriMo Day 6: The Sea Has No Answers For Me.

Today’s prompt via napowrimo.net puts readers everywhere in a spot as it asks us to title our poem after one of our favourite lines from a book. Well, the prompt also demands that we change the title after we’re done writing our poem.

I read a lot of books, so I spent a good amount of time racking my brains over what the line would be, so I decided to go with one that is very close to my heart. The line is ‘The sea has many answers’ from Preethi Nair’s One Hundred Shades of White. I wrote the poem in stark contrast to those lines for added effect.

While you’re at it, go check out my best friends, Kriti (Kittu’s Modern Mixtape) and Anupriya’s (Amour Infini) contributions to NaPoWriMo! They never disappoint!

I hope you like reading this poem! Xx

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Once again, I find myself here,
In the salty embrace of the wind and the occasional tide,
Soaked numb to the knees,
I’ve been standing here too long,
Listening,
But there’s no sound, save for the crashing waves,
No seagulls cry in the distance,
No laughter, no tears,
Nothing.

It terrifies me.

The sea held all the answers to my uncertainties,
Or that is what I told myself;
Every push and pull of the wave that dragged me in,
Left me tempted to go further,
Weightless and drowning  until the sirens beckoned me,
Singing to me their hauntingly familiar melodies,
Tugging at heartstrings and all the places I buried
So deep within, they dug deep,
Reaching places I forgot existed,
Planting answers in crevices I couldn’t reach.

I only asked for answers,
I’m now sown with seeds of agony.

The sun melts into the horizon in pools of liquid fire and gold,
I let the flames engulf me,
The warmth welcoming,
A balm to my bruised heart that fell too much,
Aching for the sun’s dying touch,
Wrapped in red and scarlet like that glorious passion
Of intertwined flames,
The colour behind my eyelids on a bright, sunny day—
I still seek answers that I never get,
Ripped away from a dream I’ll never quite forget.

The sea was once my bosom friend who held my secrets,
Secrets that remain buried,
Like chests of treasure lost to its depths,
But all I hear is silence, instead.
I’d crash into those waves until my lungs crystallized
With salt and sea foam, choked by the tides,
Sopping and soaking to a shiver,
Still looking for the answers that I never heard.

Answer me!
Say something, I’m begging!
If silence could kill, then this would be
Death by a thousand cuts,
By a hundred blades,
So please,
Please answer me.

~© Shubhangi Srinivasan.

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The poem draws a lot of parallels from Preethi Nair’s ‘One Hundred Shades of White.’ I decided to write in contrast to the original line ‘The sea has many answers’ because, sometimes, there are no answers. This is a poem about not finding closure and being left behind without those answers. It’s about looking within and maybe a little about doing utterly pointless things to seek something that is, unfortunately, out of reach. It’s something that we are all painfully familiar with, and it is a very interesting side to explore in poetry. I hope you liked reading it.
Yours truly,
The Shubhster. Xx

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Featured Image by Dan Stark on Unsplash