Friday, March 1, 2024

KNOCKING VISTAS: HAIKU AND TANKA

 

https://www.scribd.com/document/709729918/Knocking-Vistas


https://www.academia.edu/115628015/KNOCKING_VISTAS_HAIKU_AND_TANKA


KNOCKING VISTAS

    HAIKU AND TANKA

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                    Ram Krishna Singh

 

 

 

 

                          1 March, 2024

 

 

 

                  For my wife, Durga

                  Celebrating our 46th Wedding anniversary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

 

 

The poems in the volume are in continuation of the experiences and spirit one may notice in my books Against the Waves: Selected Poems (New Delhi: Authors Press, 2021) and Poems and Micropoems (Sierra Vista: Southern Arizona Press, 2023). While there is concern for something or other in the depressing contemporary human condition and chaos, there is also an exploration of who we are and what we are, with search for sense in senselessness.  The snippets of our complicated existence find images rooted in nature and physicality with whispers of the soul.

 

Acknowledgement is due to the editors and publishers of the following online and print journals that carried some of the poems, including individual haiku and tanka that make up the linked version, presented here:

 

Scarlet Dragonfly Journal; The Bamboo Hut; Creative Flight Journal; International Writers’ Journal; Setu; Better Than Starbucks; Minuto De Poesia; Creation and Criticism; The Pan Haiku Review; VSANA; New Academia Journal; Haiku Universe; World Micro Poetry Journal; Failed Haiku; Spillwords; Edge of Humanity; Poleart; seashores; Das Literarisch; Lothlorien Poetry Journal; Haiku Zbornik Ludberg 2023; Samobor Haiku Meeting; Rendition of International Poetry; Kelaino; Poetcrit; Writers Editors Critics; and International Journalon Multicultural Literature.

 

Some poems have also been anthologized in Diverse Voices: An Indian Poetry Anthology (ed. S. L. Peeran. New Delhi: Authors Press, 2023); Home For the Holidays Anthology (ed. Paul Gilliland. Sierra Vista: Southern Arizona Press, 2023), and The United Haiku and Tanka Society 2022 Anthology: Songbirds Online (ed. an’ya).

 

 

01 March 2024                                                               Ram Krishna Singh

 

 

 

 

 

 

1

MELTING ELEMENTS: An Experimental Long Poem

 

 

Looking for image

of  divine on the wall

to pray or chant

a mantra or hymn in mind

she leans on him to kiss

 

 

          her soul touch

          vibrating in depth

in darkness

 

 

reclining Buddha

unmindful of drinking

he and she

discussing taste

aged in India

 

 

half asleep

one with poppy--

Buddha’s bar

 

 

in the park

seeing the green in her eyes

joy wells up

she feels the silver blue

the leaves breathe her touch

 

 

smoked fish

in the elevated hut--

honeymoon

 

 

butterfly cushions

flutter the skirt

flame flickers

ground to whiteness

for her feast

 

 

verandah--

touching her naked skin

morning breeze

 

 

one more night

hairy darkness of womb

yellow moon

inside parts slop for love

haptic wind sucks the wetness

 

 

adventure

between the thighs--

tailored deal

 

 

so cold

with three days rain

our bed

she abstains for

fear of my touch

 

 

seeing her body

in the lingerie drying

on clothesline

 

 

 

 

 

her lips

crimson with paan

stings my heart:

smell of saffron and cardamom

melts in my haiku

 

 

sweet perfume

untainted flower

evening lust

 

 

softness dies

in his pressure

much pleasure

melting elements

feed the soul in flesh

 

 

glows on her

magenta bracelet:

year’s colour

 

 

seashore:

she lies on her back

eyes closed

feels foam on the waves

butterflies too

 

 

on the back

a reclining nude:

kiss of the wave

 

 

 

 

 

 

her beauty

smells the soil that sings

grace in look:

I whisper my heart and chase

the glow her shadow spreads

 

