Saturday 22 April 2017

Shaking A Few Words Out of a Toybox


I don't know about writer's block, but frozen fingers, hovering just above a keyboard are very real. It has been a long while since I wrote. At this point, I've lost count of the number of unfinished blog-posts I have, and the number of incomplete breaths in my phone notes. I have always taken a lot of pride in my words, and so to find them lost at shore like this shakes me more than most things can. One of my earliest posts on this blog was some of my poetry.
I don't like it when my hands are so clean and ink-free, so for the last few days, I decided to force myself to write every day. Such an alien feeling, that I wrote in a format that I hadn't particularly dabbled with much; micro-fiction. Without any more preamble, I'd like to share the tiniest pieces of fiction I've ever written.  They're mostly unconnected, things that I've seen or felt and regurgitated on paper over the last few days. (Yes, I am worried that trying to fix my stalled writing by writing things that end faster than a tweet does can be counter-productive, but I'm playing this on the fly. Hoping that small stories will break open the bigger sentences too. Yes, some of them are cheesier than I anticipated, some scary, but extremes work when normalcy deserts you).

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She found the number written on a tissue paper.
A broken voice picked up the call.
That night, two fortunes were reversed, all thanks to someone who didn't follow the 'Do Not Litter' sign.

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Two single tickets for one horror film.
Shaking hands found each other across the seat-handle.
The story on the screen wasn't the only one in the auditorium that night.

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When he broke my bangles, it was abuse.

When the elder women broke my bangles, 

It was widowhood. 

No one knew it was murder.

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Every single mirror in the house was broken.
The supermodel met herself that night.

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They passed the book between themselves at the library, smirking as their eyes met over scribbled words.
What grew in the margins could not be tamed by the dog-ears.

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"I need a size M, this is size L, dude", he said.
"Sometimes, that's even better", he replied.
The Men's fitting room holds more joy than the Closet store ever will.

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Each touch of his ignited fire in her. 


The acid was quite potent. 

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He can't father a child. He fathers thoughts instead.

She is a mother. To his words.
They conceive everyday.

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Suffer

Two languages, one word.
In 1947, it meant the same.

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She smiled every time she came to the girls' hostel. Love is a rainbow flag on her door.

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Power windows, rough hands.
Expensive sunglasses, ambitious eyes.

Both the car and the beggar had a long way to go.

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Each bindi stuck on the mirror.
One dot. One thousand memories.
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She wailed as amma's hands picked out the lice in her hair.
Today as she cleans amma's hair one last time, she wails again.

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Time waited for tide that evening.
Idioms were a common enemy.

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His eyes were glued to the meter of the auto. As each glowing red digit moved to the next, his hand ghosted over his pocket. Phantoms pains were applicable to wallets too.

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16 comments:

  1. Long time since I have read a nice blog of yours. Creatively put into words.you need to write more often..

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    1. Thank you so so much! I needed to hear that :)

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  2. The murder one is a good enough plot for a season of a TV show.

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  3. When I started writing, it came out in the form of poetry too. And I've stuck to that so far. Tried writing in prose style too. But this is a new style I've come across. Glad to have read this blog post. Gives a new insight into the style of writing. keep it up :)

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    1. You won't believe how happy I am to hear that! Thanks a ton :)

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  4. When I started writing, it came out in the form of poetry too. And I've stuck to that so far. Tried writing in prose style too. But this is a new style I've come across. Glad to have read this blog post. Gives a new insight into the style of writing. keep it up :)

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  5. Rachana Bhandari22 April 2017 at 19:10

    Akin to seeds, your story graphs are complete in themselves or can have full fledged life too ! Sometimes simple and at times very complex... quite like the girl woman kid you are ♡

    Way to go Farheen!

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  6. Well put Rachana. Some gave me goosebumps.
    Farheen: Take a bow. I am doing the slow clap.
    Keep writing.....some

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  7. I really appreciate your skilled approach. These square measure items of terribly helpful data which will be of nice use on behalf of me in future.

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  8. Hi, extremely nice effort. everybody should scan this text. Thanks for sharing.

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  9. I am extraordinarily affected beside your writing talents, Thanks for this nice share.

    ReplyDelete