HAIKU: R.K.SINGH, INDIA PEDDLING DREAM: A COLLECTION OF 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 0leander 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 Couln't keep freshness of leaf in water The first rains coming back from the desert home-- plateu souvenir 0ne more empty day but in the mail box 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 oriander 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 0n 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 classtest 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 classtest 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 classtest 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 a 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 0n 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 0nly 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 rains 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 About Me copyright: Dr R K Singh Professor & Head Dept of Humanities & Social Sciences Indian School of Mines Dhanbad 826004 India