 

her sharp nail draws

love sign on the stone’s back

green patina

 

 

lying in sun

on a straw mattress

a nude couple

whisper dreamed-up nest

when their ship comes in

 

 

drowsy eyes

sun behind the clouds

dreams wrapped up

 

 

 

 

the musky sillage

confirms her presence nearby

in cold sun I wait

for beer with her one last time

get drowned in her wild kisses

 

 

her décolleté blouse

and see-through saree--

curve’s vanity

 

 

 

 

 

 

at the swimming pool

he asks if he could borrow

her underpants just

to feel her from inside

with fidgeting currents

 

 

she wrings her hair

rising from the lake:

rural Venus

 

 

shining in sun

water spots

on dry skin

she smiles to see

night’s memory

 

 

part of me

enters her body

blooms puffball

 

 

share memories

in the dark of night

race for life-

brave scents from the brink

mate kisses with grace

 

 

red with shame

the sky at sunrise

one more kiss

 

 

 

 

 

 

sitting in armchair

she tells her maid how not to

share the secret rose

wet with dew or red with fire

at the heavenly entrance

 

 

seated woman--

sleepy gestures

dim delight

 

 

a walking woman

pregnant from the back raising

hand for her man’s hand

a little away holding

the cell phone to his ear

 

 

she wanted to sing

dream-songs she couldn’t:

spring hand-cuffed

 

 

an old lady

calling heart-centred men

to awaken

in three sessions their full

potential in bed and beyond

 

 

he sleep-babbles

let’s become earth and sky:

four-decade love

 

 

 

 

 

Kali Puja

ruddy garland round the neck

kneel to quench the thirst

with rum and goat meat invoke

the goddess  for midnight sex

 

 

half of my mind on God

and the other half on sex:

eternal hunger

 

 

between her coming

to bed and sleep

a burial of longing:

her indifference widens

even touch is a no

 

 

awake    cross-legged

till witching hour--

no means no

 

 

 

dining table

resting place for the dust

my mind emits

before her third eye opens

I switch on the AC

 

 

flour dough

between the fingers

despair sticks

 

 

 

 

she draws a church

on the back of a leaflet

to resurrect Mary

in whose name she cried for years

and none counted her tears

 

 

          walking in fire

          with wildness of passion

          bewitching nude

 

 

 

undissolved in light

chasing rainbow desire

no grand affair

no experiment to live

the essence    no end to dust

 

 

beyond the body

shimmering her soul--

naked among clothed

 

 

dream-incited

I awake with a start

to her promise

sleeping together once

more before we depart

 

 

new moon

rocking her world--

twin flames

 

 

 

 

 

each syllable

allergic pollen and dust

her autumn tongue

one more song to prick with

new variant    new wound

 

 

lonely hours

restlessness of night

breathe satyr

 

 

 

no temple

this body degenerates

memory fades

stinking remains

can’t forget all

 

 

looking for light

hidden in darkness:

drifty silence

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2

 

LOVE HIDES: A Haiku Sequence

 

 

sex excels:

a host of sins

love hides

 

 

she says she’s single

and ready to mingle--

just moments away

 

 

thrice she clicks

her heels together:

secret code

 

 

her hair up

transparent front and back:

birthday cake

 

 

midnight moon

senses aroused--

lift the veil

 

 

silence--

her eyes word

a wine song

 

 

love in folds of sleep

forgotten memories:

washed up melody

 

 

her disheveled hair

delight in disorder--

bittersweet flings

 

 

taking selfie

with her new mobile:

breast-feeding

 

 

past lover

time to clean up house:

cold moon

 

 

a curled snake

with fangs ready to poison

love’s narrow passage

 

 

stars celebrate

the body’s wet music

sublime sensation

 

 

sunflowers ring:

teenagers ChatGPT

Sapphic know-how

 

 

how innocent

the children of night--

sleep and death

 

