First appeared on: Showcase: The Black Water Code + Reborn, Villanelle Poem
September’s Showcases will be introduced by Georgina Smith, Manager of The Wilbur Smith & Niso Smith Foundation.
The second piece I’ve selected to share is the Villanelle poem Reborn by Palak Tewary. The imagery in this poem is gorgeous. The poet takes darkness and light, bliss and melancholy, and interweaves them. In this case, Tewary succeeds in creating a sense of an undefined place, which will surely look different in each reader’s mind.
Reborn
There is something light in this dark
A wave of paradise within a melancholy night
Perchance a misguided star left its mark
There rises a definite slow-burning spark
Winking from the scorching wood of my pyre
There is something light in this dark
A glorious new journey, I now embark
Unbound from every earthly sacrament
Perchance a misguided star left its mark
Waking into a new birth with aplomb
I soar on the faint shimmering air
There is something light in this dark
Perchance a misguided star left its mark
© Palak Tewary, 2021
The use of repetition gives the poem a compelling rhythm and the tone is hopeful, offering us a chance for newness in the dark space around. The heat of the implied fire does wonders for the sense of place and, as readers, we’re left with the feeling of possibility. What an enchanting piece.
Read here
Palak Tewary 