Kala Ramesh, INDIA

TANKA

(A lyrical 5-line poem, tanka is a 1300-year old art form from Japan)

AH WOMAN ...

is time always new    .?

then what was that river

that passed

by you yesterday

in which I'm standing now ...

was it bondage

or a smothering of love,

these Chinese lily feet?

the trek uphill seems tougher

with its twists and turns

a dreamer like all brides

but widowed soon after ...

the village cheered

as you jumped into

your husband's funeral pyre

in your eyes

the darkness of moist earth

it's beyond me

to unravel such horizons

... I live with the image

is time always new    .?

then what was that river

that passed

by you yesterday

in which I'm standing now ...

(— A TANKA SUTRA - sutra in Sanskrit means thread – Published in Narrow Road -Vol 2. August2017)

closely behind
an ox, I was once
the wheel
. . . now a bird
with wings to fly

(Published in Gean Tree Press)

***

bleeding
in the darkness
of the womb
her heart weeps for the child
she has never seen

(Published in Gean Tree Press)

***

you trample

over my feelings

each time

I return a little less

unsure of myself

Kala Ramesh co-edited the award winning » ‘Naad Anunaad: an Anthology of Contemporary World Haiku’ (India 2016) and » ‘Wishbone Moon’ (2018 USA), co-authored an e-book with Marlene Mountain » ‘one-line twos’ (2016 Denmark) and a tanka e-chapbook » ‘Unseen Arc’ (2017 UK). Author of two books: » ‘Haiku and the Companion Activity Book’ (Katha Books 2010 New Delhi, reprint 2017) and » ‘Beyond the Horizon Beyond’ Haiku & Haibun (Vishwakarma Publications 2017 Pune). Kala’s initiatives culminated in founding ‘IN haiku’ to get Indian haiku poets together in 2013. Winner, Tanka Splendor Award (2009); an interview on Tanka Online, January 2010 (http://www.tankaonline.com); an editor for Modern English Tanka Press's new anthology, Take Five: The Best Contemporary Tanka 2008/2009/2010. She has taught haiku and allied genres at Symbiosis International University and the Katha National Writers Workshop since 2013. To bring haiku into everyday spaces, Kala initiated HaikuWALL, haikuTRAIL, haikuTALK, haikuWORKSHOP, haikuYOUTH, haikuUTSAV, haikuDHYANA and haikuSTAGE. 

---

Women, Power & Creativity :: Setu, March 2019