NEW YEAR

It matters little whether
it's December 31st
or January 1st--
loneliness haunts every day
and I can't count on any

in the babel of tongues
I can't raise a wall and hope
to build a home and mourn
the fading blue that tinges
the little breathing space


--R.K.SINGH

SMOKE

SMOKE

I can't enter
the sky high mind
of a crow or eagle

but I know
how it feels
in cold-wet air

I have lived
breathless winter
in the open

and no star woke up
to clean the smoke
I slowly became


--R.K.SINGH

MISTAKE

Don't defile
my goddess. you smell
private parts

with sexy
hibiscus don't crack
the centre

take bath first
and then touch Kali
with clean mind

I can't let
your wandering hands
make mistake


--R.K.SINGH

With sudden twists and turns
popping up each new day
life still awaits intrigues
through meandering pathways
I search the golden light
the rising capricorn
held for a Sunday Child

the labyrinths are dark
and scary but I know
the way in is the way out
I can't trip along the way
like others in blind alleys
the guardian angel
leads me to Golden Reward


--R.K.SINGH

BEACH

On the beach
she combs her long hair:
Aphrodite

--R.K.SINGH

HALF-CLAD WOMEN

Collecting
fallen twigs on road
half-clad women


--R.K.SINGH

NOSEY CHILDREN

Parents pelt stones
at the mating street dogs--
nosey children


--R.K.SINGH

Nightly flatulence
a series of nightmares--
sleepy afternoon

--R.K. SINGH

LIVING IS A LONG GAME

I can't change body
can't belittle nature
prophets of doom

can't cross rainbow bridge
nor go to underworld
to reach heaven:

water and mountains
I can't neogitate
with my burdens

burial no end
living is a long game
that goes beyond death

--R.K.SINGH

INDIAN

He reads haiku
over Indian whisky
in Scotland

--R.K.SINGH

SILVER SHOWER

This morning
a shimmering rainbow
silver shower


--R.K.SINGH

DEATH

We do not know
who cares for us
live or dead

nor do we know
our end
now or ever

which meeting with whom
is the last
we do not know

when darkness gushes
in from the breach
sky sinks down

as stranger we come
as stranger
we pass

like withered grass
uncelebrated
unmourned, unknown


--R.K.SINGH

KHUS

Smells the happiness
of earth in the khus she wears:
the summer's first rain


--R.K.SINGH

THIN MOON

A thin moon
on her neck hides love
in silk gauge


--R.K.SINGH

CRAWLING CURLS

He sees art
in her wanton dress--
crawling curls


--R.K.SINGH

FULL MOON

Hides behind
a naked tree
the full moon


--R.K.SINGH

JOURNEY

4 a.m.
fear of sleeping
train arrives

--R.K.SINGH

SANDAL

Waiting in the lounge
the only passenger:
sandal perfume

--R.K.SINGH

MYNAH

Wings of a mynah
flutter over the water
in an earthen pot

--R.K.SINGH

RISING THRILL

A chocolate box
and a pile of condoms
beside the phone:
I smell the rising thrill
the body swirls, the bones breathe


--R.K.SINGH

LEAVING

Transparent
in her one-piece dress
she tiptoes
to wave at the window
but can't see him leaving

--R.K.SINGH

WAITING

No one gives her
what she needs after a day's
hard work in lab--
a lover, a good night's sleep
and it passes again, waiting


--R.K.SINGH

WISP OF MEMORY

I stopped having dreams
she doesn't visit me in my sleep

there's no love making
nor the night of her first meeting

time seems to collapse
I can't breathe for two any more

with forced libido
I can't sense beyond the body

the rain on the jetty
resounds a wisp of memory


--R.K.SINGH

GOD AN EMPTY WORD

Plodding away
at season's conspiracies
life has proved untrue
with God an empty word
and prayers helpless cries


--R.K.SINGH

Holi Excess

Love runs awry
in the name of Holi
yields to revelry
of color and sex:
they excuses all excess


--R.K.SINGH

HOLI

Gulal
cloud the temple precincts:
worm moon

--R.K.SINGH

NOT YET

It's not yet over
sex is eternal delight
I wait till next night

--R.K.SINGH

LEAVES

Dusty leaves
break days of silence:
spring's first rain

--R.K.SINGH

R.K.SINGH

A big fish
in a small pond:
R.K.SINGH


--R.K.SINGH

COMPETITION

Two barking dogs
break the night's monotony:
competition


--R.K.SINGH

TERRESTRIAL PRESENCE

In each swatch
terrestrial presence--
her nude waves



--R.K.SINGH

CHRISTMAS EVE

Slowly dissolves
the mud-brick house of worship:
rain on christmas eve


--R.K.SINGH

PEACOCK BAY

Naval cadets
master the waves in Peacock Bay
pelicans bathe


--R.K.SINGH

SNEEZE

Fit of sneezes
no winter allergy:
thinking of sex


--R.K.SINGH

NATURE"S RHYTHM

I wish I could live
nature's rhythm free from
bondage of clock-time
rituals and worship
expanding haiku present


--R.K.SINGH

INSOMNIA

An insomniac
meditates at night and says:
call no man happy
till you learn how and when
he manages to sleep


--R.K.SINGH