This month, The Alipore Post collaborates with Katha, one of the oldest and thoughtful publishing houses from India that focus on literature for children and young adults. To start off the collaboration, we're featuring FIRST Katha Book of Haiku, Senryu, Tanka & Haibun, a stunning collection that brings to you a running stream of a 400-year-old art form from Japan, with an Indian flavour.
35 poets come together to celebrate Haiku, Senryu, Tanka & Haibun in this wonderful collection, which has been edited by Kala Ramesh, Vidur Jyoti and the late Johannes Manjrekar, with illustrations by Surabhi Singh. The book also contains an excellent afterword by Tracy Koretsky, which takes the reader on a tour of the book and makes you appreciate these wonderful forms of poetry even more.
Here are my favorites from the book, divided section-wise, for you to enjoy over a cup of tea:
Haiku
almost evening —
the paper vendor sleeps
on old news
-A Thiagarajan
a light breeze
the moon in the birdbath
shivers
-Angelee Deodhar
sidewalk cafe
I smell the city
in my coffee
-Bhavani Ramesh
autumn deepens ...
the tree releases a leaf
into ballet
-GSP Rao
church graveyard —
from somewhere close
the fragrance of lilies
-Gautam Nadkarni
night walk
I slow down
near the jasmine bush
-Johannes Manjrekar
kite contest
the rise and fall
of oohs and aahs
-Kala Ramesh
summer evening —
a crab races
with the beach waves
-SB Vadivelrajan
summer camp ...
my child paints
a winter landscape
-Kumarendra Mallick
evening sun
my shadow enters
through the door
-Puja Malushte
spring rain ...
the tree and I
in conversation
-Purushothama Rao
bored in heaven
a shooting star
jumps to death
-Raju Samal
Hanging
by a spider's thread —
the wanton leaf
-RK Singh
(Read his haiku on The Alipore Post here)
power cut ...
today I hear
the birds chirp
-Usha Kiran
Senryu
twelfth birthday —
the butcher's daughter
turns vegan
-Devika Menon
smiling back I find
that the girl is smiling
at someone else
-Gautam Nadkarni
orthopaedic clinic
a three-legged chair
outside the entrance
-Johannes Manjrekar
morning peace
vanishes with the arrival
of my newspaper
-Vishnu P Kapoor
Tanka
I gather
one moon after
another
into my hands ...
the river keeps giving
-Kala Ramesh
I roam these hills
in wonder ...
each step
each breath
becomes a prayer
-Shernaz Wadia
Haibun
Change by Johannes Manjrekar
Saturday evening. Tired and hungry. I'm eating a puff at the roadside tea stall. A young boy comes up to beg, his younger sister in tow. One or two rupees, he says. His sister says nothing, merely staring at me wide-eyed.
I have no loose change. Before I can tell the boy so, he pats the pocket of his ragged shorts. I have change, he says half proudly, half smiling. I can change you a tenner. Even fifteen rupees.
evening moon
I wipe my glasses
all over again
Get your copy of FIRST Katha Book of Haiku, Senryu, Tanka & Haibun here.
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