Fifty is the new forty. In the legendary tradition of the game show, calorie & heart rate monitors are the only vocabulary you need. That & the fact that the only real mistake you can make is to wear a strapless Jason Wu dress in a creamy chiffon with a pair of off-white shoes.
CHECKING CRIME: WOMAN AS A STABILIZING FACTOR FOR THE FAMILY
Women are a great stabilizing factor in the family. It is because they are loyal to the home, and they are also committed to their kids. Men may deviate from these duties, but a woman never takes her eyes away from her children. If a woman wants that the man she marries should have property, it is less because of her own protection and more because she is trying to secure the future of her offspring. The idea of home making is integral to the vision of being a woman, not only giving birth to kids, and giving them good education –but also giving them a stable home.
It is a common passion among working women too, who have to stretch themselves too far, to work outside, and then, look for the comfort of the family members too. These days, reacting to the need of the fast households, there are companies like Zomato and Swiggy who provide food items, saving the women from the arduous work in the kitchen, yet these options are not easy. They provide food cooked for business purposes, and eaten without any sense of love or attachment. It is just to satisfy the hunger, reducing the act of eating to a mere physical activity.
We forget that like air that we breathe in, and water on which we live, food too has around it an aura of divinity. We must thank the elements for the food that is available to us. But, this sense of thankfulness is departing. Readymade foodstuffs leave a layer of toxicity, not only in the stomach, but also in our minds. The members of the household remain under stress, or suffer from the malfunctioning of the body parts. This is food stuff, not food. Perhaps, it is time we understand what it means to cook, and what it means to eat with passion and desire.
It is important to look at the criminal side of the story. In the parlance of the law, it is said that all the conflicts arise from three things: Jar [wealth] Joru[Wife] Zameen[Land]. I think that in a home, where women are not present, or where their prime position is undermined, an environment of instability and mental depravity is created. All the criminals who are seen at work with gangsters are people, who have no families, and who quench their urges by going to the red light areas, or they have keeps, who are after their money.
The birth of a daughter even in the family of a gangster sets him thinking. There are men who are running around the wedlock for the extra marital, or even for wealth creation through ulterior means, but women often stop them from these activities, and, in turn, get beaten up. Although it is an event from a film, Naam Shabana, but the incident is worth quoting. Shabana’s, [played Tapsi Pannu, father was a drunkard, and an evil character, who would come home and beat his wife black and blue. Shabana had actually killed her father, trying to save her mother from his bashing. It happens and crime burgeons where men do not listen to the women, who want a life of stability.
I am talking of this stabilizing impact of a woman in the family who loves her offspring, and wants her man to keep away from drugs and drinks, and even from red light areas. They have a preservative mind set. And they suffer, when they confront their menfolk, because men, in the patriarchal society, threaten them with divorce. They are silenced. But, try to impart their values to their sons and daughters. I wonder if I have reason to believe that all that is good, beautiful and lasting, in society has something to do with the presence of the woman.
Apart from what is happening in our society as a result of financial dislocation of families, and the evils of capitalism and materialism affecting the wedlock, those who go for marriage go for a life of steady relationship. And, if a daughter is born, it gives greater stability to the home. If we want to curb the bane of corruption and crime in our society, the most important institution that needs to be strengthened is family, love and faith.
Dr. Jernail S. Anand, with 200 books to his credit [19 epics] is a Chandigarh-based top-ranking presence in the contemporary world literature, a polymath, and a vital architect of the 21st century ethical literature whose seminal work ‘Lustus: The Prince of Darkness’ challenges the moral complacency of our era. Founding President of the International Academy of Ethics, and Laureate of Charter of Morava [Serbia], Seneca [Italy], Franz Kafka [Germany, Ukraine, Czeck Rep] and Maxim Gorky [Russia] Soka Ikeda and Mahakavi Bharati (India) Awards, his name is inscribed on the Poets’ Rock in Serbia. [Email: anandjs55@yahoo.com]
J.J. Campbell’s new collection To Live Your Dreams is a collection of raw, emotional, and often dark expressions of life, love, loneliness, and despair.
