PEDDLING DREAM: SOME HAIKU
The sky couldn’t retain
all of the moon now entering
my house through windows
A star shines bright
beside the crescent moon:
she fakes a smile
Through the small windows
gaze at the moon hid behind
cloud after cloud
Shaking hands
couldn’t part with the henna
on her palms
Reluctant to climb
the spiral staircase--
bathing in kitchen
Measures loneliness
sip by sip
at dining table
From the alcove
removes faded flowers
and kills black ants
Thick dust on leaves
unwashed by rains for days--
stagnant time
Oleander and
hibiscus blaze with passion--
making love in sun
Post-lunch nap:
in the drawing room counts
beads of sweat
Two wolves smell
the carcass in field
heat wave chills
Summer vacation:
the noisy roomcooler pricks
my silence
Dust storm this evening--
end of the mango season
without tasting fruit
Throwing stones
at unripe mangoes--
two urchins
Couldn’t keep
freshness of leaf
in water
The first rains coming
back from the desert home-
plateau souvenir
One more empty day
but in the mailbox a hint
of hope tomorrow
Where shall I keep
the thirty years junk if
I go elsewhere?
A sad soul
under the mango--
my husband
In the well
studying her image
a hooker
Ending
the night’s long journey
her short story
Patterns of hair
block the flow:
flood in bathroom
Cooking smoke waves
to the afternoon sun:
ruddy backyard
Chilly night
no soul on the road
guard at gate
Welcoming the sun
dew drops on dry leaves--
an epitaph
After the walk
two women relax on bench
exchanging tensions
After cleaning
the maid leaves behind
an oily smell
A tiny spider
on the marigold sucking
its golden hue
Seeking its roots
around oleander leaves
custard-apple
A Christ crucified
with the violence of music
in the hall
After the party
empty chairs in the lawn
new moon and I
A dead voice
calling up at dawn:
drowsy eyes
Such a wild change
in the mirror beside her--
I look a stranger
Stoops to set
pleats of her saree
mid-August
Meeting her once and
so much love in one night
to last the whole life
Each sun aggravates
sadness moment by moment:
watching lonely street
Narrowly escape
the midair web of spider
perched on hibiscus
After extraction
he gives me my old tooth
list of drugs and new bill
A moth
struggling for life
on wire
Palms waving to greet
the first rain of the season:
I wait in the room
Craving for a lick
of the salt on her skin
to become one with her
Desire for diamond
dies with price I can’t afford:
curse astrologer
Wish I could be part
of the quietude this morning:
the sun’s so promising
Between virgin curves
he deep-breathes evening mist
rests in the hollow
A load of wood
on her frail back
autumn evening
Their shadows dissolve
and reappear walking
along the river
On a cycle
he sells bouquets and roses
peddling dreams
A watchman gazes
the stars on her body
elements clack
Alone on the platform
wait for the train
swatting mosquitoes
Summit of silence:
crossing the river-
feet dry
Scars of existence--
wintry sun and chilly night
crouching on footpath
A dead man
couldn’t keep standing--
lies in dust
Knocking emptiness
I cross the valleys within
now stand at stone gate
Love’s beauty
happening in the soul
God presence
Silence of class test
occasion for haiku thoughts
lost in lecture
To give voice to stone
he chisels the soul-image
Krishna plays the flute
A lamp on the river--
the breast in bridal grace
waving in the gloaming
In the spring sun
the lone pomegranate tree
smiling with buds
The blue-white dapples
on the canvass seeing
the eye of silence
The mirror is so small
I can’t see the ocean
beyond my own look
Silent Ram sheds
tears over the bodies burnt
in temple’s name
Violence breeders
climb power ladder--
peace stings
Tears invisible
on his water face
Buddha meditates
Through long shadows
in the morning remembering
gradual death
After the ‘plane bomb’
stuck between concrete rubbles
a mother and child
In the naked grave
some flesh still clings to the bones:
flies drone the last breaths
Lost in black box
he searches love to live--
smoulders in ash
They still bomb
lands for peace repeat
August 6
They kill and hide
in mosques pray, in fear
kill more, and flee
To hunt the hunters
flames mate with flames--
touch the sky
Her presence--
alien sensation
in my veins
In my courtyard swoop
neem, peepal, cheeku leaves:
autumn’s ballet
Between her fingers
and lips swaying
some puffed rice