 

clad in white

peaks behind peaks--

Everest within

 

 

 

 

3

 

KNOCKING VISTAS: FIVE-LINERS

 

 

wintered sadness

different dimensions--

nature’s cycle

unable to cope

meditation

 

 

 

thoughtless mind

weeds and refuse buried

empty heart

illusion of self thrown out

yet the guest doesn’t visit

 

 

 

climb to deity

hands folded in obeisance

crowd behind unaware

of awakening silence

of depth in inner self

 

 

 

myriad lines

in the hollow of my palms

joined in prayer

prepossessing humour

cynically exchanged

 

 

 

 

from Shiva’s temple

high decibel puja noise

wrath of the goddess

she prays for long power cut

for her short meditation

 

 

 

with soda and mint

apple-flavoured vodka

and khichdi in lunch

follows Mahakaal darshan

maze through devotees’ long queue

 

 

 

every home

Shiva’s monastery:

cannabis

no secrets or lies

relish special tea

 

 

 

alliance of lies

pre- and post-twenty fourteen

fresh phoenixes rise

devotees greet in temple

new histories on wallpaper

 

 

 

tainted with greed

my curse an addition--

theft politics

whores gang up in red light

make water flow uphill

 

 

 

no firsts in hunger:

they all push one another

for a pail of rice

to cook without fire   roof  and

utensils lost in landslide

 

 

 

can’t tackle big beasts

and the sheeple that snigger

candle procession:

read silent tears on the cheeks

of the mother of the lynched

 

 

 

wailing over

adversaries that seek good

and do evil

he asks how long the dead

be denied condemnation

 

 

 

known a man of word

before exiting the windowless hall

scrawls his bearded sinisterity

none could read: he proves a rhino

turning the temple into funeral home

 

 

 

anti-national

every dissenting voice--

lotus regime

bullying the generation

with changing narratives

 

 

 

too complex

the calculus of grief:

forgotten fractals

cold and heavy inside

each loss rips through dusted stash

 

 

 

hide dubious dreams

behind sweet tongue and praise

cunning colleagues

free from humility

now I taste my silence

 

 

 

await setting of

burning sun and arrival

of night to go out

for a beer with chips

to soothe her hurt spirit

 

 

 

sleepy yet awake

recreating grief and pain

a flightless duck

sits over the soul’s scars

no mourning tends or mends

 

 

 

sitting by the road

she plays the harlot for bread

men sin    she suffers

from police raid to VD

they gift with morbid morals

 

 

 

questions the living

honoured for deeds concealed:

slave market

every second buyer

a civilized rapist

 

 

 

naked in debris

a baby girl crying

he bends to pickup:

eyes wander to locate

her mother too nearby

 

 

 

Manikarnika:

he collects warm ashes

searching gold to live

by country liquor or bread

for starving wife and children

 

 

 

young and widowed

her body a burden

can’t help herself

reduced to a donkey

suffering morality

 

 

 

a one-eyed woman

the window curtain shakes

nightly stillness

veronal dread in hell

breeches itch in half-sleep

 

 

 

a sleeping soul

under medication

mumbles love tanka

he can’t recall

on awakening

 

 

 

lanterns in hand

villagers climb up the hill

hunt for mushrooms

before the sun rises

rush to weekly market

 

 

 

foggy morning

choke humans and animals

icy darkness

around fire on the roadside

they smoke bidi with chai

 

 

 

giving in to grow

intimacy:

wants no trouble

realizing dream life

on daily basis

 

 

 

a sleeping man

under the tree

awaits a grave

villains in village keep

gaslighting all day

 

 

 

puff by puff

smoke away their tension

trainee programmers

on the roadside mixed smell

of sweat and talcum powder

 

 

 

winter arrives with

wheezing   sneezing   and  backache

whole night without sleep

I try pills to get better

lamenting ageing and pray

 

 

