Tanka and Haiku by Prof. Ram Krishna Singh (R.K.Singh)

 

Tanka and Haiku

 

 

she draws a church

on the back of a leaflet

to resurrect goddess

in whose name she cried for years

and none counted her tears

 

 

sitting by the road

she plays the harlot for bread

men sin, she suffers

from police raid to VD

they gift with morbid morals

 

 

Kali Puja

ruddy garland round the neck

kneel to quench the thirst

with rum and goat meat invoke

the goddess for sex tonight

 

 

every home

Shiva's monastery:

cannabis

no secrets or lies

relish special tea

 

 

puff by puff

smoke away their tension

trainee programmers

on the roadside mixed smell

of sweat and talcum powder

 

 

seashore:

she lies on her back

eyes closed

feels foam on the waves

butterflies too

 

 

dark clouds over the still trees smelly clothesline

 

 

sex excels a host of sins love hides

 

 

in the wild

inner echoes--

dragonfly

 

 

creepy shadows

along the muddy road--

bright moon

 

 

a load of wood

on her frail back

autumn evening

 

 

on his epitaph:

he died protesting land tax

on his grave

 

 

half of my mind on God

and the other half on sex:

eternal hunger

 

 

rioting flames

witches dance in cave:

strawberry moon

 

 

old diary--

finding phone numbers

of friends still alive

 

 

 

 

 

Ram Krishna Singh, also known as R.K.Singh, has been writing  for over four decades now . Born (31 December 1950), brought up and educated in Varanasi, he has been professionally concerned with teaching and research in the areas of English language teaching, especially for Science and Technology, and Indian English Poetry practices. Till the end of 2015,  Professor of English  at IIT-ISM in Dhanbad, Dr Singh has published 52 books, including  poetry collections  Growing Within/Desăvârşire lăuntrică  (English/Romanian, 2017), There’s No Paradise and Other Selected Poems Tanka & Haiku (2019), Tainted With Prayers/Contaminado con oraciones (English/Spanish, 2019), Silencio: Blanca desconfianza: Silence: White distrust (Spanish edition, Kindle, Spanish/English, 2021), A Lone Sparrow (English/Arabic, 2021), Against the Waves: Selected Poems (2021),  Covid-19 And Surge of Silence/Kovid-19 Hem Sessízlík Tolkȋnȋ (English/Tatar, 2021) , and   白濁: SILENCE: A WHITE DISTRUST (English/Japanese, Kindle Edition/Paperback, 2022).   His haiku and tanka have been internationally read, appreciated and translated into several languages. His awards and honors include Ritsumeikan University Peace Museum Award, Kyoto, 1999, Certificate of Honor and Nyuusen Prize, Kumamoto, 2000 and 2008, Life time Achievement Award of the International Poets Academy, Chennai, 2009,  Aichi Prefecture Board of Education Award, Japan, 2015, Naji Naaman’s Literary Prize, Lebanon, 2015, nomination for Pushcart Prize, 2013, 2014, and Citation of Brightest Honour, International Sufi Centre: Sufi World, Bangalore, September 2020.

More at: https://pennyspoetry.wikia.com/wiki/R.K._Singh . email: profrksingh@gmail.com.