His speaker often feels disconnected and isolated, describing themselves as “broken” and struggling with feelings of loneliness. Many poems express a sense of disappointment and disillusionment with life, love, and relationships, which are often fleeting and precarious. In “the twilight,” “love is like juggling hand grenades…you hope the people are entertained and the pin never comes out.”
The speaker frequently uses self-deprecating humor and acknowledges their own flaws and shortcomings. The lack of capitals and punctuation in the poems, and the non-rhyming, understated, free-verse narrative help to convey the speaker’s raw pain and humility. They also frequently use dark humor and irony to cope with emotions and experiences, including trauma and abuse they have survived. In an attempt to snatch a smidgen of hope from a barren life, he fantasizes about “being shot while getting rejection letters in the mail,” and in “count the seconds,” he recollects “explaining being molested again/to a group of people who never wanted the truth.” Finally, in a moment perhaps familiar to many writers who mine the well of their own sufferings, he reflects, “she liked my poetry/which is a sign something was up.”
Despite the speaker’s struggles, they often express a deep and touching desire for human connection and understanding. In “the one,” he reflects on a tenuous long-distance romance, suggesting with a tinge of tragicomic hope that “maybe this silly thing called love/will take care of everything.” Hope can spring eternal in a person’s heart, and we hope that he finds his way to peace and connection, one way or another. The collection’s title itself can be taken in multiple ways: while he has not yet “lived his dreams,” the fact that he still has dreams, that he can still hope despite his past and present struggles, becomes poignant and beautiful in itself.
Community and love are two-way streets, though, and perhaps reaching out to others who are struggling in similar ways could help him to find purpose and friendship. It’s clear that he’s not the only one in his situation, as he mentions support groups, counseling, and encounters with others on dating sites who seem equally broken and lonely.
In to live your dreams, J.J. Campbell offers a glimpse into his speaker’s complex and often troubled inner world. Overall, these poems convey a sense of raw emotion, vulnerability, and introspection.
This is where a twenty-cent popsicle melted, glistening under the summer sun.
This is where a farmer stood with his apples and cherries on the sidewalk.
This is where they left bike trails from their Sunday outing.
This is where a dog once chased a tabby through a sprinkler.
This is where a boy lost his first front tooth.
This is where newlyweds built their dreams, and where an old couple closed their lives together.
This is where lost toy trucks and dolls and rubber ducks lay in the bushes for many days.
This is where the green leaves turned reddish-brown, year after year.
This is where some sobbed and cried, while others celebrated.
This is where the land now lies barren, where luggage was packed, where cars drove away, and where voices slowly faded.
April 8th
A still, settled atmosphere.
A bedroom door left slightly open.
Sheets tucked in tight.
Stuffed animals waiting on the bed.
Clean, cold pens aligned in a row.
A thin layer of dust resting on the tops of books.
Warm rays of sunlight seeping from behind closed drapes.
A pair of slippers neatly placed, untouched.
Outside,
the smell of dinner,
dishes clinking,
a television humming,
voices and footsteps passing by.
Summer Arrival
As I round the corner, he greets me,
standing on the sunlit, sandy steps—
small bare feet,
ruffled hair,
a sheer white dress,
and a cheeky grin.
The puppy trails behind,
his bell jingling with each tiny paw print,
his tail wagging eagerly.
Orange sunlight gleams against the vases and grains of sand,
filtering through outstretched bushes
of poppies and sunflowers,
and draping a gentle warmth over me.
Every bloom carries the freshness and fragrance
of a bright midsummer afternoon.
Then she rushes through the doorway,
an apron clutched in her hands,
half-worn sandals slipping across the porch.
The scent of fresh bread follows her out
and soon fills the entire front yard.
Abbie Huh is a student at an international high school in Seoul, South Korea. She is currently preparing a creative writing portfolio for university applications. In addition to writing poetry, she enjoys working with ceramics and exploring the connections between visual art and language. Her work often reflects an interest in memory, identity, and the details of everyday experience.
