Ram Krishna Singh

Bio

Ram Krishna Singh, born, brought up and educated in Varanasi, India, is a university professor with active interest in poetry and English language teaching. He has authored more than 160 research articles, 170 book reviews and 39 books. Many of his poems have been translated into Italian, Chinese, Japanese, French, Spanish, Greek, Crimean Tatar, German, Portuguese, Bangla, Hindi, Punjabi etc. His latest collection, I am No Jesus and Other Selected Poems, Tanka and Haiku, recently appeared from Romania. Dr Singh is currently Professor of English at Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, India. URL: http://rksinghpoet.blogspot.in ; email: [email protected]

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NEW YEAR

The dates on calendar question
all my undone acts

and memories that haunt or fade
in nightly nakedness

stumbling toward the next day’s sun
without celebration

at 63 January jeers
my degenerating sex

a still itch: mantra and mirror
quiet god and drying petals

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DEGENERATION

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When gods are out to teach me a lesson
where to go to pray or find relief?

my prophet friend predicts each day good
and the future fulfilling, the palmists find
the sun, saturn, venus, and rahu hostile

they seek money for rituals, stones, or mantras
while God gives us the best in life gratis

I can’t change man or nature, nor the karmas
now or tomorrow they all delude
in the maze of expediency and curse
stars, fate, destiny, or life before and after
degenerating the mind, body, thought, and divine

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SEASON’S PRICK

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Unpruned roses
and unmown grasses
make me aware
of the emptiness
the dusk in her room sounds

she searches out
her shadow in
the rising moon

I feel the season’s prick

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CRACKS

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The cracks on the parapet
have widened for the peepal
to stay green for once
rains too want us to drench
our heads and feel one
with cool wind
in a dark corner
shed fears and enjoy love

 

*****