Poetry | Friendship | Afterlife
Fated Fusion
A naani for Ninny and a question about labels
Lives lived in parallel Intersected through fate Fusion in spirit Separation in death — for now
© Carolyn Hastings 2021
This poem came together when I was thinking about Lynda, my soul sister and heavenly muse. I’ve written elsewhere about Lynda, here, here, and here. I often feel her presence. Some of the poems I’ve written have been as much her work as mine.
I haven’t felt her around me of late. That’s ok. I told myself she was busy sorting out someone else’s problems, or she was chewing the big guy’s ear about something He’s neglected to do, or she was meeting new arrivals at the pearly gates and taking them on a tour of their forever home — she’d be good at that. 👼
Interestingly, when I messaged Lynda’s daughter to see how she was going, she messaged back to say that she, like me, hadn’t felt her mother’s presence for some weeks. She’d come to the same conclusions I had. Neither of us were too perturbed by Lynda’s absence. We both know that Lynda will be around when we need her most. It’s a comforting thought.
About the poem
The poem I’ve written is called a naani. It’s a four-line micropoem comprised of 20–25 syllables. I’ve pushed mine to the max! There are no rules regarding line structure, rhyme, meter or subject, although the poem is usually a statement about something the writer wants to make known. According to the Poets Collective website, naani is a Telugu word, meaning ‘of one and all’.
Naani poetry was introduced by Dr N Gopi, a much celebrated Indian poet. I was introduced to naani poetry by Manasi Diwakar with her lovely naani poem, A Cadillac Wish.
It occurred to me that many poets would have written 4-line free verse micropoems of 20–25 syllables without realising what they had created could be classed as a naani. It got me thinking again about the issue of poetry labels. I wrote about the subject here -
What are your thoughts about labeling poems? Do you think it’s important — useful — to identify the specific type of poem you’ve written? This is not a trick question. I’m seriously interested in your opinion. Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. 😊
And while we’re on the subject of labels, it occurred to me that Lynda, my heavenly muse, was known to her grandchildren as ‘Ninny’. The similarity between ‘Ninny’ and naani was not lost on me. Maybe Lynda’s been around more than I thought! 🙏 💕