Still fresh
in the hanky’s fold--
jasmine
Soft footsteps
of students bunking
class test
Her smile
arrival of spring
at the bower
A butterfly
restless over the other
trying to console
Ahead of us
racing hyacinths
in the river
Two lizards
inside the switchboard
turned on
Two of us
at the waterfall
spraying love
The whole night waiting
for the train running late
drowsy sunrise
The nightqueen fragrance
seeps in from the windows
my bedroom blooms
She snuggles up
in my arms her dimples
joy of heaven
Her birth--
a poem dancing
in the eyes
Swirling spiral
of her skirt spills tides of dream
and memory
Echoes of night song
flutter our embrace in bed:
rushing morning rays
Drowsy day
waning sex and love-
seasonal trick
Unattached--
drop of water on
lotus leaf
Baked and cracked
the sugarcane field
melts into mud
Receding
winter leaves behind
allergies
One more year
hanged with calendar-
a new god
Picking at a dead
frog on the road--
a crow
A crow picks at
cow’s back in the afternoon--
drooping rag-picker
Green velvet
from gate to door--
monsoon end
A moving train--
confined in water bottle
rhythmic ripplets
Two toads croaking
in the drain celebrate
sudden shower
Chased by a cat
a rat
sinking into the sand
Sculpturing psyche
in the city of dumb dreams:
idols sweat in sun
Elements clack
in the small house shudder
the harp and strings
God, the first victim
in the divided city:
one more house torched
Basking in the past
they grow backward and yet talk
about the future
Tattooed on her back
a nude exhibits a nude--
FTV model
Cut wrongly
each body a slave--
grey faces
Tainted tongues
weave mazes to stop
births of light
Continuing
after ejaculation--
anti-climax
Her wet lingerie reveals
more than her body--
I drown in her sea
A stray sperm
grows in the ovum
blooms as puffball
Winter chill--
her face grows
more wrinkles
I see a finger
point to the eye in her breast
mist lingers on lips
No letters today--
addresses of his dead friends
greying in diary
With changing weather
they look for sun and shade both:
chameleon tune
She resents
remembering allah
in her car
In the class test
etching nudes on the desk
two late comers
Night bombing
oleander garden
white as death
Vultures waiting for
the remains of sacrifice
on the temple tree
Seeking for
the white of the sky
in your closed eyes
It’s still overcast
fumes rise from smouldering ashes--
terrorists’ attack
On the marble grave
mating sparrows celebrate
peace in cemetery
So much night
around the street light-
no one’s safe
Heat wave burns and blows
the withered nests whole night
birds wail searching for shades
In the AC room
last night’s coldness continues:
outside summer sun
Clad in swimsuit
her body in water sweeps
waltzing ripplets
He sees the world
through the light of the body
with single eye
Lingering in bed:
to go to church or pub--
Sunday morning
Bedside--
our night clothes
await washing
It still lingers like
the taste of stale love last night:
man and mask one
Joy of union
reduces as rhythm falls:
restless embers grow
She hides the mirror
with rose and lipstick
and keeps her fiction
Reshuffling the shelves
it’s only dust, in alleys
sneezing scholarship
Gentle breaths prick
cheek and chest unclinging
looking away
We come together
to make love against the wall--
harvest for no one
She undresses in
dim light perfumes her body
fills room with herself
Love waves rise and fall
between our shores of soul
drinking each other’s sea
Shouting at her--
the breakfast aggravates
fire in the throat
The lone mushroom--
a pregnant woman
stares out of the window
After dinner
leaves a freezing banana
on the bed
Moving shadows
in the silence of the room--
windows rattle
Hungry eyes
rest on their graffiti
on the desk
Face hidden
at the window hear
known voices
Facing the sun
the lone flower
dying to bloom
After the sunset
wheels of a returning cart
along the paddy
Unmoved by the wind
he sits on a rock wearing
peace of the lake
Unable to see
his pale shadow reeling through
vapour of the earth
Night washes the sky--
the sun brings morning freshness
to my window
After days
of depressing rains
golden orb
Her frisky bounce
like snakebird springing its head
in water preying
Her eyes flash in dark
the eel slides into her cave
I watch the mirror
They take off again
their unthrown nets frighten fish--
water turns whiter
Storms circling within
