About CC

R K Singh (1950), recently retired as Professor (HAG) from Indian School of Mines (now IIT), Dhanbad, has authored more than 160 research articles and 175 book reviews. He has published 40 books, including: Savitri: A Spiritual Epic (Criticism, 1984); My Silence (poems, 1985); My Silence and Other Selected Poems : 1974-1994 (poems, 1996); Above the Earth’s Green (poems, 1997);Every Stone Drop Pebble (haiku, 1999); Cover to Cover (poems, 2002); Pacem in Terris ( haiku, English and Italian, 2003); Communication : Grammar and Composition (textbook, 2003); Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri: Essays on Love, Life and Death (2005); Teaching English for Specific Purposes: An Evolving Experience (2005); Voices of the Present: Critical Essays on Some Indian English Poets (2006); The River Returns (tanka and haiku collection, 2006); Sexless Solitude and Other Poems (2009); 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), and You Can’t Scent Me and Other Selected Poems (2016), etc. He resides at J/4 (W), Rd. No.1/Block B, Vastu Vihar Colony, N H 2, Govindpur -828109 (Dhanbad), Jharkhand and can also be contacted at profrksingh@gmail.com

1. A Poem

A poem rests

on brain signals imaged

in words and silence

one decodes with dog sense

smelling twists and turns in rhythm

that turn it prophetic.

2. Survival

The trees are taller than my height

the lips osculate in their shade

I enjoy the wind that shakes them

or undresses my sleepless nights

wrapped in shawl without mirrors of stars:

I survive the missing moon's light.

3. Peace in Sin

I thought I'd locate you

in the dark lonely street

but I myself got lost

mind's mazy prompts

shocked me into nakedness

I never perceived

the misleading sun

the unreal reflections

the dumb show

dazzle my eyes

shades of terror in alleys

smell of treachery

at the crossroads

the selfish gene's tarots

of my random choices

in dim blue light

smiling breasts invite

autumn breeze

I chuckle to myself

hearing raps of inverse world

and peace in sin.

4. Uprooting Seeds

Growing nude

the plant sways in the field

and matures

in golden silk

drifts like a bee

in quiet rhythm

the sun wings the flight

and stars stand guard

till beauty plays harlot

with half-open heart

abuses night music

provokes hunger

in every street

the lewd shrines

pucker the lips

without payment

strangers come and go

uprooting seeds

5. Karmic Chakra

Post-retirement

awakens inner spirit:

karmic chakra

from sexual loneliness

to insecurities turn

inner fears into

faith cross-legging prayers

climaxing love

visionary hope, wisdom

narrative of helplessness

6. No, I Won’t

Depressed mount of sun

and feeble supporting lines

will I die unknown?

left rotting in the sand

and the wind oozing foul smell?

I don’t want the sun

to miss my light and blame

the night for writing

the fate with wintry fingers

licking the legs of scarecrow

they can’t close their eyes

to the images I brew

for burying secrets

against a dusty mirror

against God’s hidden errors

7. Who Cares?

It’s too much to pass

time in a military station

no company and

no one to talk to

amid noises in the sky

day in and day out

remind my status:

an outsider in son’s home

drinking beer or wine

for a change when free

he would unburden the load

share retirement plans

forgetting I’ve grown

older each passing year

need care, but who cares?

8. Love

I gave you my love

what more do you seek

to lighten the night

my beloved

let the fire burn

and consume the moth.