Dull notes of life
await re-ordering--
rhythm and pitch
behind closed walls humming
to search my own music
shake the silent soul
before the final beat
create symphony
merging truth and dream on
lips and eyes that’re alive
Body's No Picnic
Not too many issues
yet enough to upset
the mind of men and women
in postlapsarian world:
she blames me for changing size
shifting shape and cracking bones
aching joints and sleeplessness
menopausal ups and downs
she kicks me out of bed
saying my body’s no picnic
I know it’s difficult
to be a woman and wife
working and making home
I may be no saint
in your eyes but I never
tried to remake you
in my own or God’s image
I can’t give birth like you
nor can I stop the changes in you
I’ve no miracle pill
your body, your anger
I love you as you are
let’s carry no useless weight
Ten Tanka
Sealed vial
a product of time
I am
cut open and see
how life spends me
***
Anal bleeding
overweening reliance
on faith healing
leshies inside astray
limping hope and hairy age
***
Much before they script
new jihad for romance--
racist purity
in a cracked mirror each one
looks for share in the grabbed moon
***
Half-drunk women
on one side of the road
pimps on the other
ready to seize first-timers
to the tin box by street lamps
***
While I sit still
how my shadow moves
the little flame of candle
tossing against the wind
or wheedling passion nestles
in the grey of mound
***
Standing on a cloud
look through an open door way:
desires awakened
before I could step inside
the door closed, I missed my chance
***
Unquenched thirst
more and more indulgence
momentary pleasure
she says it’s enough now
rein the horse and seek the missed
***
Unemptied
the cup of remorse—
begging bowl
before the dumb deity
years of noisy silence
***
God has become
a habit in helplessness
faith a deception
when unable to enjoy
love, life and wonders of world
***
Stars on the earth
these glow-worms I want to clasp
into hands and
offer to God as flowers
of my first obeisance
Ram Krishna Singh, also known as R.K.Singh, has been writing for over four decades now. 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 60 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) and Knocking Vistas And Other Poems (2024).
His haiku and tanka have been internationally read, appreciated and translated into several languages. His awards and honours include Ritsumeikan University Peace Museum Award, Kyoto, 1999, Certificate of Honour 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. Find him on X (Twitter) @profrksingh and on Facebook www.facebook.com/profrksingh .
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