by Prasanta | Sep 1, 2020 | Uncategorized
(I’m not quite ready for the porch swinging to end! But I know those days are coming.) Porch Swing in September by Ted Kooser The porch swing hangs fixed in a morning sun that bleaches its gray slats, its flowered cushion whose flowers have faded, like those of...
by Prasanta | Aug 9, 2020 | Hope, Inspiration, Poetry, poetry by others, speaking, Writers, Writing, writing journey
Hi Writing Friends! I’m honored to be leading a Breakout Session at the Breathe Writers Conference this fall! The session (and conference) will be virtual this year. Below is the summary for my session: Writing from Exile: Finding Hope Amidst...
by Prasanta | Jun 21, 2020 | Poetry, Seasons, Summer
Solstice Lament A leaf, flower, blue egg blossom in brief— short season of thaw before heads scurry in holes. For now, irony— gaining inches of darkness while days shimmer in verdurous splendor, efflorescent interval. Light soon dissolves— night spreads...
by Prasanta | Apr 30, 2020 | Life, Seasons, Time, Work, Writing, writing journey
We’ve heard of kairos time and chronos time. Maybe, tongue in cheek, now we have “pandemic time”. Indeed, how do we define time during a pandemic? There is the slow, thick movement of monotonous days at home during quarantines. Simultaneously, there is the sense of...
by Prasanta | Apr 9, 2020 | Change, Christ, Christianity, Cross, God's love, Hope, Jesus, Lent, Love, Mercy, the cross
Did Jesus practice eucharisteo* as he walked to Calvary? As people spat and spurned, did he continue to give thanks to God the father? Did he continue to give thanks as he was so greatly burdened, bowed down with the heavy load, bruised, agonizing, and all he could...
by Prasanta | Apr 1, 2020 | Devotions, Easter, God's Faithfulness, God's Protection, Justice, Mercy, Uncategorized
I wrote this devotional months ago, long before any thought of a pandemic. Yet, isn’t that true of any calamity? We don’t know when one might happen. But one thing doesn’t change: God is still the same God. He will address what’s wrong in the...
by Prasanta | Feb 3, 2020 | Immigrant Stories, Immigration, Racial issues, Uncategorized
It was another typical hot, sunny, Southern day. I felt the red clay beneath my feet heating up like hot coals. We were outdoors for recess, in a softball field, and no one else could hear the conversation, far out of earshot of the teacher on duty. My classmate...
by Prasanta | Jan 7, 2020 | Essays, Writers, Writing, writing journey
I am writing about writing in my piece just published at The Perennial Gen! It was actually an essay I wrote for the Breathe Writer’s conference– it was one of two winning essays that was published in their journal, Exhale. *** Writing often feels like I...
by Prasanta | Dec 31, 2019 | Hope, Poetry, Purpose, Redemption
On New Years Eve, people all over the world celebrate the dawn and hope of a new beginning. One never knows what lies ahead, at the cusp of a new year. One thing is certain: there will be both joys and sorrows. I could never have predicted the year I have had. 2019...
by Prasanta | Dec 20, 2019 | Advent, Beauty, Poetry, Uncategorized
December Solstice Solstice darkness persists longer than sun’s extended rays which reach my fingertips eight minutes later than when they first sizzled out of their thermogenic home. Electromagnetic radiation warms cool blue earth, invisibly touches my skin. In the...