 

the nagging pain

in the index finger joints

kills all poetry

of body and mind at night

I yell sighs in half-sleep

 

 

 

morning walk:

two boys going to school

pick plump jamuns

rolling on the roadside

for tiffin at recess

 

 

 

grey morning

shivering body

walk back home

to the drizzling din

of a muddied street

 

 

 

unpredictable

monsoon clouds in Bangalore

confusion all time:

wet again my walking shoes

mud splashes by running car

 

 

 

peeping eyes

view in the skull

weird videos

deep breathing on the rock

dazed shapes in moving frames

 

 

 

a solo show

at the lounge corner:

stoic visitors

sipping insentience

moving ahead

 

 

 

a nude back

of reclining man-

more female

yet less inciting

on Lesser’s canvas

 

 

 

his son views letters

on the billboard a sparrow

awaits green light

for the road to be free

to peck at the fallen grains

 

 

 

with dumbbells in hand

he logs in YouTube to build

arm muscles and says

he’s off social media

to make new relationships

 

 

 

in the bright sun

my dark shadow

parts company

under the banyan

one more burial

 

 

 

sudden sound and smoke

Diwali pollution

in road number one

midnight asthmatic breathing

and no neighbor cares to stop

 

 

 

kitchen sink:

hot water running

over the cup

between the fingers

rises winter sun

 

 

 

an old woman

steals hibiscus from our gate

grinning nav-ratri

puja at home and hurries

back before my wife confronts

 

 

 

the tree is me

leafy  green  bent  straight  full  rich

rooted in nature

loving sun  moon  and  star

sheltering one and all

 

 

 

lighting--

roaring colours in the sky

red   white   dark 

merge into one

fire   water   earth

 

 

 

in the sky’s map

distorts in no time

my funny face

no physics could force

the cloud’s short-hand

 

 

 

I have been

not what I am--

my old version haunts

she says I blabber in sleep

fuckers that block my success

 

 

half moon

cool enough

to move ahead

leave  behind

forgotten memories

 

 

 

 

what poem can brew

on faces hidden behind

veils misty eyes say

all I can’t image in

haiku with season word

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4

 

KNOCKING VISTAS: THREE-LINERS

 

 

rioting flames

witches dance in a cave--

strawberry moon

 

 

pecking

behind the  mask

magic-seekers

 

 

walking on fire

with wildness of passion

bewitching nudes

 

 

without silver wings

she hugs angels in the blue

becomes a star

 

 

wondering

the sex of seashell--

nude portrait

 

 

astral energies

shifting trajectories--

no promises

 

 

intangible

psychic insights:

moments of muck

 

 

wash the sheet clean

nags my father in dream--

winter morning

 

 

 

absent spirit

planetary transits:

halcyon years

 

 

fail to follow

divine timing or sign:

soul’s dimming flame

 

 

splash the eyes

for clearer vision:

faith in tension

 

 

Taliban march

no Covid could stop--

unanswered call

 

 

a year of war

let’s go fly a kite

sunny day

 

 

high minaret

recorded call for namaaz

soul’s melody

 

 

 

 

 

 

post-cyclone

stagnant water in field--

fishing drought

wearing wishes

for money miracles--

green adamite

 

 

 

season’s first rain--

still await yellowing of

mangoes on tree

 

 

missing the gut

to pick and choose numbers:

hangout in vain

 

 

sky’s canvas--

disfigures in no time

my funny face

 

 

post-retirement

a nobodaddy--

missing courtesies

 

 

memory full:

fail to store name and number

autumn evening

 

 

she dislikes my face

oily with wrinkled hair--

stinky armpit

 

 

warblers fly back

seeing the soft-stepping cats

in the grassy yard

 

 

creepy shadows

along the muddy road--

big bright moon

 

 

closed Lion Gate

no Sirius shines

August 8*

 

 

