Freezing the moment: A celebration of Haiku by poets from India

By Kala Ramesh

deep in raga –
a sudden applause
startles the singer
***

no temple bells –
the silence unbroken
remains
***

darkening sky…
the snake curves
into my path.

(From Haiku and Indian Music, 2007)

By Rajiv Lather

moonless night
a pair of circling nightjars
feed on stars
***
posh restaurant –
a blind man removes glasses
to inspect the bill
***
himalayan shrine
a hermit with hash pipe
drifts in clouds

By Paresh Tiwari

longest night…
the taste of sea breeze
and her absence
***
cloudburst…
my son adds his voice
to the rumble
***
divorce papers…
we end up deleting
the ampersand

By Gautam Nadkarni

sudden rain ­–

umbrellas mushroom

on the street

***
at home –
only the mosquitoes
for company
***
morning prayers –
a rain of champak flowers
on the deity

(First published in Shiki Monthly Kukai, 2009; Simply Haiku – Autumn 2008 Issue; and Magnapoets, 2010.)

By Johannes Manjrekar

monsoon clouds –
the ground aflame with
gulmohur blooms
***
night walk
i slow down
near the jasmine bush
***
night breeze –
dogs break the softness
of the cricket’s song

By Madhuri Pillai

withered rose
petal by petal
the years fade
***
weeping willow
barely there
winter breeze
***
cracked earth
the endless trudge
of a million feet

By Pravat Kumar Padhy

Dog is misspelled
the child discovered
the Great
***
calendar pages –
between the dates
time escapes
***
deep dark space
many cosmic townships
with their own light

(From LYNX-Aha Poetry, XXV; The Critical Poet; The Mainichi Daily News)

By Shloka Shankar

winter chill...
the patchwork quilt smells
of memories

(First published on Lilliput Review)

By Geethanjali Rajan

childhood song –
the rhythm of women
threshing grain

By Anitha Varma

yesterday’s
dried up puddle…
paper boats

By Ramesh Anand

spring cleaning
the shelves

of boxed grudges
***
autumn twilight
my parents in silence
on the swing

By K Ramesh

leafless trees –
the sea
visible again.
***
full moon rise...
the deer trots back
to the forest
***
slight breeze…
the silent spin of
wooden wind chimes

By Kashinath Karmakar

morning glory –
for a moment I am
the butterfly
***
this vagabond life –
symmetry in the wings of
a butterfly
***
vast blue sky –
the freedom that
never was

(First published in tinywords)

By Angelee Deodhar

between us
vapours from the teacups
autumn chill

(First published in Modern Haiku, Volume XXXI: Number 3, Fall 2000)

This selection is curated by Rohini Kejriwal. She also curates The Alipore Post, a daily newsletter stemming from a love of​ art, poetry, music, and all things beautiful.