sugar free memories

Mesostics, haikus
random nothings
poetry like a bushman's fire
is a matter of chance

a mountain stream
that gushes down
and suddenly vanishes

a lone cloud
drifting across
a summer sky
vaporises

a bland cup of tea
and a potful
of sugar free memories.

 

Pregnant with a million Haikus

A lone letter box stands with a rusty lock hanging on it. I think of all the dead letters inside it. Five decades more if it survives the ever expanding roads and rails and empty hearts it will become an antique - precious and useless.

 Met a friend after one and a half decade on social media yesterday( as much as meeting is possible there.) She has the same smile, same radiant eyes. What is a virtue in life, I wonder? Somethings remaining unchanged and somethings constantly changing and knowing the difference.

The river flows

to a point of

no return

and comes back

as snow

 

 

What is the purpose of the silent alphabets in English words ?, the little one asks. I can't give her a linguistic answer so I buy some time and wonder what is the purpose of silent words in conversations?

 

Why is complexity fashionable and simplicity plain simple?

 

Old love letters in a closet

are they complex or simple

psychological assessments

medical alignments

mental confinements

 

I am pregnant

with a million haikus

only if

Hemingway's angst

would stop

drowning me.

 

H A I K U

The leaves are slipping

autumn makes them decorate


memory's grave

 

HAIKUS FROM NOWHERE

I
wait for summer breeze
ladybird ,look at the crow -
on the cliff of hope.

II
beyond this summer
the showers will be waiting-
a lone sparrow sighs !


III
can you imagine
the first drop of rain falling,
on a waiting palm ?

HAIKUS

I
Spring is back,they say
where are the blossoms I ask
a parched soul barren !

II

A nostalgic song
the words,the tune familiar
memories dilute.

III

deep inside the earth
a new life is in waiting
thriving on dead love.

BASHO HAIKUS IN HINDI - 2

Basho Matsuo(1644-1694) is the most well-known Japanese poet of the haiku tradition worldwide.Here is a hindi translation of a few of his famous haikus.Any accuracy would be wrong to claim as these stand twice removed from the original (Japanese-English-Hindi),the aim is to capture the essence and maintain the form in Hindi too, as far as it is possible without distorting the meaning/essence.


Husking rice,
a child squints up
to view the moon.
धान कूटते
बच्चा कनखियों से
चाँद को देखे !
------------------------
lotus pond
as they are plucked
Souls' Festival
कमल ताल
से वे तोड़े जाते हैं -
आत्मा का पर्व
---------------------------
moonless night...
a powerful wind embraces
the ancient cedars

चन्द्र-रहित रैन
सशक्त वायु बाहुपाश
प्राचीन देवदार
------------------------------
Whore and monk, we sleep
under one roof together,
moon in a field of clover
वेश्या ,साधू
एक छप्पर में सोए
दूब के खेत में चाँद !
--------------------------
taken in my hand
it will vanish in hot tears
autumn frost

हाथों में लिया
लुप्त होगा अश्रुओं में
हेमंत तुषार !
-------------------------

Haikus by BASHO in Hindi

Basho matsuo(1644-1694) is the most well-known Japanese poet of the haiku tradition worldwide.Here is a hindi translation of a few of his famous haikus.Any accuracy would be wrong to claim as these stand twice removed from the original (Japanese-English-Hindi),the aim is to capture the essence and maintain the form in hindi too.

An old pond
A frog jumps in -
Splash!

प्राचीन ताल

मेंडक कूदता है

एक झपाक !

------------------------

souls' festival

today also there is smoke

from the crematory 

आत्मा का पर्व

आज भी वहां धुआं 

शमशान से 

-------------------------

bright red

the pitiless sun

autumn winds

गहरा लाल 

ये दयाहीन सूर्य 

हेमंती हवा 

--------------------------

on a bare branch

a crow has settled

autumn dusk

नग्न डाल पे 

एक कौवा आवासी 

शरत सांझ 

-------------------------------

I like to wash,

the dust of this world

In the droplets of dew.

मेरी पसंद 

संसार  की धूल को

ओस से धोना .

SOME HAIKUS

i
friends sorted in lists
people as profile pictures
life is a timeline !

ii
scratch the skin of a
city, look for its soul,lost
on a busy road.

iii
The lines on your palm
the moves of planets and stars
destiny by chance.

 iv
cities may change
and so do centuries, this
bond is eternal.

v
Stones washed in
milk,kids on the street wish they
were stones instead.

vi
I shred a cabbage
nature's multi-layered
haiku lay open.

vii
a contested space
zig-zag back lanes of my mind,
hide behind my smile .