[*On August 8, spiritual gateway opens: Sirius aligns with Orion’s Belt, the Pyramids of Giza, and the Sun in Leo; hence the Lion’s Gate. The numerologists suggest that it’s time to align with the highest Divine Self. ]

 

 

chaos in sky

dark with colour and light

rising waves on stone

 

 

in the wild

inner echoes-

dragonfly

 

 

garden edge--

morning mist

in the eyes

 

 

tarot prophet:

taking last order for

heart cleanser

 

 

full moon

a frozen dot--

deaf beyond

 

 

nearer God

the Cross on bedroom wall--

midnight tears

 

 

unending discourse

for one-minute prayer--

pineal testing

 

 

giant wind--

sail through the cavity

in the tide

 

 

night’s silence--

what’s this raw whisper

beyond the breeze

 

 

the wind blows my way

the year of metal Ox ends--

Water-Tiger roars

 

 

can’t erase

the DNA of touch--

dragon’s head

 

 

Vishnu in stone

weight of the universe--

sitting tortoise

 

 

at the entrance

five-headed Hanuman:

chanting mantra

 

 

violence of voice

shrinking rationality--

turbulent light

 

 

eagle’s shadow--

the still boat on the bank

blank page of tomb

 

 

climate crisis:

light-bulb in the head goes off

where’s green future?

 

 

melts under the feet

grey sadness of sand on shore--

blue waves in stone

 

 

seashore--

waves rush to squeeze

feet in sand

 

 

the wet dawn

pre-empts chilly sun--

early spring

 

 

cloudy night--

they say it’s depression

I can’t breathe

 

 

one with granite tub

a beetle in the bathroom--

silence of dampness

 

 

each winter

different from the gone one:

virus variant

 

 

so old my crud

they turn into remedy:

placebo effect

 

 

physical ageing

can’t keep the mind whole:

unfriendly moon

 

 

growing grasses

corners of the rusted gate

food for stray cows

 

 

mid-June morning-

gardener’s muddy fingers

scratch the itching scalp

 

 

sudden screaming

from the kitchen:

a centipede

 

 

searching the seed

in layers of cabbage:

wok on red flame

 

 

threatening rain

dark clouds hang over still trees:

smelly clothesline

 

 

Chhat volunteers

pushing the pond’s green algae

smelly roadside

 

 

down the lake

with tucked in beak

a drowsy duck

 

 

drippy night--

she shuts the window

saves her books

 

 

her smile--

a pair of empty gums

in wrinkled light

 

 

a new-born

bridging the distance

between two houses

 

 

stopped at toy store

a little girl still crying

for unicorn

 

 

taking selfie

with her new mobile:

breast feeding

 

 

smoke of cow dung cake

and roasting in shanty--

watery tongue

 

 

smelling

turkey leftovers--

thanksgiving

 

 

love touch

spirit’s spring time:

new day

 

 

spicy meatball

morning anal bleeding--

All Hallows Day

 

 

still new

last year’s mask:

Halloween

 

 

a sweaty couple

sip iced coffee in beer mugs--

highway dhaba

 

 

loud floor show shatters

light and night break through the glass:

end of a haiku

 

 

chill in morning

inciting to love-warmth:

linger in bed

 

 

ageing youth

without smoke flame of fire:

blended scotch

 

 

nude statues

pursuit of pleasure--

sex tourism

 

 

party till dawn--

calling out sleepy hubby

her water breaks

 

 

a fleeting shadow

on the kitchen wall--

last breakfast

 

 

hands sweaty

heart pounding:

secret message

 

 

they watch from the street

our embrace at the window

sneak into liquor

 

 

birds back to the tree

the sim flame beneath my tea

hearing chill whispers

 

 

Covid-struck

she stares at her nails:

fading face

 

 

anal bleeding

frightening beginning--

Year of Dragon

 

 

on the terrace

shadow of black pigeons:

second full moon

 

 

shadow of coffin

togetherness one last time

before burial

 

 

breathless

search for airy room

underground

 

 

old diary-

finding phone numbers

of friends still alive

 

 

dark fears-

loping in the street

mantra on lips

 

 

healing vibrations

21/21* –

winter solstice

 

[*Astrologically, this day—winter solstice on 21st of the year ‘21-- comes once in a 30-year cycle.]