love is vision in action
blue dot in deep space
Sound turns fainter
with greying geometry
a rusted sign
Hope in hidden words
the invisible essence
nearer dawn’s glory
The mountain doesn’t know
the river flows through its skin
now stains memory
Filling
emptiness of the room
with ikebana
A fly flying
in IC 809
free of cost
On a sheet of ice
the chick trying to free itself
from its mother’s claws
Two souls celebrate
sailing on flames of white light
new millennium
The lone hibiscus
waits for the sun to bloom:
morning’s first offering
Rain-soaked sun
sheds its sultry light--
her bare back
Dew drop
on a blade of grass
rainbow
A child’s fingers feel
the butterfly lying
one with yellow leaves
Shell-shocked or frozen
he stands in tears on hilltop
craving nirvana
A dead leaf hangs
by a spider’s thread
invisible in sun
Staring at each other
two fishes in half-filled tank
ready for truce
All guests gone:
after the late party
night and I alone
Icy bed:
moving the pillow
closer to hers
Only two of us--
and a big house with roaming
rats and cockroaches
Under a tree
in meditation sunken:
a quiet stone
No god appears
in the dark of my closed eyes--
dream-image falters
The little toddler
with her fey appearance:
a woodland sprite
Seeking good news
I watch the lines on my palms
taking new turns
We meet again
in the album ever fresh
her memory
Waving arms of trees
conspire with overcast day
to drench again
Tending the hooks
she blushes to see
the line of jewels
The half moon
on her neck reminds of love
before departure
Her trilling laugh
on the phone--
spring love
Chess of love:
checkmate before
playing the game
Falling leaves--
a sheet of autumn
in the courtyard
They all look for
a little more moon coming
back from movie
Waves of mist shine
with sun the day resumes
laughter shakes each bough
Fearing allergies
he misses full moon party
savours white light
After morning walk
the trio gossip each day
fresh revelation
The holy Ganges
tolerates the city’s garbage
even rape and death
Greeting the first rains
after months of soaring heat--
the lone mango falls
Exploring the world
in haiku silence God
an event
The string of life
lost in the knots of small things:
living tragedies
Sweeping gelled leaves
they raise dust in my compound
agitate windpipe
The lone letter box
rusting in rain for years
none come to open
Prolonged rains keep
dahlias from blooming--
seeds die again
Shining on rose-leaves
silken layer of dew drops:
gloss of her mauve smile
Chilly wind slaps
the window panes closed to keep
cross-legged couples warm
Cloud over cloud
darken earth and hide stars:
dawn and dust one
Red oleander and
hibiscus calling morning
to Kali
Making love
she presses with her nails:
sparrow sports
After lunch
stretching legs in cubby-hole:
a frog
______________________________________________________________
Copyright: R.K.SINGH
First published in a trilogy collection, Pacem in Terris (Trento, Italy: Edizioni Universum), 2003. Also, translated into Italian in the same volume.
6 Comments:
I tried to read this but there were more lines of HTML code (!--[if !supportEmptyParas]-- !--[endif]--) than there were lines of poetry.
I couldn't read all of this, but I loved what I could read. Your haikus are wonderful. Do you write in English, or do you translate it later?
Hi, robert: I think now they have set right the html code and page is perfectly fine and readable. I too had been very worried about the problem as a reader.
Please do visit the pages once again and let's stay in touch.
R K
Hi, matilda: I have been writing in English for the last four decades. I fail to translate my poems from English to Hindi.
They have removed the html code and the pages are perfectly readable. Please do visit the blogs again and enjoy reading my verses. Thanks
R K
I've been reading through and enjoying your material. It's great you've posted your collections here for readers.
Thanks for the invite you left at my other blog. I've bookmarked you and will be back to read more.
hifidel (poetically challenged, at the other site)
Hi, hifidel: Thanks for taking note of my work and bookmakring me. I await your fresh response one of these days, even if you consider yourself poetically challenged. If you enjoy reading 'poetry', you are just as good as I am.
All the best
R K
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