NaPoWriMo '23 Day 30

Update: Have genuinely been taking long hours to process the fact that this poem was the last feature of napo ‘23. Thank you to everyone involved who continue to honour poets and poetry relentlessly for 20 years, and thank you Maureen for making me a featured participant. I was beyond honoured.

Day 30 Prompt: Firstly, this has been incredible. I have never experimented and explored so many styles of poetry before this month. Though writing can feel excruciating, a process of twisting yourself for any minute trace of creativity, writing relentlessly for 30 days has changed me. The next time I attempt this, I'll be 24, with either a different life, or different sense of perception, or if I'm lucky, both. For now, thank you NaPoWriMo and every person in the community who will continue to inspire me for all the years to come.

Coming to the prompt, today we had to take up any previously written poem of ours and rewrite a sentiment from it, in its opposite sense. This is called a palinode. I chose the poem I wrote as a sad rewrite of Wendy Cope's “On A Train”. I have now rewritten the sentiment of loneliness from my old poem, confessing I actually love travelling in trains alone.

Writing this poem made me visualize Mumbai in its true element, so here's a picture of Marine Drive at night.