 

 

 

 

 

 

wintry morning

thick smog

seroflo puff

 

 

fragile bloom

tending the winter--

self-salving

 

 

miles away

stars cease to twinkle:

no new moon

 

 

on his epitaph:

he died protesting land tax

on his grave

 

 

last tribute

a gowpen of dust--

rise again

 

 

people trust

what utopia looks like:

lighted banks of Saryu

 

 

a nibbling mouse

enters the snake’s mouth:

guiltless secret

 

 

Christmas lunch

she scooches over--

love’s lightness

 

 

in my flower pot

white magnolia fading--

end of the season

 

 

 

Copyright: R. K.Singh

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                           AFTERWORD

 The Narrow Road:  R. K. Singh’s Haiku, Tanka and Beyond

 

“Alas for mortality!

Underneath the helmet

A grasshopper.”

                                                                                               

 – Matsuo Bashō 

                                                                                            (Translation by Donald Keene)

 

Poetry is the highest art, so say some in citing the ancient Greeks and others.  There is no use in denying such a claim.  Poetry is foundational to all the other arts – the etymology of “poem” itself, as we may recall, lends itself to, quite literally, “something made,” which makes the claim self-evident.  Poetry is concise. It must do more with less. Each word must be packed. Each phrase must be packed. Packed rich with “sound and sense” as the famed New England bard would instruct us.  A poem is a failed poem that does not do this. 

To be an effective poet, a concise poet, a good or great poet, one must be able to also see beyond the proverbial veil.  Each line must take the creator and the reader on a journey to the barely speakable, seeable, and translatable world of ideas.  The melding of the literal and metaphorical into a space that is beyond language that grounds us in the now but is simultaneously transcendent is quite the trick. Ram Krishna Singh is able to do this in this poetry, particularly in his own species of haiku. In this regard, Singh has become a master magician, an alchemist – taking base metals and turning them into gold.

Singh is among my personal, top-five, living poets (writing in English or any other language).

I will not list the others here.  Among poets of all time, I rank him among a longer list of my personal favorites, which includes Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Coleridge, Dickinson, Rilke, Pound, Plath, Mary Oliver, and, of course, Bashō.  These poets, at their best, created concise, somewhat Bacchus-inspired, transcendent work. All of these, too, were alchemists.

 

When Pound writes “The apparition of these faces in the crowd: / Petals on a wet, black bough” under the title ‘In a Station of the Metro,’  he is essentially playing with haiku form in a powerful way.  The title is the first line, the description follows in the second, and then the kireji – the turn to evocation. I know this has been noticed before but it bears repeating in this context. Even though the syllable count may differ in this example in Pound, and in Singh’s fondness of the 3 / 5 / 3 syllable counts per line (among others) as printed here, both Pound and Singh honor Bashō’s approach.

 

                                                        drowsy eyes

                                                        sun behind the clouds

                                                        dreams wrapped up

And another by Singh:

 

                                                        a night wolf

                                                        chomps the leftovers –

                                                        teeth in moon

 

There is a truth Singh chases, a truth that is not predetermined.  It arrives in the moment of “the turn” in real, written-in-the-mind time. It arrives in a flash, I suspect, when the poet is often in nature or in a “natural” personal or societal setting, prepped by the poet’s willingness to observe and his keen eye for description – the very sacraments of art itself.  The process takes into account a philosophical approach as well, perhaps.  Emerson’s words here are better than mine: “Standing on the bare ground – my head bathed by the blithe air and uplifted into infinite space – all mean egotism vanishes.  I become a transparent eyeball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal being circulate through me; I am part or parcel of God.” 

