'Aftermath' 'Smoke' and 'Cleansing', by R.K. Singh
Aftermath
Between the mossy and thorned pathways
shadows slant. He trumps the press and praises PM
wisdom splashed in gonzo arguments
cocks the walk. Others feel his sting but prefer
silence. They know the caged parrot’s free
to shame seven decades of democracy groomed
differently. They know how weak they are
to stop the burning forest’s ash from reddening
now aberrations clot in the mind
await Ram’s hanging before the wounded converts
count the cries, lashes and piercings
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
Cleansing
I’m no god nor beast
I can’t live alone
can’t sail with the stream
even if foolish
seeking chimeras
imploring in vain
finished relations
link pigs, snakes, monkeys
crowd the pretences
in my head suspend
all formulations
now no more cleansing
spirit viruses
and false oracles
Ram Krishna Singh, a renowned Indian English poet, has been writing for about four decades. Professionally, till December 31, 2015, Professor of English at IIT-ISM in Dhanbad, he has published more than 160 research articles, 175 book reviews and 46 books, including Sense and Silence: Collected Poems (2010), New and Selected Poems: Tanka and Haiku (2012), I Am No Jesus and Other Selected Poems, Tanka and Haiku (2014), You Can’t Scent Me and Other Selected Poems (2016), God Too Awaits Light (2017), Growing Within/Desăvârşire lăuntrică (English/Romanian, 2017), There's No Paradise and Other Selected Poems Tanka & Haiku (2019), and Tainted With Prayers/Contaminado con oraciones (2020). His haiku and tanka have been internationally read and appreciated.
Art by Will Rocha