 

Singh, I believe, through his work, seems to be an adherent of Transcendentalism. He appears to be a realist, if not a cynic, at times, particularly when he speaks of sex, or romance, or love; but, he also seems to desire, as indicated by his artifacts of composed words, a connection to the spiritual world, like a true amped-up Romantic, which he seems to acknowledge at every turn of phrase and watchful eye and curve of pen, no matter the form or syllable count.

 

In 1952, R. H. Blyth, a prominent scholar of Japanese culture at the time, noted of Bashō in Haiku: Volume Four: “He is awake in the world that for almost all men exists as a world of dreams.” I believe the same is true of Ram Krishna Singh as it is of Bashō. Singh is awake

His work is very worthy of a deep dive, all of it, in all forms -- in haiku, tanka, and beyond. Basho’s The Narrow Road to Oku delivers large truths through moments of enlightenment achieved by walking a long distance on a seemingly narrow path. Singh’s journey is, perhaps, a bit longer, a bit wider, and a bit more “modern.” However, the universal truths both poets sought, seek, and captured in the written word are guided by an attitude of spirit that is equally revelatory and sublime.

 

                            -- Kevin Marshall Chopson, M.F.A

  Four-time Pushcart Prize Nominated Poet, Award-winning Experimental  Filmmaker,     Conceptual Artist / Performance Artist, Poet Laureate of Gallatin, Tennessee

 

ABOUT THE POET

 

Ram Krishna Singh, born on 31 December 1950 in Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh, India), has been writing poetry in English for about four decades. He has authored over 160 academic articles, 175 book reviews, and 56 books. His collections of poems include I Am No Jesus And Other Selected Poems, Tanka and Haiku (English/Crimean Tatar, Romania, 2014), You Can’t Scent Me and Other Selected Poems(New Delhi, 2016), God Too Awaits Light (California, 2017), Growing Within - Desavarsire launtrica: haiku, tanka and other poems (English/Romanian; Constanta, Romania, 2018), There’s No Paradise and Other Selected Poems Tanka & Haiku (French Edition, Riga, Latvia, 2019), Tainted with Prayers: Contaminado con Oraciones (English/Spanish; Colombia, 2020), Silencio: Blanca Desconfianza/Silence: White Distrust (Spanish Edition, Edición Kindle, Colombia,2021), Covid-19 And Surge of Silence/Kovid-19 Hem Sessízlík Tolkȋnȋ (English/Tatar; Romania, 2021),  Against the Waves: Selected Poems (2021), 白濁: SILENCE: A WHITE DISTRUST (English/Japanese, 2021),  and Poems and Micropoems (Arizona, 2023).

Widely published and anthologized, and appreciated for his tanka and haiku, R.K. Singh’s poems have been translated into several languages, including Japanese, Greek, Italian, German, French, Irish, Spanish, Chinese, Portuguese, Romanian, Crimean Tatar, Bulgarian, Russian, Slovene, Bosnian, Hungarian, Croatian, Albanian, Farsi, Arabic, Serbian, Esperanto, Hindi, Punjabi, Kannada, Tamil, and Bangla.

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, Prize of Corea Literature, South Korea, 2013, Naji Naaman’s Literary Prize, Lebanon, 2015, and nomination for Pushcart Prize, 2013, 2014.

Well known as an Indian English poet, haikuist and ELT/EST practitioner, Dr Singh retired on 31 December 2015 as Professor (HAG)  at Indian Institute of Technology--Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad (India). More at: https://profrksingh.wordpress.com https://rksingh.blogspot.com  https://rksinghpoet.blogspot.com  https://profrksinghlistofpublications.blogspot.com/  and https://pennyspoetry.wikia.com/wiki/R.K._Singh. email: profrksingh@gmail.com

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https://www.scribd.com/document/709729918/Knocking-Vistas

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